By the way, Barrier called and said they found my backpack. Fished the Toutle Early yesterday and got ripped to shreds by what I thought was a pig silver. Turned out to be one of the brightest buck steelheads I've ever caught (not to mention a true native). My buddy and I estimated him to be around 12 or 13 pounds. Got a quick pic and sent him on his way. Didn't catch anything else on the Toutle yesterday but that made my trip completely worth it. I've never had a winterrun tailwalk like that. The tail was completely covered in lice. What an unexpected thrill.

...very cool, will look for picture

What made you "think" that the steelhead you caught was a "winter run" and not just a late wild summer run?

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

12-13 pound native? sounds like a summer run to me. but who cares you still caught a chromer. thats what its all about!. FISH ON!

The Hoh gets a small number of fresh wild steelhead in late Sept through Early Oct. Ive caught a handfull Sea Liced mature looking fish from early sept through late October fishing for salmon. Very fat unlike your comman summer run ive always asumed they were a fall strain or very early element of the winter run. Ive never killed one so I dont know how far sexually developed they were. But some of the hottest fish I have ever caught. And most of them have been 8 to 14 pounds.

i got a steelie on the green river last wed, it was a hatchery female which i think spawned in the river naturally, cuz she was skinny lookin..

At first, I thought it was a fresh summer run but everyone around me insisted that it was a winter fish. Who cares! It was unexpected nevertheless.

Fromcutts, my neighbor volunteers at the catch facility on the Northfork just above the mouth of the Green. Last week they had a winter steelie in the trap. So congrats on what i will consider your first winter fish of this year.

Congrats! That would be one very early winter fish, but I believe it's possible. Having said that, it's nearly impossible to determine summer/winter stock of an individual fish during October because sexual maturity is so close to the same (in the case of wild fish). It comes down to morphometrics, that is, what does the body shape indicate. And that isn't foolproof, as a timing overlap like this easily allows for interbreeding among fish bound for the same area. I do remember catching a wild winter run in the Green once in early November, just above the Toutle confluence, back before St. Helen's blew.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.