Took my little bro out today, 2nd time fishing for steelies and got him into this one!


Its always cool to see someone catch their first, even if they didn't put in the two years of wading 200 miles of river, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, losing hundreds of dollars in tackle, and struggling through the sleepless nights trying to answer that one all important question..... "What does a steelhead bite feel like anyway?"

nice fish really nice fish. perfect first fish

Plug Cut: Has that fish got a rudder? Hate to be the one to ask the question, but it sure looks like it has something a bonked fish shouldn't.

Someone's gonna ask..might as well get the Q/A out of the way.

Mike

Mike, it is a non clipped Indian hatchery fish. Don't worry, well aware of the difference in dorsal fins between a hatch and native, and still under the 2-1/8" credit card too

I almost put an explanation in the post, but figured I'd wait for someone to bite

MMMMMMMMMMM ???????

My eyes get blurry from lack of sleep, but am I seeing an intact ventral and adipose fin?
I didn't know the dorsal fin had anything to do with whether you got a ticket or not.
And it looks like a freakin cold ass morning. Makes my twig and berries shrivel just thinking about it.

Geez, tough crowd, but I wouldn't expect anything less from pp!

Vince....beautiful day on the river only chilly for the first hour or so!

Yes it has all of its fins....yes it is a hatchery, and yes it is totally within the regulations to retain. Take a look at the ONP regs sometime when your googling

Thanks for your concern. I never have bonked a nate and never will. In fact, I'll be the first one to talk someone into releasing one if it looks like they're planning to keep it

Good luck,
Plug Cut

Look at the dorsal fin, and relax boys.

Awesome fish, man. Props to your brutha!

I am not a back field quarterback, Really nice fish.

Awsome fish. We were on the bank couple hundred yards below you. We went 0 for 4 to the net. Congrats to your bro on his HATCHERY fish. Hopefully all who wondered have checked the regs.

Great fish Plug cut . It amazes me how people are so quick to chime in on a steelhead with fins, and not a chinook or other salmon for that matter. anyhow looks like a great day..

Matt

I did try and check for the special regs, but they written so well they would confuse a tax attorney.
And oh yes it is a tough crowd.

Queets?? its obviously a hatchery fish, and if it is the queets the lazy indians dont clip them, so it goes to the credit card rule, and dont blame people for jumpin on the fact that it has all the fins, this sites #1 consern is conservation, and not knowing the rivers rules then it appears a native to most

beautiful.....sure wish i caught that today instead of the skunking i just got handed to me

I know about the dorsal fin rule and all but does anyone else think they should lose all federal funding for failing to clip fish? i know its not really a big problem with the steelies since not as many are caught at sea but how can they still pull this scam on salmon........has it been banned yet?....

it makes me mad to think about throwing an unmarked bleeding coho back in the water that you know is gonna die and very well may be a hatchery fish......can they still scam us with this lack of clipping or did that ever get changed?

ps reyns_tgl- time to change the tag line......my kittens beat your puppies....and they even tried to coug it

lupo,
I watched a show once where they had a blonde indian trying to justify why they wouldn't clip their fish. Somehow he kept a straight face when he looked into the camera and stated that the salmon was a sacred fish and they didn't believe in maiming it.

My feelings ... hatchery fish = 100% clip, period.

Cool to see some brats coming ... guys for the next few days postponed and I was hoping to go try for a few ... now I get chore duty

NICE, NICE FISH....don't let all the jealous hatters intimadate you. They should just beleive you and be happy that someone got their first fish. I'm just as concerned as you guys, but give the guy a break....anyways nice fish man. Hopefully many more to come...Hatchery that is.

that's totally awesome. Your little brother will never forget who put him on his first one!

So Bob what you are saying is that if YOU fished the Queets or Quinault, you would C/R all your steelies?

I also agree with you Bob, you just never know 100% if its a hatchery or native, its not worth the risk. Let em' go...

PS, beautiful fish.

I totally agree with clipping ALL hatchery fish. It seems ridiculous that they can get away with the current process.

Peter, in my opinion, if you see enough of these hatchery fish vs. natives you can tell probably 95% of the time by the condition of the dorsal fin. It is impossible to regulate the fishery with a subjective method like this but used in combination with the 2-1/8" regulation, it is a pretty fool proof way of knowing for sure. And yes, I have released fish with dorsals that fall below this mark, but are obviously native, that's the 5%. I've also turned away many nice hatchery fish as a result of the 2-1/8" rule, even with chewed up, deformed dorsals, if the fish is over about 12lbs it is usually larger than this.

It's an easy fix but those responsible might need a little help....pullin on their shoulders to remove their heads from the place they seem to be might be a good start :p