While I realize there has most likely been larger sport caught in-river steelhead landed. I thought I would put these pictures up if not for anything else but that it was interesting. I always heard the stories of Chuck Ewarts large steelhead but didn't realize it was hanging in a glass case in a hardware store out in the boondocks. 36 pounds was it's official weight.

I know of a larger mount.

I think your fish looks bigger Danny.

Hmmmm.......I don't know. I realize it was "probably" officially weighed and all but that fish in the photo against the yardstick doesn't spell 36 lbs to me. End of stick to tail, maybe add 6" so your looking at, perhaps, a 42" fish?? That put's it in the mid-high 20's. Certainly nice but not 36lbs. Fish would need more girth IMO.

Then to, my vision is going to hell so maybe I'm just out of focus!

Thank God photography and fish reproductions have come a long way!

theres more than 6 inches past the end of that stick... plus the fish is bent awkwardly and not laying flat, so add a few more inches on top of that...

not a world record tho, could have been in 54 i suppose... record is 41 or 42 pounds if i remember correctly...

HOLY S

that looks alot like a RVRFSTR 75/25 in that brutes face.

RagNSteel tell us the story of the chick in your avatar please.

Great Photo, Dave! Brute of a fish, but the grin is where it's at for me.

I agree a great grin on a great guy who has fished hard all his life for that fish.

Next step is teaching Greg how to hold a damn fish right!

Fish on...

Todd

I thought the same thing by the photo but the mount is definitely huge even if it is smoked looking.

For reference, there is a few skin mounted (commercially caught) fish that were both 45", one was a bit bigger and weighed 40 and 41 pounds. They were heading to the same river that Chuck's fish was caught.

Thats very kind of you doc.

Sorta funny, I always see people holding fish and claiming 24+ inch girths and think seriously?

Greg Nylander's fish in Dave's photo was 44" x 23.5 and did not look real!

That fish would measure a yard stick if it was bent a little.

While I realize that steelhead are built like tubafors (literally 2 x 4 proportions), as the bucks get beyond 40 inches, they do start to slab up more like a big king salmon, but never quite to 3 x 5.

Being the chinook junky I am, my whole world revolves around 3 x 5 proportions. Anything with a 2 ft girth or better is gonna be at least in the 40" range (give or take) which means it's up in the 30+ class. That's chinook proportions.

24" girth on a steelhead is gonna be a little closer to 4ft long! Holy Moses that would be one BIG A$$ steel. Does that fish exist? Usually only in someone's dreams.

That photo really captures a special moment. Greg has been fishing that area for over 30 years and has landed countless trophy steelhead. To see a genuine smile that big and that deep really speaks to a special experience. I can manage to crack one half that good after having been at it for as long as he has.

I think Danny is referencing the fish on display in the Smithers airport. Pretty impressive...all but the caught and killed in commercial net parts that is. Can't remember the dimensions, but something like 43" and 44" with live weight near 40lbs.

david white has the world record steelhead does he not? caught on a rod and reel? in the saltwater. it even won a "king salmon" derby because it was so big that the checker never thought that it was anything other than a king salmon. 42 pounds, 3 ounces, Bell Island by David White, 1970 it was missing one eye that was healed over. the fish was thought ot have a damaged pituatary gland that made it never go up into fresh water.

http://noelgyger.ca/photos-pages/alberto-skeena-flyfishing-steelhead-large.JPG

this fish was taped out at 46.45 inches in length, 26.8 in girth thats like....44lbs...wow

Dave, that slab looks like it could kick [Bleeeeep!] on a gator! Its head is bigger than a bear! I might have been nervous to step in the water with that slab swimming around!

uh...no way.

Not even close!

I'm pretty sure David White's saltwater steelhead is still the official hook and line world record anadromous steelhead, though they do lump in rainbow trooots and steelhead together in the record book, so some middle 40's trout from Idaho is the world record I believe.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. I've caught mid-20's fish as big as that 44 pounder...he must have been made of brass and lead.

44lbs my [Bleeeeep!].... a 25lb steelhead is nice enough why make it into a larger one?

