vicrider 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2016 Joseph, when we lived up north in MN you could always count on plenty of snow to pack your steelhead in the spring, and usually for a month after season finally opened for us around mother's day a quick walk in the woods with a cooler would give you plenty of packing snow for the first month of the season or so. I'd buy bottle beer and leave it out long enough for the bottles to start freezing inside. Sure, once in a while I'd lose a bottle but usually I was able to sort them this way into those clearly icing up inside for guests and those bottles with enough alcohol to show no signs of icing would go in to the select brew side of the fridge. 'Course, when we used to drink Grain Belt beer since it was cheapest you'd really have to watch it. I always heard their strong beer were the batches that only went a point or two past 3.2 beer so they never really had a 5-6 % beer like others. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riffleriversteelheadslayer 0 Report post Posted January 18, 2016 Ohhh yeah winter steelhead packed in snow only way to keep one fresh for dinner. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vicrider 0 Report post Posted January 18, 2016 Hey, Riff, this is the wrong spot but since you're one of the few who will admit to killing a steelhead to eat, did you ever try this. Gut, gill and clean thoroughly. Remove all fins and slit down back from head to tail. Stuff the fish with the same sage dressing you use for turkey at Thanksgiving. Shake some lemon pepper or squeeze some juice over the fish, then lay several strips of bacon drooped over the fish and wrap it in foil. Bake at 350 for about a 1/2 hour per pound but open and check flaking along back periodically after hour or so. We've done this a few times instead of turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas when we'd have friends over who were turkeyed and hammed out from other dinners over the holidays. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riffleriversteelheadslayer 0 Report post Posted January 21, 2016 Sounds good I will have to try it. We usually cut it into steaks boil water with 3 potatoes in the water place a screen above pot lay fish skin side up steam for 10 minutes checking for flaking after 7 minutes serve with drawn lemon butter. Tastes just like lobster. Warning discard the potatoes do not eat. My buddy ate them once and after the first bite he excused himself from the table and spent the next half hour in the bathroom. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fishingbobnelson 0 Report post Posted January 24, 2016 I'm tying some March Brown Flymphs. I recently found an old box of Eagle Claw Fly Hooks with an up-eye. So I will be tying on those. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fishingbobnelson 0 Report post Posted January 24, 2016 Sounds good I will have to try it. We usually cut it into steaks boil water with 3 potatoes in the water place a screen above pot lay fish skin side up steam for 10 minutes checking for flaking after 7 minutes serve with drawn lemon butter. Tastes just like lobster. Warning discard the potatoes do not eat. My buddy ate them once and after the first bite he excused himself from the table and spent the next half hour in the bathroom. We cannot keep wild steelhead in most rivers in the west. But once and a while I have kept a hatchery fish. Split in half, remove the bones, brush with soy sauce, lemon juice and melted butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay skin side down on a Weber charcoal grill over medium heat, add a handful of soaked alder chips and cover the grill and cook until meat flakes, check after about 10 minutes. Serve with fresh lemon wedges. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fishhead79 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2016 If there ends up being 3rd round I'd love to join soft hackles are my fav, which one to do will take longer to think of then to tye the flies because I love so many patterns. I just joined this site to get in on the swaps and I couldn't believe how many you guys got going on! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fishingbobnelson 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2016 Flies are in the mail. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikechell 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2016 Welcome to the site, Fishhead. Please introduce yourself on the ... wait for it ... "Introduce Yourself" forum, near the bottom of the forums page. If you're into swaps, this is DEFINITELY the place to be. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
breambuster 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2016 Fishhead, I'll put you on the list for round 3, but this swap is the only one we will be doing in the Skill Builder series that involves soft hackles. Last time we did nymphs, this time, it's soft hackles. Next time it will be either wet flies, emergers or dry flies. I had planned for wets, then emergers & then dries, but a member has asked that we do dries next time. I'm still mulling that one over. Please check the forum at least once a day. There are swaps starting up all the time, but they usually feel up with a day or two. Take care BB Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
breambuster 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2016 Thanks, Bob. I got your message. Thanks for the info. I'll let you know when they arrive. BB Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vicrider 0 Report post Posted January 29, 2016 BB, mine went in the mail today and I saved tracking number. Couple of years of good luck has run out for me and I just got back a package from the Christmas swap 7 weeks after I mailed. I made up for the loss already and same address worked fine the second package. Now I have a RTS coming from the my articulated nymph package which should have already been there. Well, it was in town but for some reason didn't get delivered and is coming back. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riffleriversteelheadslayer 0 Report post Posted January 29, 2016 BB wets are great for next run I will start mine tomorrow Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vicrider 0 Report post Posted January 29, 2016 BB, check this site if you want to make it wet fly run with classic winged wets the goal. http://traditionalflies.com/index.php?wetpost1930 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PJ2 0 Report post Posted January 29, 2016 fyi guys i sent mine two days ago. I have the tracking numbers if needed... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites