2009 » December

All around the states of Oregon and SW Washington winter steelhead fever has set in for most river anglers hungry to capture that trophy Metal. The thing is….at least for the metro-area rivers….we need the Winters to show first.

I don’t think there is a more ambiguous distinction among the fish we chase around this part of the country beyond the difference of a summer steelhead to a winter steelhead. Think about it: You can’t have a conversation about a steelhead being caught this time of year without the “was it a summer or winter” conversation. AND, that conversation seems to go every which way but up depending on who is involved.

There doesn’t seem to be many disntinquishable features between the two except for historical data on a particular river suggesting a common return date for Winters versus Summers, some genetic background that may or may not be relevant and geographic normalities for that river. For example: According to the State, Winter steelhead are not found east of the cascades. While this is fairly known to most of you…what is NOT known is HOW to identify a WINTER steelhead from a LATE Summer steelhead in a river that receives both run returns.

In preparing to write this article, I spent about two hours on both the ODFW and WDFW websites using every search word pattern I could think of to find some kind of literature that suggests a way to distinguish the two….OTHER than the arbitrary date that each state sets….. This date I speak of….is not the long thought of “Thanksgiving Day” that most of the old-timers talk about…but rather just a few weeks beyond that.…there is absolutely NOTHING listed that will put this debate to bed. Go ahead: Try to find something to contradict me. Anywhere on line. It’s a dare.

This being said, unless you are on a river where a biologist can tell you something specific about the hatchery clippins (Left Ventral Fin in addition to common adipose clips) I cannot find one thing to shed some light on this issue. During a normal year…UNLIKE the year we just had with all-time record returns….an angler can usually tell the difference by the quality of the fish and whether or not it has spawned. Well, with summer fish coming into the river all year long and in the record numbers I mentioned……an angler can NO LONGER tell which is which….essentially because the runs are overlapping.

I work in one of the biggest tackle stores around…..and I see this discussion every day. If you are a reader of Allaroundangler and have some insight for my readers….please do share. Otherwise, I am so tired of the discussion I could never talk about it again and feel just fine. Don’t get me wrong: If a fish is downriver (having already spawned) then it’s pretty damn obvious…so please don’t comment on some no-brainer stuff like that. AND, don’t be surprised if some of those fish you think are downers are not. Skeins in skinny fish happen all the time.

Honestly? I think you have Chromers, bright fish and not so bright fish. Screw the Summer versus Winter arguement. It’s tired and old and this article is the end of it for me.

Cheers and tips.

Chris “H3llcat” Heller …..

Chris Heller is a life long freshwater fisherman born and raised in the Pac NW…he specializes in teaching people how to catch salmon, steelhead and sturgeon from the bank. Chris fishes with a crew of anglers known in the area as Team Salmon…….Chris has created the only ALL ORIGINAL content, primary river-angling website that is preferred by anglers who really know or want to get to learn their sport…..