Steelhead jacks?

Did my anuall first of june fishing trip and had a blast.After doing a search on waders here on this sight I broke down and bought some dry pluss two's....Do not know how I suffered throiugh rubber hip waders for so long.

Found a 25-30 lb steelhead in a canyon where there should be none.

Broke my favorite spoon tosser,She just plain wore out.

Shortly after breaking the 10'6 I caught my first fish on a fly!

Now to the question at hand.For the first time ever I had to share this section of river with a couple of local guys.They were what alot of the city folks would call redneck crackers,but I resemble that so I stay away from such language.They proudly showed me a pile of fish that if I did not know anybetter would have to say were winter jacks. 3 of the five were 18" and milking as they layed there.Full traditional steel spawning colors.Unless there are trout spawning in the spring around here..?I have fished this river section for twenty years and never ran into as many of these as I have this year.I would have to say that if I added these fish to the ones that I caughtlast jan-feb I would say I seen thirty of them.I have heard thought here on this bourd that jacks are indicitave of a healthy run?Would love any facts concerning steelhead jacks!

Any chance they could've been sea-run cutthroat? Spring is their spawning time, and the size sounds about right.

Those may also have been those hybrids we spoke of? E-mail with details Bro!

No 4salt they are not cuttys definately steelys

check your mail goose.

ltlcleo -

Congrads on the fly caught fish and condolence on the loss of a pet rod.

The native rainbow trout of our rivers are spring spawners with much the same timing of our winter steelhead. In fact I would consider the two (rainbows and steelhead) to part of the same population. With the cool spring (?) much of the spawning has delayed or prolong so it would not be surprising to see more fish in spawning condition then normal for this time of year.

Where the fish of different sizes?; typically the rainbows spawn at age 4 and 14 or 15 inches with the second time spawners being in the 17 or 18 inch range. Any females? Generally I haven't seen or heard of an unusual number of Jacks this year so suspect that the "mystery" fish were indeed resident rainbow trout. Don't know where you were fishing but in recent years a number of streams have had more restrictive regulations (catch and release, selective gear restrictions, etc) which seems to have resulted in more resident rainbows in those rivers. Are there restrictive rules in place in your "canyon" river?

Tight lines
Smalma

Smalma,
Thanks for youe reply I was hoping to hear from you.

I took the spoon chucker breaking as a sign from the fish gods,It is fly fishing or bust this summer!

I suspect the same thing.These fish were caught on a river with restrictions.The fish I caught on the fly rod was a female and the poachers had a couple also.They were two sizes exactly like you described.Unfortunately the poachers took every thing that they caught. These guys were actually fishing in a flat between two canyons that are very dificult to get into.They are steep sided and narrow and fast.There really is not any spawning habitat within these cliffs so the fish,I suspect leave the canyons to spawn in these flats.The ones I saw this winter I believe came out to feed on steelhead and dolly spawn.I also nabbed fifteen dollys in the same spot last winter where I have only caught a couple in twenty years.I have noticed an increase in size for the last three years,so I think you hit the nail on the head.I have caught a few in the past but never have I seen this many.

Thanks for the info I was unsure of resident spring spawners.I was under the impresion that they were fall spawners.This cold spring may have had some thing to do with seeing more of them.

Email me if you are interested in the specifics as to where.

ltlcleo -
No needs for specifics - a fisher needs their "Zippers". The best are those found by individual explorations.

Careful with the long rod - it is additive!!
The "Dollies" are a great fish on the fly; nicely filling the space between steelhead. They take many of the same flies as steelhead including skated dries.

Tight lines
Smalma