Eel action

The day before X-mas I played bankie and caught my first steelie of the season in addition to another coho. The coho didn't do anything more than roll himself up in the line. As bad as it looked I was able to unhook him quickily and w/o harm. The steelie came out of the same hole, in the faster part, and didn't allow me a pic of him. It fought like steelies ought to. Took me 15 minutes to land it and it flew out of the water a good dozen times. It left me shaking and grinning.
The 26th I rowed the drift boat and we went 1 for 4.
Yesterday I wasn't planning on fishing cuz of rain forecast, but I got the fever and went with the 'yak. I hooked one and broke it off. It hit while I was still feeding line out in freespool. I bank fished some sweet holes and didn't touch another thing.
It was cool, literally and figuratively, to be fishing in a snowfall!
Eric, where'd you guys fish? I was around Benbow.
Hmm, can't get the coho pic to work.

 "It left me shaking and grinning"
nice to see that im not the only one who gets the shivers after a big battle.
way to go Juan!  If I wasnt my own hero it would be you.

If I wasnt my own hero it would be you.

your killing me Terry 

Juan - nice skull pic.

Thems' some nice spots and shots Juan!  love the top one, where its eye is lookin down towards the water, wondering...WTF? is happping here!
.....and i'm shivering now too! 

Awesome report and pics, Juan.  Awesome!   

We were down near the forks and only bank-fished for about 15 minutes so my young cousin could check it out and learn casting after our hike in the woods where all we saw was part of a carcass up on the trail - I think the bear was either warning me or telling me he did eventually get something to eat!     The drift boats were just wrapping up their day, and I didn't get a chance to ask anyone how they did.  The river was looking gorgeous.

It's nice to see you posting pics Juan. Good job!

Please excuse my ignorance but, since I've never caught or seen a steelhead, can someone tell me the physical difference between a steelhead and trout, other than the steelhead is more buffed up? Is there a big difference between the looks of a steelhead and coho (which I don't remember ever catching or seeing either). I presume Juan's picture is a steelhead.

Howard

Juan - Those are some Really Nice Pics! I espeacially liked the road trippin last one! Steelhead and scenes like that go together. I might drag my old ass out after em this year for the first time in a long time. Tom

Please excuse my ignorance but, since I've never caught or seen a steelhead, can someone tell me the physical difference between a steelhead and trout, other than the steelhead is more buffed up? Is there a big difference between the looks of a steelhead and coho (which I don't remember ever catching or seeing either). I presume Juan's picture is a steelhead.

Howard

Simply put a steelhead is an ocean going rainbow trout. Differences between steelhead and Coho are pretty simple. Coloring of steelhead tend to be very silver and green on top w/ large spots. Coho are much darker on the top w/ smaller spots. The mouth is the easiest to tell since the steelhead's jaws are very rounded and white. A coho's gums are white but the rest of the mouth is black.

Coho


Steelhead


Z

Nice info and pics, Bryce.    

and did I mention, awesome report, Juan!   

Best steelie pic all year Juan. Fantastic report.
If you haven't done it before; paddling in the snow is awesome as long as you are prepared for it.
This was from 2006 but it still looks cool.

pah-wang!  You are fire Juan!!!

Yes. Great info. Thanks, Z.

Way to go Juan! Great shots. Classic ex. of the fish-eye, if the fish in the pic is looking down, they are still alive, if they look up or out, they're dead. Most of the time with steelies/ salmon anyway...

Juan, thanks so much for the reports and photos. us regular folks are only going to experience it through your pics and reports, so it is much appreciated from me and my boys.

J