Winter Steel

[bigyfish]

just reading back a bit on this thread. Hatchery steelhead are obvious even with a partially cut adipose fin. Look at the dorsal fin in the pic. It is obviously a hatchery fish as it is small and mutilated. A wild fish will have a perfect dorsal fin about three inches tall. The one in the pic is smallish less than one and one half inches tall.

[Matt]

just reading back a bit on this thread. Hatchery steelhead are obvious even with a partially cut adipose fin. Look at the dorsal fin in the pic. It is obviously a hatchery fish as it is small and mutilated. A wild fish will have a perfect dorsal fin about three inches tall. The one in the pic is smallish less than one and one half inches tall.

Oh for the love of god dude don't bring that up again!

[lol] [lol] [lol] [lol] [lol]

[crankbait42]

Got out to the Sky today before it closed for the season, First time for me up there. No steel but did find three nice dollies. Until today I had only caught one dolly in my life and I had only caught 2 fish on spoons. Now I have caught 5 fish on spoons and 4 dollies!

[Anonymous]

It doesnt seem like many people on the forum fish this far north, but i thought i'd post this anyways. Fished the cascade river on the skagit river system, skipped school to fish it the last day before it closed. Pretty late for fish here anyways, but did get two nice steel, both on their way back to the ocean, spawned out so i released them, hatchery tho. Good way to end the season up here, as most of you know there are quite a few rivers closed now. One fish was about 12lbs, the other 7lbs or so. Pictures will be up in a bit, gotta find a way to get them in the right size. They will be up soon. Anyone have any good ideas on where to fish now that everything closed? Anything sayyyy withing 2 hours of bellingham??

[scott080379]

those are some nice looking dollies and hammered brass rvrfshr?

[Matt]

I really dig that first dolly pic where it is just the top half sticking outa the water, bravo!

Matt

[crankbait42]

Thanks guys! Yeah I liked that one too Matt. I took the spoon out of his mouth and he ran toward shore and stopped and I knew it would be a good shot, I just got the picture off and he flipped and was gone!

and yep 2 were on the hammered copper or brass or whatever color that is and one was on hammered silver. both rvrfshrs 2/5oz

[Matt]

Those dolly's sure do love hardware. They are aggressive, all the ones I have ever caught were on a spoon or vibrax. I have had little 14"ers nail a size 5 vibrax when I was fishing for kings.

[crankbait42]

I have only caught 4 and they have all been on spoons, they dont fight as hard as steelhead but they sure are cool looking fish

[Matt]

Well take their size into account for fight strength too. I always thought they were pretty tough for little fish, I'm sure if you hooked into a nice 7-10lb dolly it would put up a helluva fight! :bball:

[jens]

Way to go Crankbait42 and fishenfreak!! Nothing like a spoon take. I've yet to catch a Dolly, pretty fish.

[Fish_Bait111397]

That first pic of the Dolly
is one of the best pics of a fish ive seen !
How big was it?? Looks a good size by that pic.

[Matt]

Look at this BRUISER my buddy caught this afternoon, second brat of this caliber he has gotten in 2 weeks. Lucky SOB! .... and I had to work

[ingi]

hell of a fish, where was it caught at?

[asshatmatt]

hey matt, i logged in under your name on accident. just thought id let you know ur an asshat! 29 pages of winter steel and the only thing you can show us is youre buddies fish! ive been lurking for awhile now and you seem to have an answer to everything from river gauges to cudamans brookie/ dollie thread. why dont you get off the interwebs and actually go fishing for something beside beat up summer fish on the eastside! oh and by the way, it would be nice if you could show us the rest of your avetar fish,yeah you kno those boots ur holdin. by the way ,look forward to the rest of the guys reporting, just not YOU! now go to youre freezer and get some of those white kings out and bbq, that way youll have the energy to conjer up some mor bullchit bud!

[Matt]

Hahahaha.

[cudaman]

i think i know that branch behind him

[Matt]

i think i know that branch behind him

I wouldn't doubt it, that is a popular spot. I am sure FlinginPooh recognizes it, I think my buddies were fishing just downstream from him that day. This is a section of the Cow.

[akochman09]

I got my first steely of the year, vedder river, bobber and eggs. weighed him at the shop-7.8lbs. I hiked about 45 minutes back into the woods for him. I finally got one after losing 5 steelies this year.

[natetreat]

Nice. It's great to see some fish. I wish I good find the time to make a trip to some open rivers, now that my local haunts are closed.