Duck, see someone about that paranoia. Why do you presume I was referring to you? My post wasn't intended to target anyone -- any specific individual anyway. And no, it wasn't an attempt to extoll my fishing virtues.

My point, and perhaps I could have been more implicit, was that a lot if not most of the steelheaders I know around here (read: Lewiston) say they've caught 20-pound hatchery fish. Indeed, some of them have. It's not commonplace on the Clearwater, but it's not altogether unique, either. The two finest steelheaders I know here, both of whom have caught well over 1,000 fish (and this is probably a conservative estimation on my part), have yet to take a 20-plus pounder out of the Clearwater. With that in mind, I'm highly skeptical that a guy who catches 2-3 fish a season would claim to have topped said plateau.

So as to avoid further confusion, my insinuation is simply this: If you've got a 20-pound hatchery fish, you achieved something enviable and a lot more rare than most fishermen would have a listener believe.

I have no idea what your steelhead tote sheet looks like, but I've always found you to be a knowledgeable contributor here. My only thought after reading your post (the initial one, that is) was, wow, that's a hell of a fish. Should I have been thinking something else?