OntarioHunter
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Easy call. Salmon fight like hell and walleye not so much. Both are great eating, although I understand salmon is healthier.
Fish, Fowl, Fur
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Panda Bear
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Dave, actually we fish for Lake Trout and Northern Pike when food is the only goal as they can be in excess of 40lbs. per. But yes Salmon also.
Also, I was asked abut seals and walrus and those are mammals not fish. Seals are still hunted and they provide several different products to us. Walrus is not my favorite animal to deal with but yes they do supply us with several different products, including Ivory. Canada is not part of the Ivory ban. although the U.S. is--
BackofBeyond
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You can have your raw authentic experience, I’ll take the second kind of fun induced by suffering through low 20’s temps, frozen beard, try not to crack my @$$ on the ice covered rip rap of the Clearwater.
Irrelevant
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When I think steel I think Feb/March, coast, leaves off, moss covered, grey skies that periodically change to bright spring-time sun filtering through the canopy, the occasional light drizzle, and slightly off-color deep green runs... If I could just get up to the Situk.
rtraverdavis
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And when I think of steel, I think of blistering hot late-July, sleeping out on a roll-a-cot right next to the river in my board shorts, waking up at 4:00 in the morning covered in caddis and spiders. Then, after slugging down a bunch of iced coffee, watching the canyon turn from grey to golden as the sunlight creeps it’s way down the west walls and I creep my way down through a run.
jhudson1
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Sockeye salmon
Hungarian Partridge
1 of the 3 species of Bighorn in Nevada
Mountain Lion
Hungarian Partridge
1 of the 3 species of Bighorn in Nevada
Mountain Lion
shrapnel
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Mica Man
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When you catch one of these on a flyrod it's pretty easy to become fascinated by them.
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Fullquiver
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I
I've caught more than the average bear.. I live in West central MI between some of the best steelhead water outside of Alaska. Used to think if I didn't land 150 a season I wasn't doing it right. I've caught several over 17 lbs. Just don't think that they were all that and a basket of peaches... It was a phase for me. One that once considered I moved beyond.. Just don't see it..
OntarioHunter
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We have steelhead almost out my back door and over thirty-three years living here I've caught exactly zero. They fish for them with spey rod and egg sacks. The spey rod is essentially a big cane to drop or flip the egg sack into current of rather small rivers/creeks. Truth be told almost all steelhead are taken by snagging. The waters are so full of herring spawn, it's almost impossible to get steelhead to bite on anything artificial. And of course anytime they do bite, they'll inhale the bait sack and be mortally wounded. That might not be so bad if they didn't taste awful. Cleaning up on herring and eggs leaves them greasy and smelling/tasting like catfood. That's not my idea of fishing.
In Alaska I had trophy rainbow fishing three minutes from my door. Nineteen to thirty inches was the norm and strictly catch and release. I used 8 or 9 wt outfit and mostly a minnow pattern or wooly bugger. Bait not allowed. It was lots of fun till the salmon started to run. Then forget the bows! They fight like hell but no comparison to sockeye. They give you everything: run after run, jump after jump. I'll never forget the first one I caught. I was all set up for big rainbows when suddenly this fish slammed into the fly, jumped once doing the tarpon walk, then on a run and breaking me off all in the blink of an eye. My reel blew up into a birdsnest before I had a chance to palm the spool and slow it down. All I could do to keep from losing the rod too. What the HELL was that. "Your first sockeye," responded a fellow ranger watching from the bank. After one season the drag was completely worn out on that new 3M reel.
VikingsGuy
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Catch a dozen of these before lunch and you might have to change your mind . . . They definitely outfought 30 lb muskies.
Where's the negative
I need to arrange a trip for you to fish blue marlin in Florida so you can add --unsettled stomach, sunburn, a "fish-fight" you wont soon forget and sore muscles
rtraverdavis
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Deal.Where's the negative
I need to arrange a trip for you to fish blue marlin in Florida so you can add --unsettled stomach, sunburn, a "fish-fight" you wont soon forget and sore muscles
Irrelevant
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I've certainly not caught 150 total in my life, and only one right at about 18 lbs, all I can say it that for me, it checks all the intangibles of what fishing show be, a difficult and beautiful fish to catch, but not too difficult, one that fights like hell, not two are the same, located is some of the most beautiful places. I mean to float the Sol Duc on a spring day... it just doesn't get better, even if I never touch a fish all day.
Salmon are great and all, but you're either in a boat on a big water body, or plugging some deep hole, and they just don't fight like steel does, they're slabs of meat that just turn in the current once they hit smaller water (of course there are exceptions). Other fish might be easier to catch or fight more per oz but when you talley it all up, I just can't see beating steel.