Here is a 34lb steelhead. HUGEEEEEEEE

dont know if Steelhead in Slovenia are the same as the ones we have here... should be tho... but heres a 66 pounder caught there..

thats a salmon

http://mrriver.com/record_fish_pictures.html

its in the trout section... 2nd one down...

That looks like a brown trout.

Fish on...

Todd

I've never wanted to be one to trash on peoples estimates but I really have to agree. That is really rediculous.

Taimen

I was aware of David White's oddity but I was referring to an "in-river" sport caught fish.

Too bad a fish has to die to get into the record books. I will say that it's hard to believe some of these C&Red records even if they are somehow confirmed.

I guess I just enjoy the guessing game and sometimes I just don't want to know. It seems to make for good conversation anyway.

Not the right shape to be a Taimen...and I doubt there are any taimen in Slovenia, anyway...taimen have very skinny back ends, and live in Mongolia and Siberia, which are a long way from Slovenia

Fish on...

Todd

It's a Huchen aka Danube Salmon

Danube Salmon

Taimen live on the other side of the continent in Siberia. That fish was caught in Slovania. It's a Huchen.

Done deal.

Correct, as soon as I seen it it was a taimen. It's an oversized dolly if I remember correctly, well not literally a dolly but a char native to Mongolia and Russia. It's definitely on my list. 2/5 oz rvrfshr with 30 lb braid.

I retract my statement, todd proved me wrong before I even posted.

Amazingly beautiful river. Looked like a oversized bull trout with a catfish mouth. The angler apparently had a difficult time parting ways with his trophy.

On first seening the "Slovenia steelhead" my immediate thought was a huchen - in the few steelhead I have handled can not recall ever seeing one with out spots on its tail.

The huchen is found in the Daunbe drainage and is a closely related species to the Siberian taimen - some even think the two are just sub-species of the same fish. Both can get very large (over 100 pounds) though the largest taimen have exceeded 200 pounds.

tight lines
curt

learn something new every day...

i should have realized something was up with that page anyways... one of the world record brook trout is actually a spawning Dolly...

GOOGLE is your friend.... .... ....

.... .... ....

^^^ is that morse code for "im a dipsh!t"?

I figured I wasn't the only one who breathed a big sigh of relief as it finally swam away!

yeah, and thats they way to NOT handle fish, in case anyone ever wants to see...

I would think so, its in everyone of your posts.

God is that guy done FU@king that fish? let that thing go...
Anyone want to head out for an Mongolia trip?....

Bucket list:
1. Taimen
2. Silver Arowana
3. ATF

The World record Steelhead was caught by 8 year old David White near Bell Island Alaska in 1970.

Pacific Northwest Fishing Golden Years






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That "kid" is now about 49-50 yrs old.

Any of you Pugetropolis boys know him personally?

Are you serious? I do want to try for Taimen. I have the Arawana WTF is ATF

i read or heard from somewhere that the world record steelhead the 8yr old caught was abnormal.

there was a head injury to this steelhead. as in the injury numbed the part of brain that effected the spawn drive. this fish that was caught had never made a spawning run. the scale record showed it never went back to fresh water. it was basically a hybrid, explaining the large size. this steelhead could have reached the 50# mark if it was not caught.

has anyone else ever heard this?

I wish I had the $ for that trip....hopefully one day.
ATF-African tiger fish

brewer-yes, abnormal.

Not a hybrid, but it had a head injury, and only one eye...the head injury damaged its pituitary gland, and it never sexually matured...it just stayed out in the salt eating and getting bigger.

That's what I've read from a few sources, FWIW.

Fish on...

Todd

Read the same thing. I'm kinda surprised nobody ever experimented with scientifically altering the pituitary gland, much like they do with triploids, in order to get more growth out of them? Yeah, it seems kinda kooky but then again, humans have done a lot of kooky things.

from now on every smolt i catch is going to have head injury before i release it.

Any of you Pugetropolis boys know him personally?


I did but he died 30 or more years ago.

does anyone have a clue where this WR mounted steelhead is these days? it would be interesting to see how the mount is faring.

lol