Who's this clean-shaven, handsome fella?

[cuttstosteelies]

Steve minus the chin squirrel.....
Had to, buddy......

[cuttstosteelies]

No worriess , this pic was taken well before the "out-of-water" rule........

[Moose Eyes]

If you took that pic today his beard would cover the adipose anyway. 

[younggun]

HAHAHAHA, personally i like the beard!

[chum77]

wow thats a big boy nice going man!

[fishpimp]

justin
wtf  ? you silly bastard 
it's a chin beaver not a squirrel.


it's just a beard though,a little bushy but just a beard. i haven't seen my chin since i was 13 { i should say chins, i have mre chins than a small chinese village or atleast i think i do , i don't remember }

anyway that was a good fish, i fished it 2 days that week and landed 4 fish 1 was about 18lbs 1 was about 5lbs and 2 were over 40". that fish was the 28th of december and the bigger of the 2 came the 2nd of jan.

i seem to catch all my  really big steelies in december. does anyone else do this too or am i just a weirdo? i have caught 10 really big steelies in my life and all but 2 came in december{ 1 was jan 2nd and the other was march 16th}

 

[Fast- eddy]

WOW, One young looking dude there.I think I have seen that picture before.......

[Juan de Fuca]

I have caught a few bigger bucks in December/January too. Some real oddities that didn't seem to match the water I was fishing. Not the biggest, but taking  the cake this year was was a bright 37" adiposed intact buck I caught this on Thanksgiving!

[fishpimp]

I have caught a few bigger bucks in December/January too. Some real oddities that didn't seem to match the water I was fishing. Not the biggest, but taking  the cake this year was was a bright 37" adiposed intact buck I caught this on Thanksgiving!

erik,
 on one of those neat little rivers up by  you we have spoke about  . i know herzog said he caught his biggest steelies ever in that whole system on thanksgiving day while silver fishing{ it was a big nate} . some rivers i think get some early big fish. i know i have caught a few really dark nates in the upper teens in january. they were really dark . go figure 

[Juan de Fuca]

I have caught a few bigger bucks in December/January too. Some real oddities that didn't seem to match the water I was fishing. Not the biggest, but taking  the cake this year was was a bright 37" adiposed intact buck I caught this on Thanksgiving!

erik,
 on one of those neat little rivers up by  you we have spoke about  . i know herzog said he caught his biggest steelies ever in that whole system on thanksgiving day while silver fishing{ it was a big nate} . some rivers i think get some early big fish. i know i have caught a few really dark nates in the upper teens in january. they were really dark . go figure 

Steve,

No, it wasn't the "Peachy" stream. It was a really unsuspecting location, about a stone's throw from the saltwater.

On another note, I hate to say it but the "Peachy" stream is full of people and very few fish this year. The last couple of visits I have seen heavy signs of pressure throughout the entire stream! Tons of Elmer Fudd tracks at every whole every time. This is the first year I have seen it like this and probably won't be back this year. Even in the really hard to access spots, it is being fished by several. I am starting to wonder if the economy out here is catching up with the fishing? I have noticed a lot more local pick-up trucks streamside during the mid-week, on all systems. I can't blame them, if I weren't working I'd be spending more time on the river too.

P.S. I would of ordered about 8 dozen 3' Bubble gum Spanky's from you, but I am attempting the ridiculous and strictly fly fishing for the duration. However, not a day goes by that I don't think about giving in and placing an order. I can't do it, must quit cold turkey, must not give in to perfectly molded leadheads arriving from the RVRMan either. Must quit gear, akldfjalsdkfjdfjlsjdf............. .nymph..........swiiiiing.....pass up good water.........tweed jacket.............Orvis......oh gosh kill me!

[younggun]

yum yum yum, pink worms in the steelhead tum. hahaha. Steve-y wonder wats going on with the fishing, u get out like u said?

[fishpimp]

[

P.S. I would of ordered about 8 dozen 3' Bubble gum Spanky's from you, but I am attempting the ridiculous and strictly fly fishing for the duration. However, not a day goes by that I don't think about giving in and placing an order. I can't do it, must quit cold turkey.

dang it erik, you upset the spankys         
you may just get a bag of them to mysteriously show up in your mail box.  i even have a few prototypes in stretchy just for you     

[bugnuts]

OK...now I gotta join that fray.  The perfect situtation, Eric, would be a pink worm like one of those two on a jighead under a "strike indicator" fished with a floating line (aka braid), on a rod about 9'+ long, and a long leader (splitshot optional).    Sounds a bit like your fly setup, doesn't it?   

Too many years fighting that battle and too few fish...I succumbed to the masters like B Mac and dardevle and starting looking for "peak efficiency"...   Nice pic Mr. Kramer. 

[Juan de Fuca]

[

P.S. I would of ordered about 8 dozen 3' Bubble gum Spanky's from you, but I am attempting the ridiculous and strictly fly fishing for the duration. However, not a day goes by that I don't think about giving in and placing an order. I can't do it, must quit cold turkey.

dang it erik, you upset the spankys         
you may just get a bag of them to mysteriously show up in your mail box.  i even have a few prototypes in stretchy just for you     

Steve,

Sorry it took a while for me to get back to this post (I took a slight detour to Central America, but am back now.)

 I just may have to dust off the gear rod for "testing" purposes. I have some killer RVRFSHR jig heads (super depth finders with negative ballast tanks) that mysteriously arrived a while back that really need to be put to the test. If you are alluding to Super Stretchy Spanky's I may have to give'm a go. I could seriously see 15 fish landed on the same worm of that material. That stretchy worm material is bomber.

[Juan de Fuca]

Bugnuts (and others that care to be bored with my philosophies),

I hear you loud and clear. However I've come to the terms that my goal is not about catching numbers of fish and my frustration comes from accepting this realization. I really get bored catching multiple steelhead over and over on a gear rod, not too mention I have an internal dilemma about hooking and playing a lot of native fish (somehow I have convinced myself that catching less fish via fly rod is better than handfuls of fish on a gear rod). Using the fly rod gets me back into the element of trial and error, and unexpected things still happen, which is more rewarding in my eyes. With gear fishing I feel the outcomes have become too predictable.

  I feel that with a fly rod I am way less effective for several reasons: 1. I can't cover near the same amount of water in the same time, therefore more strategy in regards to daylight is implemented. 2. I refuse to use a strike indicator while fishing a fly, therefore I don't have the indicator crutch. The lack of strike indicator has really allowed me tap into unknown sensory skills, somewhere between "using the force" and witchcraft 3. Fly casting limits the water I can cover and requires more strategy and thought for approaching the water I want to cover. (casting and spooking becomes much more of a factor with fly gear, for those of you that didn't know that) 4. Switching between swinging (like hardware) and nymphing (like float fishing) is just a matter of presentation not a gear change (for most of the set-ups I use). 5. The retrieval ratio of a fly reel compared to a gear reel is another crutch removed and hearing and seeing your fly line rocket through the water is pretty darn cool.

Obviously there are a ton of comparisons between float/jig fishing and nymphing for steelhead. And there is no doubt in my mind that I will be a better nympher because of my float/jig experiences. However, if we wanted everything to be easy we would just fish for carp.