They're Still At It

[craigdritchie]

Took an afternoon stroll down to the tiny creek at the end of my street and happened across this guy. A bit late to the party, but looking pretty good considering how low the water is.

 

 

 

Nice fishie, maybe 30 inches and 10 - 12 pounds? You're seeing pretty much the whole creek here, you can easily jump across it in spots.

 

Not sure if he had any friends.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Craig_Ritchie

[huzzsaba]

Isn't that salmon? Didn't know they come up this time even if a little late or a little too early. If that is the same creek I go to once in a while, then I saw a nice lonely steelhead there last week around the same size you mentioned. Once it saw me, it started playing dead lol and let the current carry it back into the rapids.

[Mister G]

Looks more like a bow/steelhead from here.

[huzzsaba]

 

Looks more like a bow/steelhead from here.

 

 

I don't doubt you. It looks like this one I took a photo of last fall caught by someone at a local creek. I am sure the one in my photo is a salmon, chinook perhaps. I am still learning to differentiate them

Edited May 10, 2016 by huzzsaba

[MJL]

Great pic Craig

 

I would imagine the vast majority of fish in the smaller and medium sized rivers would be done spawning by now. Even the dropbacks have mostly vacated my local rivers. The past few weeks I've been hitting one of the bigger rivers and have been getting into a good number of fresh fish that still haven't spawned yet. I guess we could still see spawning fish into the end of May/Early June.

 

 

 

 

I don't doubt you. It looks like this one I took a photo of last fall caught by someone at a local creek. I am sure the one in my photo is a salmon, chinook perhaps. I am still learning to differentiate them

 

Rainbows/steelhead (especially males) turn a similar dark brown/dark green colour (with a red stripe down the side) when they migrate up river to spawn.

[craigdritchie]

Great pic Craig

 

I would imagine the vast majority of fish in the smaller and medium sized rivers would be done spawning by now. Even the dropbacks have mostly vacated my local rivers. The past few weeks I've been hitting one of the bigger rivers and have been getting into a good number of fresh fish that still haven't spawned yet. I guess we could still see spawning fish into the end of May/Early June.

 

 

 

Rainbows/steelhead (especially males) turn a similar dark brown/dark green colour (with a red stripe down the side) when they migrate up river to spawn.

 

Thanks Mike. The poor thing stood out like a sore thumb in this little brook. I was quite surprised to see it there. Hope he makes it back to the lake okay.

 

Pretty sure I know where you're fishing. One of my spring spots still has a ton of dropbacks hanging around, but I haven't seen a pre-spawn fish there since opening week. Now that the water has warmed up, they're almost impossible to land. I've been getting a lot on spinners. The hits are absolutely murderous, just crushing it. After a couple months of finesse fishing with the centerpin, it's a treat to chuck hardware and have your arm almost pulled off!!

 

 

Isn't that salmon? Didn't know they come up this time even if a little late or a little too early. If that is the same creek I go to once in a while, then I saw a nice lonely steelhead there last week around the same size you mentioned. Once it saw me, it started playing dead lol and let the current carry it back into the rapids.

 

Trout and salmon can be tricky to tell apart when they're sitting in the water like that. Most of the time the gill covers are the key - red on spawning male rainbows, and green on chinook salmon. The photo doesn't really show it well, but this guy is all rainbow.

 

I don't think anyone fishes this particular little creek, it really is just a tiny trickle that runs through some suburban back yards. The fish was sitting in one of the largest pools, which is maybe the size of a Toyota and possibly a foot deep LOL! Made the fish look as big as a lake freighter!

[kickingfrog]

 

 

Not sure if he had any friends.

 

Been there. At least I've got hands.