Wait a minute, we're talking hooks here and someone casually mentions they caught a 30lb buck steelhead last year, "All I use are for steelhead #2s. Landed a 30lb buck last winter", and it's back to hooks again.

Paranoid, I, for one, am not just impressed but I am in awe. Not just because it was hooked on a #2 hook, but because I have never personally met or even talked to anyone who has caught the Holy Grail of steelhead. I am in awe because I was once humbled to have actually seen a mount of one captured from the Quinault hatchery back in the eightys. It absolutely dwarfed the few (as in 2) 20+ (barely) fish I have been priveleged to get up close and personal with (can't remember the hook size though). I have also known some folks who caught them in the high 20's, most of them from Canada, a few in WA, but none of these guys would ever lay claim without pictures, measurements or other corroboration to back it up. Any chance you have a picture of this beast? Just one look at it and I might be convinced to drop down to #2's.