# The best trip of the year....and skamania!



## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Okay, I went fishing AGAIN(I know, I know.....!), but didn't plan on it. A guy at work had some family buisness and asked me to switch days with him, so I said yeah. Well I didn't plan on fishin', but my Dad asked me to go up with him, and I haven't went steelheadin' with him in a long time, and he hasn't went or hooked one in over a year. He used to go alot, but now that so many more guys go, and he's usually pretty busy, he just "can't get the bug", according to him, so when he asked, I jumped on it of course, he's the one who got me into it, and showed me how it's done, 11 years ago. So we get to Oscoda around 2-2:15, it's overcast, 32, and very windy, right out of the NE. He starts out in the pilings, chucking a spoon for brownies, while I start just down from the start of the catwalk. After 15 minutes, he's back, it's too windy for the 1/2 oz spoon, so I offer him my other drift rod. We move down under the handi-cap, and begin drifting. Well we hadn't made three drifts apiece when his rod tip starts throbbing, and after a good set, it's confirmed, fish on! His tip starts throbbing, and I see a big, long white belly shake upto the surface right in the rocks, big fish! She thrashes, then bolts out to mid-river, and sulks. Well he gets her comoing in, she shakes a bit, then she's right in front of me, 20 feet out. She then takes off, does the ol' roll/shake/and spin, and ping, everything! My Dad's got that "no way did that just happen look", and I'm really disappointed, I mostly wanted my Dad to get one, that was my goal, and he does and she snaps off, bummer man! Well, he starts re-rigging, I'm still pretty bummed, but throw out another drift, guess what.....? Jerk,jerk..jerk, set fish on! Well to make a long story short, after 20 minutes, and a distance from the handi- ramp to nearly the piling(a long way!), I land a mint fresh, 28.5", 10lb male! This is easily my largest fish of the season, and it's a gorgeous fish, white jaws, white, clear fins, can you say fresh-run? Both fish came on spawn bags, my Father's hen on an all chart.(netting/beads), and my buck came on an orange scale corky, with a chart./orange bag. Those were the only fish we had, but it was awesome to be on the river with my Dad again, and fight a couple big, fresh steelhead, it doesn't get any better, does it?

And one more smidgen of info, my bro went up after work today, and went 2-4 under nearly calm water, and bright sun, a 28", 8lb buck skamania, and a 25", 7lb spring male. Seen one landed off the pier, one lost in the rocks, and that's all.


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## sideshow (Jan 25, 2001)

How did he determine that it was a skam?! Were you up there on weds? Must have just missed ya cause I was fishing the handicap on weds afternoon.. were you the two guys leaving around 4? Ended up 2/3.. one small buck at the mouth the other two hookups upstream. 

Sideshow


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## GONE FISHIN(LARRY) (Dec 28, 2002)

Jon,
Looks like the torch has been passed to a generation,nothing better then when the sudent outfishes the teacher,just a little humbled and also proud when my son did it at age 10.Great fishin JON.


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Thanks Larry, it was the best trip so far, seeing the old man hooked up again was the best! Sideshow, I fished Tuesday, I'm normally off Wed., but switched with a guy at work. My brothers fish had a clipped adipose, and was very long and skinny, the head was very long and slender, but the clipped adipose was the giveaway to me. Is your upstream area a secret of yours? Just wondering because I was gonna ask you what general area(in a PM of course), just to see if your fishing similar areas as me, I've done quite well way up this winter, over 40 hooked since December. Lately though, one of my hottest areas has been completely dead, I haven't hooked a fish there in over two weeks. My other solid hole, quite a few people fish it at times, has been decent lately, the fish have been porpising the last three trips in this hole, and whenever that happens, well you know......


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## Krankem (Jan 7, 2003)

I have a bad itch.


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## sideshow (Jan 25, 2001)

They make a cream for that..


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## jeremy L (Sep 19, 2002)

> They make a cream for that


[email protected]


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## Orret (Sep 7, 2001)

Hey AuSable,

Adipose clips have been used on both Skamania and Little Manistee strain steelhead as part of a DNR research program. I would guess it was probably a winter run fish, as there aren't any Skamania stocked in the AuSable, but its always possible that this was a stray. You can turn the head in to the DNR so they can retrieve the coded wire tag, and they'll send you a letter telling you what strain it was and when and where it was stocked.

