Bonk!

skyriver · Nov 28, 2022

They do exist.

I won't do a poll, but just a fun question so everyone play nice.

This fish was caught today in a western Washington stream. I'll give you 3 different looks of the same fish.
Other possible useful info- Fish was 28" long and a bit gangly, but she pulled from a relatively short to medium cast all the way to about 30 yards into my backing. Very respectable for a skinny fish.

Summer or Winter fish?

First steelhead on the 12'6" Allen Olympic setup since picking it up from nice guy @Jeff Dodd back in July.

One more question...does anyone know what this fly pattern is called? I love the fly. Glad it grabbed this fish. I was starting to lose some confidence in it, but now it's back.

Had some fog, sun, rain and snow today. And some wind at one point that put some big leaves in the water. It was a good day.

Thanks,
Stacy

Greg Armstrong · Nov 28, 2022

We’ll done!

I’d guess summer run. Looks like it’s been in the river a while to me.
Nice looking fly too, but I couldn’t tell you what it’s called.

_WW_ · Nov 29, 2022

I'd call that fly a keeper.

JS · Nov 29, 2022

It almost looks like Bennett’s Last light…

Rvrfisher360 · Nov 29, 2022

What kind of line are you running on that rod?

Buzzy · Nov 29, 2022

Well done! No clue on the fly but it's a nice one.

Long_Rod_Silvers · Nov 29, 2022

JS said:
It almost looks like Bennett’s Last light…

I think that's what it is.

Paige · Nov 29, 2022

Summer run, Bennetts Halo maybe?

SeaRunner · Nov 29, 2022

Agree on it being a summer run

GOTY · Nov 29, 2022

Summer run, Bennet's Last Light. One of my favorite bugs.

Nice work!

skyriver · Nov 29, 2022

Rvrfisher360 said:
What kind of line are you running on that rod?

I'm running the line that came with the deal. It's a 500gr Rio Skagit Flight from back in the 2010s.
The rod is the 12'6" 7wt.
The Flight is longer than an OPST Commando head by 4 or 5 feet. I had a MOW T-11 5/5 on there since most of the runs weren't real deep.

With that light #2 fly on there it did great with normal snap t and double speys. I was even able to get in a couple decent single speys. The longer head on the Flight and only 5' of sinking tip helps that.

I'm assuming the Flight became some new model and guessing a bit shorter head length. I like it with the 5/5, 2.5' and floating tips. For 10' T-11 I like the Commando better.

skyriver · Nov 29, 2022

GOTY said:
Summer run, Bennet's Last Light. One of my favorite bugs.

Nice work!

Thanks for the confirmation. I'll make sure I always have some of those!

And yes, I agree with everyone. A summer fish most likely.
I thought the lack of red coloring and the white horizontal streaks on the tail so prevalent on fresh fish might make some people wonder. Another fly fisherman had caught a similar summer fish and he mentioned his was also not colored up much.

wanderingrichard · Nov 29, 2022

Looks like that fly wash developed locally;

Bennett's Last Light

The Last Light was developed by Michael Bennett of Pacific Fly Fishers and is a go-to pattern first thing in the morning and for the "last light" of the day in the evening. The mixture of black, purple and metallic blue has been a proven a winner.

pacificflyfishers.com

Hillbilly Redneck · Nov 29, 2022

If the egg skeins were small it's most likely a summer. If they were fully developed then it's a winter. I would think that most hatchery winter fish in the rivers now would be pretty fresh/bright looking.

Yardus · Nov 29, 2022

NFFR- Bobber down = Black Friday Steel. Hog of a winter run for this time of year. Skeins were fully developed and still tight. @Stonedfish should recognize the stick she road in on

Smalma · Nov 30, 2022

skyriver -
How did it look when you cleaned it?

After years like this past summer/early fall with elevated stream temperatures it has not been uncommon to see summer steelhead absorbing their sex products in efforts to stay alive. As they went through that process they would look more and more like spawned out fish - thinning and re-brighting.

Curt

skyriver · Nov 30, 2022

Smalma said:
skyriver -
How did it look when you cleaned it?

After years like this past summer/early fall with elevated stream temperatures it has not been uncommon to see summer steelhead absorbing their sex products in efforts to stay alive. As they went through that process they would look more and more like spawned out fish - thinning and re-brighting.

Curt

Yeah Curt. I believe this was a typical June or July summer fish. 28" long. She had more eggs than I thought she would, but then again, she was probably a healthy 8 lbs back in the summer. By now, she was barely 7. The meat was good, but not much fat. I grilled it last night and not much fat oozing out like it would have in June. Tasted good though!

I assume these are Skamania strain fish? Also, how do they brighten up while in the river? Her stomach was empty.

Can't believe how hard she pulled, but like so many steelies even though she was barely 7 lbs she had the prop of a 10 pounder. I'm not complaining about that.

Jeff Dodd · Dec 1, 2022

skyriver said:
They do exist.

I won't do a poll, but just a fun question so everyone play nice.

This fish was caught today in a western Washington stream. I'll give you 3 different looks of the same fish.
Other possible useful info- Fish was 28" long and a bit gangly, but she pulled from a relatively short to medium cast all the way to about 30 yards into my backing. Very respectable for a skinny fish.

Summer or Winter fish?

First steelhead on the 12'6" Allen Olympic setup since picking it up from nice guy @Jeff Dodd back in July.

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One more question...does anyone know what this fly pattern is called? I love the fly. Glad it grabbed this fish. I was starting to lose some confidence in it, but now it's back.

Had some fog, sun, rain and snow today. And some wind at one point that put some big leaves in the water. It was a good day.

Thanks,
Stacy