Salmon Idaho - Steelhead

[pookiebar]

Went and fished the end of the Steelhead season outside Salmon Idaho. Fish were pretty line sensitive so we used 3x tippet in low light of morning and evening. Had to go down to 4x during the day. Fish were cued in on black buggers with a red soft hackle, no egg. Or they hit eggs and Teeny Nymphs in orange.

Also caught a number of smolt, and a couple of monster Bull Trout, also known as Dolly Varden in some parts of the West. ( the 2nd to last picture is a 22inch Bull Trout )

Don't know how many we caught but we had a blast for the three days, despite the constant snow squals that blew threw. My wife did the steelhead with me in AK, and now she is equally addicted to ID. Hope you enjoy the pics!
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[kochanut]

cant wait until the end of october!! looks like a blast!
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[macfly55]

great post... and the pics of the fish are awesome... looks like you two had a cold but great time on the water.. []

MacFly [cool]
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[arctic_grayling]

those are some awesome fish. fyi dolly varden (Salvelinus malma malma) and bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) are two different species. based off where you caught the fish, they were likely bull trout.
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[pookiebar]

Well if you want to get really technical, Bull Trout, Dolly Varden, and Arctic Char are all Char. And, Bull Trout were known as Dolly Varden until 1980, at which point it was realized that the Columbia/Snake River system strain of the species was threatened, and in some areas endangered. A common name in the Idaho area for this strain of the Char familia, was Bull Trout. Therefore, in order to narrow the defined strain and geographic area for the endangered species act the common name, Bull Trout, was adopted.

It gets a bit confusing, but it is similar to the many different species of Cut Throat Trout, and Rainbows for that matter.

Anywho, they were really fun to catch, and for their size the fight in them is about twice as much as the Steelhead because they aren't dying in transit like the Steelhead are.
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[riverdog]

PB technically steelhead aren't dying in transit like salmon are. They are capable of return to the sea and possible even spawning again. Of course in many places damns and one way fish ladders prevent this now. A steelhead that swam 600- 800 miles to Idaho isn't going to fight like one that just left the ocean. Even trout can get tired[].
Nice pics by the way.
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[Gibbyutah]

Looks like a great day! Lucky....
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