trout/steelhead trip 05/11/09 (pics)

[Ice_man_08]

Me and a buddy mark went out for some trout yesterday at a river in Rockford and found a nice little pod of steel under the 10 mile bridge so using our 4lb test and ultra lights ( i had a 7' and he had a 5 1/2 ') we ended up each getting a nice steel under the bridge and continue down stream. i end up getting 1 nice brown and a nice bow under a willow tree as well as hooking anther steel but mark feel in while trying to net it and landed on my line and broke me off. ended up getting 2 more big trout before the pump hole, ( now i am at 4 keeper trout BTW all where released) he gets a nice bow just down river and i end up getting 3 more before the oak street bridge. by this point we are like 2 for 5ish on the steel.... we fish down further and find the mother load of steel! must have been 30 fish on 3 diff beds and they were hitting EVERYTHING raps, egg sucking Leach's, spinners, ANYTHING. we fishing from 10am till almost 7 and we caught more then 50 trout and 15 or so steel.... could not take pics of everything but from what we did here are the pics.

[fishsniffer]

nicely done jay

[GLF]

Nice job Jay!

[fishsniffer2]

Good job Jay, Looked like a lot of fun!

[Orvis Endorsed]

Nice looking browns! Always seems to be a few really nice resident trout in that stretch.

Quite possibly the ugliest and nastiest looking steelhead I have ever seen...surprised they are still in there.

[Nailer]

Great job on the Trout Jay. Those Browns sure look nice.

[Priority1]

Nice pics Jay. That's one heck of a day on the river.

[Orvis Endorsed]

You also might want suggest to your buddy to wipe the milt off his waders before each picture:lol:...those fish must have been really excited.

[Orvis Endorsed]

d00d...you may also want to hold the fish like your milt-covered buddy...tail them and cradle your other hand under them, rather than jamming your hand up their gills. Unless you are going to string the fish up (which I hope you didn't do with these nasty fish), shoving your hand up their gills will do them NO good if you are releasing them. Their gills are their lungs, and are easily damaged, rendering them useless and resulting in the ultimate death of the fish. Best of luck in the future!

[Ice_man_08]

d00d...you may also want to hold the fish like your milt-covered buddy...tail them and cradle your other hand under them, rather than jamming your hand up their gills. Unless you are going to string the fish up (which I hope you didn't do with these nasty fish), shoving your hand up their gills will do them NO good if you are releasing them. Their gills are their lungs, and are easily damaged, rendering them useless and resulting in the ultimate death of the fish. Best of luck in the future!

all fish were successfully released

[Orvis Endorsed]

all fish were successfully released

Not trying to start anything but when you hold a fish with your hand/fingers in its gills, you can damage them. The effects might not be immediate, and they may swim away fine, but may die later. Your fishing buddy perfectly demonstrated the proper way to handle a fish before release, by tailing it and supporting the midsection with his other hand. It also makes for a better picture, IMO.

The MI DNR fishing guide suggests the following for releasing fish:

Keep your fingers out of the fish's gills since a torn gill could cause the fish to bleed to death.

Good luck!

[Ice_man_08]

thanks abdul