Must be Chromer time...

[iliketofish]

Hello all. I seem to have turned into a bit of a lurker...
Anyway I just thought I'd share some recent Clearwater metal-head success. Lately I've been chucking lures from the bank down by Lewiston and there seems to be an absolute pile of fish down there. I went out before work on Tuesday and this morning for about an hour and a half each. On Tuesday I landed 4 chromers and got a bonus salmon. This morning I only landed three but the third was bigger than the first three from Tuesday put together! Bear in mind I left both days by 8:30 am!


Here's my bonus salmon. I've been working on a species list of my own. This 12 lb dude gets to be my species number 73! That definitely made my day. -and don't worry he was gingerly released after a couple of quick pics. I don't think I even took him completely out of the water.
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Here's my big buck from today. Sorry the picture is kind of crappy. I forgot my camera and had to improvise with my phone... I totally thought I had hooked a fall Chinook for about the first 7 or 8 minutes. He ended up stretching the tape at 39 inches long and 19 inches of girth! He was by far my biggest metal head ever (by like 6 lbs!). [inline "39X19 inch buck and foot.jpg"]

I hope everybody else is getting the rod bent too!
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[STEELHEADKID]

Awesome fish man! That Coho is a sweet bonus!
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[SteelFan]

One word......Jealous!!!! Push them metal heads my way here in Salmon would ya..... I need my steelhead fix!!!!!
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[TexasTransplant]

Awesome specimens, iliketofish.

Were salmon and steelheads common in the Upper Snake and its tributaries before the dams and reservoirs were created?
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[windriver]

Good to hear from you. Great report as usual.

Windriver
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[mikkfin80]

Awesome fish man! I am gettin the fever bad! I am planning a trip up there the week of thanksgiving. I hope I can stand waiting that long. And I hope the weather will cooperate better than it is right now. 4 inches of snow on October 5th sucks!
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[hulapopper]

very nice ! what lure did you do best with ?
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[cpierce]

[quote TexasTransplant]Awesome specimens, iliketofish.

Were salmon and steelheads common in the Upper Snake and its tributaries before the dams and reservoirs were created?[/quote]

They could only come up as far as the falls near Twin Falls. So the Boise River and many others did have anadromous runs.
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[iliketofish]

Not the Upper Snake as CPierce pointed out, but definitely the lower snake and it's various tributaries. That's a topic for a whole thread of it's own. I think Lewiston Dam, among other things was especially hard on the Coho (and Chinook for that matter) . The coho were officially declared extinct in Idaho in the mid 80's. The Nez Perce Tribe has been working on reintroducing them since about the 90's, with decent returns compared to how many juvies they're releasing.
It pretty much made my year to catch one of those. When I caught it there were only 1,800 of them upstream of Granite, compared to 130,00 steelhead... I just wish I could say that I caught it because of some skill or technique and not just dumb luck I also wish it could count as a state record. The current record is 6 lbs. I definitely beat that! though i know many others have caught them as well.

I've been using spoons...
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[osprey02]

17.6 lbs on that buck according to:
[url "http://www.myoan.net/fishing/weight_calc.html"]http://www.myoan.net/fishing/weight_calc.html[/url]

I'll be in Orofino 6 out of 8 weekends starting on the 15th of October~ We're fishing from a 17' NorthRiver Drift boat with a 6hp kicker. We did very well last year side drifting, skating flies and throwing beads on flyrods and are hoping and praying for like results.

My son and I had at least 3 different days where we netted 20 + fish. I'll post any days where we'll have an open seat if anyones interested in tagging along?
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[wannabeafish]

Nice that makes it hard for me o waite another week before i head out![]
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[iliketofish]

I'll see your weight calculator and raise you mine: http://oregonflyfishingblog.com/2008/05/...ad-weight/
This one puts it at 20.4. Needless to say I like mine better [laugh][laugh]
Either way it was my biggest ever.

I'm sure you won't have any trouble filling those seats either! I'm pretty good at filling seats..... []
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[chrome_junky]

awesome fish but it dens me also i went out twice last week just bottom bouncing some junk and never touched a fish. but they were rolling all over the place i mean it looked like the water was boiling with steelhead. i seem to have lost my touch. plus i still have not mastered spoons or spinners for steelhead im not sure if im fishing them right. but anyways fantastic fish.
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[osprey02]

[indent]I like your calculater better, even though I've found on trout and many andromadous species which are longer and leaner than bass, muskie, mine speaks a little more truth. [:/]

I won't have an open seat this weekend, I've found taking my marine mechanic out, always pays bonus points later in the year.

I'll post the next seat as soon as I know I have one!
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[STEELHEADKID]

Biggest mistake I see people making that are new to spoon fishing steelhead is they cast and retrieve them as if they are trout fishing. Quarter your cast slightly upstream and let it swing down and across just like the spey guys. I would reccomend RVRFSHR spoons and spinners, great products at a great price.
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