Orret


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## Krankem (Jan 7, 2003)

> They Make a cream for that


Not for my itch...if they did, my wife would have known about it a long time ago. The only cure for mine is a 2am departure from Ann Arbor to hit the river at daybreak, fish till I can no longer stand, pack up the truck, and make the 3 hour return drive while pounding mountain dews.


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## kingfisher2 (Mar 22, 2001)

I'm willing to bet it was not a skam.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

about 6 years ago - after they were not being planted for awhile. It was a spawned out hen in late March. She looked like all the Summer runs I catch on Western rivers in the Summer, except much skinnier (her head looked HUGE on her body) and all colored up. She whalloped a glow corkie and spawnbag @ 3:00am under a full moon as I was drifting behind a hump of spawning gravel. Dropbacks hit great. I quickly landed her and returned her to the water, but she looked pretty rough. She was probably 36" long and wouldn't have weighed 12#. 

I have caught a few small Skams in the Ausable in the Fall since then, but not many and not recently. They do stray.

Every other year or so I catch a Coho in the Ausable, and they haven't been planted on the East side in a long time.


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## sideshow (Jan 25, 2001)

canada plants an awful lot of strays and ther are starting to be spawning populations in both rivers north and south of the ausable. How do you determine that your fish are skams.. just by looking at them or by chopping the heads off and giving them to the biologists interesting to see what they say about them.


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## Lunker (Aug 27, 2001)

Good report thanks for the post! Might have to investigate the seetchwation myself.


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## kingfisher2 (Mar 22, 2001)

Good question sideshow, how are you guys telling the difference between the two. This was a debate a couple years ago on this site. We came to the conclusion that the only way to tell the difference is through a biologist. 

Marc


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## maxemus (Jan 13, 2002)

Great post A-S! Glad you and your father could get out. Is there a thread describing how to use corkies w/ spawn? Next to the bag or upline? Lately i've used some spawn bags with float beads in them. Any help would be appreciated. Love the AuSable


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## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

Nice post jon...nothing like fishing with the old man. I just wish my dad was more into it. Hopefully I can get him out there when I get home from school.

Keep wacking them Jon. Your making me jealous, lol

Cream, LOL


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Well as far as the skam thing, this past summer, I seen at least one steelhead in the coffer at the dam every weekend from early July-mid August, then didn't seen any for awhile, then around Labor day, seen a couple again. Most of these fish had blue-green backs, some were brown/olive, and all were only seen in the morning. I really don't think there would be winter-run fish in the Au Sable in July/August, with river temps around 72-74+. My brothers steelhead was long and slender, was a male, had a very long face, clipped adipose, a nd a #5 blk/slvr rapala in his mouthD ), my bro landed 2 that day, the other male weighed 7lbs, and looked totally different, he had a right fin-clip, and was much shorter, and stockier, he looked like a winter male.


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## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

Could they possibly be spawning in Van Ettan creek?


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## GONE FISHIN(LARRY) (Dec 28, 2002)

if they are that would most likely be in the pine,wich emties into vanettan lk.The river stats cool even in the middle of summer spring fead.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I realize that the only way to tell for sure if a Steelhead is a Skamania strain is to have a biologist verify it. That being said, most of them have very different characteristics than Manistee strain. Longer bodies. Not as deep from back to belly. Wider in the "shoulders." I catch them every Summer and know what they look like pretty well. 

I did not send the head to a biologist, because I let my fish go - she had just finished spawning and if there was a small chance of her eggs hatching and the young surviving, I wanted that to happen - again if possible. I don't believe the A has much natural repro, but probably some, and Summer run fish would probably be genetically more likely to survive, since they are able to spend Summers in warmer water.

I am just guessing at the smaller fish, but they had chewed on dorsals, so they were definitely hatchery fish of some sort. Skamanias are planted in a river in Georgian Bay, Canada. There is a pretty strong program, and they might stray to our side of the lake.

As for fish in the coffer, they really could be late-running Winter fish. The Ausable gets the latest Spring run in lower Michigan. June used to be a great month - you never knew if you would get late Winter fish or Skamanias. The fought great in June, too.


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