Giant Westport Steelhead

[jeffro]

Used to fish Bush point and Ft. Casey areas from the beach, saw some dandy’s caught!
Spin & Glo with a mini squid with basic steelhead drift rigging. Mostly pink and pearl.

Caught numerous Steelhead off the same beaches.  Haven't fished for them in the salt off the bank of Whidbey in a long time.  Used the same patterns... Except once for the heck of it I put a green squid and a blue and chrome Spin-n-glo on there and landed 2 that day on that rig at Ft. Casey.  Might have to go try it again this winter.

Gary

[SeaRun1]

Can someone post the fish on here. I don't use that stupid website but I wanna see the fish! Lol

X2 please.  Would love to see it.

I caught hundreds of them in the salt up in SE Alaska.  Unfortunately I was on a seiner.  I threw as many as I could overboard as soon as I was able but many didn’t make it.  Never liked that much.

SR1

[LongBomb]

21.90 lbs

[SeaRun1]

Thanks!  Nice steelie!

SR1

[jackelope]

I’ve never caught a 20+ pound steelhead but I think it’s fair to say that the fact that the fish was caught in the ocean is way more a shocker than the size of the fish. I texted my stepdad just for the sake of conversation. He’s caught 4 over 20# on a fly rod in his life but he’s fishing some of the best steelhead water in the world I guess too.

[bradslam]

Can someone post the fish on here. I don't use that stupid website but I wanna see the fish! Lol

X2 please.  Would love to see it.

I caught hundreds of them in the salt up in SE Alaska.  Unfortunately I was on a seiner.  I threw as many as I could overboard as soon as I was able but many didn’t make it.  Never liked that much.

SR1

Same here when I was seining back in the 80's and 90's. I tried to toss the steelies overboard, but it was inevitable that some would end up in the hold.
We smoked the ones that did. One of our buddy's (the Dreamland) caught a massive steelhead one opener. I can't remember if it was 44 or 45 lbs when they delivered to the tender in Craig, but I remember it being a couple of pounds bigger than the recognized world record sport caught fish at that time. Just a huge, beautiful fish.

[Pete112288]

Heck of a dandy there, especially being a hatchery fish. I have seen 2 personally that are in that size class. 1 summer run hatchery in the Columbia and I caught a native that was a few ounces shy of 20lbs in a winter run a decade ago or so. Was a heck of a fight being on 10lbs test in a creek that was only 10-15 feet across. Haha. At the time never thought a fight of a fish in that small of water could last as long as it did.

[C-Money]

Once again that is a great fish! Glad the fellow got such a dandy. I truly believe if a guy wants world class Steelhead fishing, the Great Lakes is the place to go! Of course Lake Michigan gets a lot of attention. The real gem is probably Lake Erie. Erie has a huge steelhead population. Weather targeting them in the summer out in the lake or in the fall/winter in the tributaries, Steelhead fishers do excellent!

[pd]

Nobody is going to believe me, but.....

When I was first learning how to fly fish (I was in college, and nobody around me had ever fished with that method), my wife and I waded into the broad Columbia in what is now northwest Pasco, across from Richland.  September, probably.  I caught a steelhead about that size.  I was so shocked, I immediately took off my sweater, wrapped the fish, and hightailed it back to my parents' house, and immediately cooked it on the BBQ.  No cameras in that day.

I have no idea of the weight.  It was every bit as long as that, but not as thick.

Best fish that I have ever caught.

[plugger]

I'm thinking Quinault hatchery fish.

[Crunchy]

I'm thinking Quinault hatchery fish.

Bingo. That’s where my money is also.

[Onewhohikes]

I caught one once fishing for salmon off the beach in area 13.  Back when all the creeks had fish in them.

When was that?

[jackelope]

I caught one once fishing for salmon off the beach in area 13.  Back when all the creeks had fish in them.

When was that?

Right after the Big Bang. Refer to the other thread.

[Jake Dogfish]

I caught one once fishing for salmon off the beach in area 13.  Back when all the creeks had fish in them.

When was that?

Right after the Big Bang. Refer to the other thread.

 

[dilleytech]

That’s such a huge steelhead. Maybe when they get that big they are actually fun to catch lol. I have probably caught around 500 steelhead and the biggest ones were all that 12-14# class, maybe about 8 fish that size. Never seen one larger in person. I know a guy locally who caught one that was 32# back in the day. I couldn’t even imagine..