How spectacular is a 22 pound stealhead?

Thats a nice fish.

They are spectacular fighters with a lot of endurance, especially in moving water. Also real tough on an 8 wt fly rod and an 8 lb tippet. Our Oregon fish do not reach that stature, but fortunately many of the Clearwater fish stray into our Columbia tributaries. My landing percentage is about 1 out of 5 on those.

In OR, it's the holy grail

Thats a VERY good fish anywhere you can find steelhead,but having the advantage of having lived and fished in British Columbia all my life I've beached several bigger than that.The best I've personally seen taken was 30lbs., back when we were allowed to kill them.They do get larger than that in the Skeena system and the Thompson River whish is now closedto steelhead sishing. Monashee

Yesterday I went to check on a boat. The next door neighbor came over and started talking with us. Finally he told me about a fish he wanted me to see.

Above his fireplace is a fish about three feet long with a tiny piece of pink yarn stuck to it jaw. The guy told me it is a stealhead that weighed twenty-two pounds. He went on to tell me they chased it up and down the river a couple times before he landed it.

Then he got out the family album (he is an old man) and began to show me some really neet photos of animals he and his family killed. A good time was had by all.

WOW! I'd like to see it. I caught a 12 pounder as a kid and thought it was the biggest fish in MN.

The Clearwater and some of the rivers in the Op produce those size steelhead. I have caught a few pushing 40" in the Clearwater.

Another steelhead sleeper is Alaska. I have outstanding steelhead fishing in the Kenai region in the Fall

Ringman,

That's a small one. Throw it back. BTW, where did you catch it?

I'd love to tie into a steelhead of that size!

Congratulations! Did you have it mounted?

I'd wish you good luck, but if you have landed a 22lb steelhead, you already have all the luck you need!


Good luck,

R

Raisuli,

I didn't catch it. It was on the wall where I went to look at a boat I was interested in. The guy told me it weighed 22lb.

My biggest Steelhead from Northern California.
8lb leader.
The fish was never weighed and quickly released after the photo.

It would be every bit as intense if not more intense than dropping the hammer on a 180" + muley.

Seen a dozen or so in the 18-21 pound range and spectacular is a far cry from a good description.

22 is [bleep] huge.

Real impressive. I've never caught one myself over 20.

I think I told you I used to guide down on the lower Rogue. One day my customers got a 17 pounder that was fresh from the ocean and a 20+ pounder that was spawned out and skinny.

I'd guess the big one would have been 27 pounds or a little more fresh. A *monster*, once in a lifetime fish for a dedicated fisherman. they wanted to keep it, i wanted to throw it back. It was black and ugly, not fit to eat. We knocked it in the head. It lay there in the fish box changing colors from black to red to green. Nasty.

Some rivers have a higher percentage of 20+ pound fish than others. The Rogue is not one of them. The design of the fish hatchery is such that the big fish don't go through the tube to the spawning table so they go in the cat foot pile, it's only the "little" fish that return their genes to the gene pool at that hatchery. This is more apparent with chinook than steelhead, not very many steelhead wont' go down the tube, but the ones that wont are the ones us fishermen would most like to have their genes stay in the gene pool. It's difficult to remove an ODFW biologist's head from their rear end.

Er ... sorry, guess I went off.

Anyways, yes, a 22 pound steelhead is something to write home about. That's a better fish than most dedicated steelhead fishermen will see in their lifetime.

Tom

Cowlitz River in SW Washington has a spring run of steelhead with a very good number of 15+ pound steelhead returning. They are awesome! I'll start fishing for them the last week of feb.

Lucky me as my favorite drifts also hold springers!

I used to run Charter's on Lake Michigan some years ago. Indiana stocked a strain called "Skamania" Steelheads. Although I have boated quite a few close to 20 lbs, but can't recall any that weighed 22. That's a helluva fish. Especially on an 8 lb leader. Not only that they are terrific fighter's. Some are out of the water more than in when hooked. You are to be commended for releasing it. That's a wall hanger for sure.

The Skamania is a river in Washington. ( I'm probably flogging the obvious to say that's likely where they got the eggs those were stocked from. )

Skamania Steelhead come from a river in SW Wa in Skamania Co.

40"++.

Where TF have YOU been?

I used to run Long A jointed bomber with same pattern as your rifle...was hell on brown trout

I gotta get one of those mini-rifles so my fish look bigger too!

This one was about spawned out by the time he got to our neck of the woods but he sure tasted good and put up a heck of a fight for my son.



Jayco

This one was 22 lbs, caught by my buddy on the Quinault.



Biggest steelhead I have caught was 18 lbs, caught out of the Newakum river it was a pig.

At any rate a 22 pound steelhead is an impressive fish.

You ate the [bleep] thing? You sick bastid....

Jesus

Looks like a spawned out chinook

Am steelhead is a rainbow trout that has been to Japan and had his ass kicked. The only fish in the same leaque are bright silver salmon.

guys fish steelhead their whole life and never hook a 22 lb fish. they are rare these days.

This one didn't make 22 but went 21. Released right after the photo was taken.