My only complaint is that we simply don't have hardly any. Nothing in NCW ever opens anymore. The sound is shut down. The coast is almost entirely shut down. What's left is combat fishing. If I'd known what I do now 20 yrs ago, I would have taken a 2 year break between HS and college and just fished steelies.
The important thing is to do what you enjoy, not what someone else thinks you should do-----and---you did --and the memories will always be there---good for you!!
this is possibly a completely different thread
---but I understand your point .
OntarioHunter
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I caught plenty of big lakers and bull trout in Flathead Lake in my younger days. They ranged up to forty pounds and anyone who really worked on it could catch at least a couple of 30+ pounders a year. And then what? Even smoked they usually had to be burnt to a crisp to get the stinky oil out of the meat. Pound for pound they are boring to catch. Hardly fight at all until they see the boat. Then they just use their weight on runs. Ever seen one jump? No, of course not. I have never caught a muskie but plenty of big pike. I'm sorry, no comparison. Not even close. A ten pound pike way outclasses a twenty pound laker for fight.
There is something about sportsmen that makes them think bigger is better. Being just over six foot tall, I guess I never had to prove myself being big enough to shoot or catch big things. Note that I didn't toss moose or elk at the top of the list simply because it's a big deal to get a big horned animal or because they supposedly taste the best. For me the challenge of hunting (defined as stalking) is the important ranking factor ... because the challenge provides more meaningful memories. Any idiot can shoot a cape buffalo over a waterhole while sitting on his arse in a blind. Chase one around in the thick bush and that is something quite different. Not easy to get a shot at one when playing the game on their terms and on their home turf. Easy enough to get stomped to death instead. Similarly, for fishing I find the challenge of stalking trout with a fly rod much more rewarding than dragging a minnow around in a boat for a walleye. Mind you, I do both (pretty much zero fly fishing here) but I will always rank waders and fly rod at the top. Yeah, walleye taste great but if that was the ranking factor, I'd just buy lobster at the store. Much better eating and probably cheaper.
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I listed trout as they are also steelhead, sea run rainbows. My dad taught to fish & for trout. I was lucky to have the coastal streams nearby. The Sierra's.
And occationally you would hookup with a steelhead. 4lb test with 1lb leader. Fun.
Almost as much fun and some of the best eating is a 4lb crappie on the same rig.
I've only caught a few dozen salmon. 1 Tyee. But one of my favorite fish for eating too.
Now the turkey is good eating & large. Obviously some here don't know jack about turkeys and food.
Pheasant & grouse close ,but small.
White meat ,tough call. Wild pigs or cougar. Hmmm. I'd eat an old lion before an old boar any day.
And occationally you would hookup with a steelhead. 4lb test with 1lb leader. Fun.
Almost as much fun and some of the best eating is a 4lb crappie on the same rig.
I've only caught a few dozen salmon. 1 Tyee. But one of my favorite fish for eating too.
Now the turkey is good eating & large. Obviously some here don't know jack about turkeys and food.
Pheasant & grouse close ,but small.
White meat ,tough call. Wild pigs or cougar. Hmmm. I'd eat an old lion before an old boar any day.
VikingsGuy
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Your personal experience does not trump that of others. Your personal size is irrelevant, but if you must know I am taller than you, so not sure what that says. As for your other ramblings - I don't care. This is a simple thread for folks to express their personal opinion - nothing on this thread can be properly judged as right or wrong - just folks' preferences. You are quickly getting yourself labeled on this forum as a miserable sod, so maybe let simple harmless threads path without injecting your perpetual crabbiness.
and ducks suck mud.
OntarioHunter
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Just expressing my opinion about what matters most to me. Obviously hauling in big lazy greasy fish means a lot to you and I know you're not alone. Some of my best friends still get a kick out of fishing for big Flathead lakers, including my very best friend brother. Fortunately most of the laker snakes they catch in Flathead these days (I think the limit is still 35/day?) are excellent eating thanks to FWP introduction of mices shrimp ... which totally trashed a fantastic kokanee and world famous bull trout fishery. But there's still a few big grease balls left in the lake (in fact they have to be released even though FWP is supposedly trying everything to get the laker explosion under control - thanks to charter boats influence peddling). Anyway, don't get your shorts in a knot just because I ride a different wave. And I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings debunking claims about lake trout being some kind of spectacular fighting fish. It just ain't so and anyone with any experience has to agree. They are a bit more frisky when hauled off the shallow spawning beds but not much. Typically a seven pound laker will hardly ring the bell on my pole and maybe not even trip the downrigger release. Same size salmon at the same depth from same boat on the same day will almost break my pole when it hits! It is what it is.
