Today I fished for about 8 hours. Two steel hookups, on landed, one kept. Caught a Bull trout, and a wild trout (pictured). To me it really looked like a midget steelhead. You could tell it had some aging

Nice feesh Scott! I'm already for Friday now. Let me know what rig you will be driving so I can look for you.

Wow--gorgeous trout. You can tell it's a trout and not a steelhead because it's actually attractive to look at--unlike the nasty, dark, snaky steelies we seem to get around here!!

Well, Except for some of the Wild steelies I have caught in the tucannon are pretty bright. I'll try to hold one in the water to take a picture sometime, but for some reason I dont think that is gonna happen unless someone is right there!

AdiposeSoup wrote:

Wow--gorgeous trout. You can tell it's a trout and not a steelhead because it's actually attractive to look at--unlike the nasty, dark, snaky steelies we seem to get around here!!

You have to take a couple things into consideration here. Bright Chrome steelhead would stand out like a sore thumb in the Tucannon River. The color they turn help them stay camoflaged. i.e. survival. Think about how far they must travel to get back in the Tucannon..... They're going to get beat up.

Our Tucannon Hatchery Steels have a weird shape on top of it all......

So whether they are bright magazine cover fish or not, be thrilled we have an awesome venue to catch one of the most elusive anadromous fish!!!

Scott

Some of the most beautiful Steelhead I've seen are the winter run natives that come into the Skykomish and the Sauk in March and April.

As far as hatchery fish are concerned, June Skamania fish, fresh in from the salt in a coastal river are hard to beat. Chrome beyond chrome.

From the photos I see, Tucannon fish do tend to be a little snakey. But there is no such thing as an ugly Steelhead. It's just that some are prettier than others.

For fish that have been in fresh water three or four months some of these little Wells stock fish we take up at Ringold are real nice. The bucks are showing a little color even when the season opens in October but a lot of the hens are close to chrome. A week and a half ago a little spurt of beautiful fish came in. There was good fishing for one day, a Sunday. I didn't fish that day but on Monday was lucky enough to get a beautiful 6 1/2 pound hen, one of a few fish caught. She was amazingly bright for a November fish. But bright or dark, most of the fish are fat and full of fight even now. They are a small strain, but for spunk I would put Wells stock fish pound for pound up against any hatchery strain.

You should try fishin' for those same fish in February, Jimmy. Mmmmmm, snakey.... See some of my previous posts for pics of such ugly muthas.

Hi Adipose! Let's see now. In February those Wells stock summer run fish will have been in fresh water without feeding for 7 or 8 months. They should be snakey in February! It's a wonder they aren't dead.

Skamania stock summer runs, the most common coastal hatchery summer runs, are December spawners. But I've caught a few worn out old summer run bucks as late as January in coastal rivers. They hang around in the rivers till they die, hoping for one last hen.

I understand the Wells stock fish at Ringold spawn later than Skamania fish but even so they should be spawning or close to it in February and, after 7 or 8 months in the river, in terrible shape.

JimmyD wrote:

They are a small strain, but for spunk I would put Wells stock fish pound for pound up against any hatchery strain.

I much prefer the Skamania strain that used to be at Ringold. Big, strong, and very acrobatic. Those little cookie cutter Wells fish just don't hold my attention for very long.

Pasco,
When did the season open when they were planting the Skamania fish at Ringold? (That was before I came over here.) Since Skamanias are December spawners there wouldn't be much of a window of opportunity for fish in good shape with an Oct 1st opener.

The quality of the little Wells fish is great but I've got to agree with you that they sure are small. The average 1 salt fish couldn't be over 4 lbs, probably closer to 3 1/2, though lots of fishermen call them "five pounders".

Isn't the WDFW rationale for going to the Wells stock that they are "in system" fish and there is less danger of crossing native fish to "out system" strays? It's hard to see the logic in that since Skamania fish are December spawners and the native runs over here are spring spawners.

If they want to restrict smolt plants to "in system" fish, why don't they plant 20 to 30 percent B-run smolts at Ringold? B-runs are "in system" fish.

The only disadvantage might be that Ringold would get a lot more crowded.

The Skamanias were spring fish. Gosh they were beautiful. And Ringold was crowded as hell in the spring!

Correction: In a post above I said that Skamania summer runs are December spawners. I haven't been able to verify that. There has been selection for spawning time in different hatchery programs. Apparently January and even February spawning for Skamanias is not unusual.

From what I've been able to Google the peak spawng period for Upper Columbia (that includes Wells) stock is April.

Yeah Adipose, all the old timers I talk to at Ringold are nostalgic for the good old days when Skamanias were planted.

Even moreso when they planted spring chinook too. Ah, what a fishery!

Well Adipose, you'll get half your wish anyway. From what I hear on the river there will be a new Spring Chinook fishery at Ringold starting next spring, the spring of 2007. Everybody tells me it will be a plunker's zoo, with no room to drift fish. Guess that's better than nothing.

When they opened up the season for springers was when I quit going there. Too many people that had no clue, and couldn't care to learn, started packing in there. Worse, many of the morons kept right on coming and plugging up the area year round. They still haven't left and are bringing their friends and crosseyed spawn.

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