Rich, these were fish that ran 6 to 8 pounds, and often were in with cutthroat - used to get those up to 5 pounds too. The steelies looked like 2 salt fish, never read the scales but they were the right size. I also caught an even mix of hens and bucks so I'm pretty sure they were adult fish, just on the small side size-wise, probably from returning so early. The unique thing about them was their aggressiveness and that they were obviously actively feeding.

By January and February in these rivers there would be 2 distinct types of wild fish, bright large fish and smaller darker ones - I always thought that the smaller ones were the early fish that just were hanging around waiting to spawn, and the big ones were late returners that put on a few pounds out in the salt before returning - either that or they were 3 salts that liked ocean life. Never seemed to get any early spawnouts unless they were hatchery fish - at the time (60's and 70's) steelhead weren't marked except by the stubbed dorsals and worn off fins - those were hatchery fish and we killed them all. Most of those streams closed in February but I think the Union at least used to be open through March and we pretty much just caught dark fish or spawnouts then.