25" Monster Rainbow

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Fishing all morning catching some nice trout with my good friend Paul,
i saw this fish slide up to a feeding lane and made about three casts with my caddis/pheasant tail tandom rig, when he rose slightly and took my size 18 P.T.. The battle was on, i was fishing my Sage Z-Axis 9' 3wt with 6x tippet, so i had to take it easy with this 25" Monster Bow. The fish took off at break neck speed into a deep pool with my fly line melting off my reel and the backing now thru the guides, i was thinking he would break off at anytime. After a great battle with the rainbow warrior my partner gently slide him into my net. After a short period of rest he swam out of my hands and back into the pool where he came from. what a great day!!! good friends and good fishing

Nice one
AND, on a 3wt.....

Thanks for sharing that.

Well won trophy. A lot of things must be done right for things like this to happen. It will be nice when, in the near future, more carry cameras that can film rather than stills. Thanks, bet it was a fish of a lifetime.

Nice fish! I've never even caught a stream run brown that big. When a bow gets that big around here, we call them a steelhead.

Well done.

Bob Bolton

Nice job. :D I think my 3wt would cry uncle if I hooked one of those.

Congrats on a great fish and thanks for sharing the pictures and report

Flyguy,

Man that is a Monster! :shock: Thanks for sharing the excitement. 8)

awesome fish! Bet that was absolutley incredible on a 3wt and 6x!!

That is one beautiful fish! Congrats!

Skip

JC, that's about the 12th fish of a lifetime that Jim's caught, this year! lol. Jim, was that were I "suppose" to meet you guys?

Nice fish! Got me drooling for sure.
Thanks for sharing,
Mike

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Originally Posted by J Castwell

Well won trophy. A lot of things must be done right for things like this to happen. It will be nice when, in the near future, more carry cameras that can film rather than stills. Thanks, bet it was a fish of a lifetime.

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First off Flyguy 5910, THAT is an awesome, fish, congrats to you that is a fish to build memories from..


JC are you saying that we can post a digital film? to the BB.

and if so HOW?

I just deleted a good one of the fish that wrecked my wives reel with a mad run to the bottom of a pool..

Bet Flyguy5910 knows how that mad run feels, and that feeling OH BOY I hope the hook holds. :lol:

Ray,

You upload them to your photobucket just like the pictures, and then copy and paste the video code here on the board...

Or you could just post the direct link..either way works.

Holy cow - what a hog! Great fish - love the fact that you saw him, stalked him, caught him then let him go again. Nothing like having that fish in sight - then working to get the strike. I love it when it works out!

Good for you - great fish!

Nice fish!

Sure beats the 5" bluegill I caught tonight :D

Jeff

My question is when does a rainbow cease to be a rainbow and become a steelhead? I've heard 17" is the change point.

Joe

C'mon Joe...you can't be serious...nothing to do with length :shock:

No?

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

That is a beautiful, sleek fish. Well done.

Ed

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Originally Posted by ducksterman

C'mon Joe...you can't be serious...nothing to do with length :shock:

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Mea culpa, mea culpa. I certainly am serious. If I had the answer I would not have asked the question. Based on your reply, I wonder If maybe I'm not knowledgeable enough about all this stuff to reply on these boards. Hmmmm? Maybe from now on I'll just ask questions that I absolutely know the answer to.

Joe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joe Valencic

My question is when does a rainbow cease to be a rainbow and become a steelhead? I've heard 17" is the change point.

Joe

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Rainbows vs. Steelhead

Steelhead are an anadromous strain of rainbow trout. That is, they spend most of there life in the ocean or in the Great Lakes and return to tributary streams to spawn.

Rainbow trout are the landlocked form, so to speak, as they do not have a tendency to migrate from one body of water to another. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission plants steelhead rather than rainbow trout in the Lake Erie drainage.

Identifying Steelhead

There isn't an easy way to tell one from the other, because they are the same species, Oncorhynchus mykiss. If you fish tributaries to the Great Lakes you are catching steelhead.

Steelhead can be separated from similar-looking coho and chinook salmon by looking at the inside of the mouth. The mouth is completely white in the steelhead. In the salmons, the mouth has some gray or black. Steelhead and other deepwater, big-lake rainbows are more silvery than stream fish, with less of a side stripe.

Their genetic background traces back to ocean run (migratory) rainbow trout brought here from the Pacific Northwest. Our landlocked rainbows have also come from the West, but probably did not come from ocean running strains.

An even bigger debate among steelheaders is the genetic variety or strain of steelhead caught. Some fish come from stock from the Skamania River, maybe you've heard anglers say they catch these steelhead. Often they are more sleek, not as wide at the 'shoulders' but fight like mad.

Landlocked rainbows will migrate and take on some color characteristics you will see in steelhead, but don't grow as large.

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Originally Posted by Magneto

Identifying Steelhead

There isn't an easy way to tell one from the other, because they are the same species, Oncorhynchus mykiss. If you fish tributaries to the Great Lakes you are catching steelhead.

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Magneto,

Thanks for your clarification. Based on this information, and the location Jim is from in Western NY (Steelhead Country), and not knowing is this fish was from a Great Lakes tributary or landlocked, we really cannot determine if his catch was a rainbow or a steelhead. I know many fishermen who call all of the steelhead they catch "rainbow," probably more to puff themselves up when they catch a 12-14# steelhead, which is huge for rainbow, but not trophy for steelhead. I have caught many steelhead in this size range, but not on such light tackle.

Regardless if its a rainbow or its cousin the steelhead, it's still quite a fish on a small rod. Personally, I would not target fish that large on light tackle, but that's just me. I like to quickly fight and land fish that will be returned to the water, and that can be difficult with light tackle and light tippets.

Joe

I wonder how many millions of years it took for the steelhead double helix...or was it in RBT's double helix?....to change enough to make scientists think that there's a difference?

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

MM,
Good question!
Me wonders as well.

Maybe someone who really knows the answer will jump in !

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

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Originally Posted by MontanaMoose

I wonder how many millions of years it took for the steelhead double helix...or was it in RBT's double helix?....to change enough to make scientists think that there's a difference?

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

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My guess is 2.5 million.
Doug