Very Late Spring Steelhead from Shore

[stealhead]

We got a bit of rain on Friday so I decided to see if there was a final push of trout into the river. Headed down to the river mouth and it was jammed with people - as was the lower section of the rest of the river. I didn't really feel like fishing with a pack of people so I put away my float setup, pulled out my 10' spinning rod and headed over to the break wall outside the harbour. This turned out to be an excellent decision.

On my 4th cast out into the Bay this absolute beast clobbered my spoon. It put up a hell of a fight and I barely managed to net it from the break wall. I only snapped a couple pics while it was in the net and none of them do it justice. I haven't been fishing for very many years but this is by far the biggest steelhead I've ever seen in person. Didn't have my scale unfortunately - last time I make that mistake. I've caught several 7-8 lbs trout and this was easily more than double that without a doubt. Thick as a football (CFL, not NFL)!

Was this an awesome fluke or is it common to still be catching bows from shore at the end of May?

[jam1324]

From my limited experience I would say the water temps this year and last have stayed cool enough into the first week of June at least for trout to still be in shallow. From what's I've seen Bay temps are still in the low 50s near shore and the trout hang around until it starts getting into the 60s. Nice looking fish!

[sluggo64]

Nice healthy looking fish bud.

[Alscott]

Last Thursday the bay was very calm, my better half and I went out in the canoe, decided to take my rod. 4 casts with a rapala and had an 18" follow my cast to the canoe, 10 mins later wife pointed out a 24" swimming under the canoe.