From the times I have been up to fish the
Oly Pen, and from looking at the Olympic Mountains from the Space Needle and then from overhead in my brother's small plane, I have been very positively impressed with the OP. But after today, it has risen a big notch up for me; for a some good reasons. ...

Before that though, I'll mention that I bankfished a few spots on the Hoh R. with Marty M. Tuesday; after a short visit with Bob Ball and Fishgal at a launch site. Fishing was a little on the slow side from what we saw and heard. Marty got 2 on eggs; including one in the upper teens. I only floatfished jigs and pink worms today; losing 1 big Hoh brusier when I tried to stop him from going under a submerged branch. Bob's driftboat went 4 for 7 today. It's a great river - and of course would be better w/o netting. But ...

... the best fishing experience I've had since fishing B.C. late last summer happened this evening after Marty and I split from the Hoh to head home. I drove way up one of the trophy steelhead rivers I hadn't explored yet; from 5:00 p.m. to sunset around 7:30. The 2 fish I landed up there certainly were part of the great experience,
but it was the lack of any people and the best scenery I've seen yet up close on the outer OP that made this really special! The deep pristine pools of the large river were crytal clear, with just a perceptable bluish hue; despite significant rainfall this day. The snow covered peaks were right in the backdrop beyond the river. Marty brought the camera for the day and, oh man, do I wish I had brought mine to take pics up this awesome mountain valley. This was just like fishing in northern B.C.! And 3 hard bobber downs and 2 hooked and landed in a saweeet pristine steelhead holder was the icing. The second one was about 13 lbs. It's the first one I need help with because it was the biggest steelhead I've caught in years. It looked to be in the low 20's because it was so thick! I left my vest in the truck with a tape measure in it; only brought a baggie of jigs and floats down to the river. So after holding the played out big buck tailed upside down to calm it, I measured it with my fishing rod; butt cap to mud mark. Then I used my 2 hands (9 1/4" handspan = 18 1/2") and couldn't get them around this thick long fish. It must have had a 20" girth. I tape measured the length mark at 39 1/8". I haven't measured many fish and haven't landed a big steelie for a long time, so I don't have the weight formula to use. I am suprised it's girth to be slightly more than half it's length. Is this common for native OP steelhead? If somebody knows the accurate formula for the weight please post it for me. Thanks much. Both fish were a bit crisom and greyish but still light on the belly and great fighters in good condition. This combo of scenery, fish, and solitude put me in paradise for a couple hours!!! And made up big time for a fall in the Hoh earlier in the day, getting me wet throughout. - RT

OK RT you the man I might have a lead on those pink worms for 2.63$ per bag will let you know.RON

RT plugging your #'s into bob's handy conversion table your steelhead came out to 20.18064516129032 lbs. If you go to the reports page there's the handy dandy convertometer (that's technical talk) have fun playing around with it. That's a nice steelhead 6 1/2 lbs bigger than my biggest so far. Now it's time to start putting a hurt on the springers.

-Ryan

Hey RKB, didn't you hear about me cleaning one Forks store out of all 17 bags of their 4 inchers yesterday? Sorry if you needed any of those Bob . ...

Thanks for the figures Ryan. I'm trying to remember here, I think ... ah ... oh ya, it was 49 1/8" long . Nah, but dang; my own record is 20.5 lbs. and this one was 20.2 lbs. by formula. Thought I had it beat by a little. In 30 years of serious fishing why can't I catch a monster in the mid-20's like so many seemed to have done. Oh that's right. Most of that was in Oregon and our fish aren't quite as big. Less net marks though.

stealie equasion

two formulas I use for steelies. girth times girth times length divided by 775 or 796

RT,

Don't forget the easy way to measure fish in 6" increments..........with a dollar bill

I'm happy to hear that you got a 20+er and hopefully that big steelie will hold you over until next year when I'll put you into another one you know where That is, if the state gives us our C & R seasons back up here on the hush and the shhhh

I have two sewing tapes in my boat, one in my vest, and one in my car. This way I always have a way to measure fish since 20+er's are getting rarer and rarer. When fishing is hot, I wear one around my neck for easy access, baby

RT,

Nice fish.

To answer your question of girth in proportion to length; it's not uncommon. The O.P strain collectively can produce some real footballs.

Recently on a grays harbor river,I had a buck that mirrored your measurements and a hen that was 38 inches with a girth pushing 20 inches!!
Absolutely beautiful fish caught the same day. When the planets line up around here it can make for some truly exceptional fishing.

Justin,

RT was going to use the "dollar bill" method, until he reached in his pocket and the only thing there was a receipt for 20 packs of pink worms

Fish on........

LMAO!!!

Dan you hit the nail on the head!!

Hey Justin, speaking of hitting the nail on the head ... I do have one thing I ALWAYS carry with me, but it can only measure fish up to 8 lbs.

The formula is Length X girth² ÷ 777
Thats right about 20lbs. Anyway you look at it thats a hawg steelhead. Good job RT!
Maybe next year I can get into a big boy. I plan on fishig the upper Quinalt next year. 2 days guided, 2 days unguided. I may need a partner for this trip.

Please just dont hire any of the O'neils. They just love to boat race! Me too . Does anybody know what there problem is? I ran into the youngest on the river this weekend.

WR, the upper Q closed to fishing on 3/31, but it is pretty up that way too - just not as many fish get all the way up thru that big lake to the upper river there. The west side OP is full of suprises, including smaller tributaries that have many huge steelies in them. It is a great place to explore. Oh, and the Olympic National Park protection of the old growth forests are really cool to look at. Lots of huge tall cedar (I think) trees and nature's moss decorated coatings and wild ferns, etc., etc. Just rad!

RT

RT, Way to go on catching that big bruiser of a lifetime.Thats's a nice fish.Some of those big ones can be tough get get to move for an offering in those cold OP rivers.BTW what was the water temperature?

Hi RR, and thanks.

Let's see ... the water temperature was ... hmmm ...trying to remember the exact reading .... ah, COLD. But not too cold. ... Looking forward to meeting you sometime. - Steve

Every once in a while, one of us gets to know the water temperature more intimately then we would like.