2014 Steelhead Report Card

To fish for steelhead in California you need to purchase a Steelhead Report Card for around $7. It’s not much and is more of an entry ticket to fish for one of the greatest freshwater gamefish in the world than a fee. You have to “BEFORE YOU FISH” enter where you are fishing and date it. Once you’re done fishing, you indicate how many you caught and kept (if you kept), what kind you caught (hatchery or wild), and worst of all, how many hours you fished.

Your ratio of hours fished to fish caught will always be super low. It’s one of the perks of fishing for steelhead, recording that you spent countless hours chasing a fish that you most likely won’t catch. I love it. The risk for reward payoff is huge and the challenge keeps fishing interesting.

Steelhead. Ah yes… The fish of a thousand cast. 10% of anglers catch 90% percent of the steelhead. 90% of the steelhead hold in 10% of the river. Summer-run, Fall-run, Spring-Run, Winter-run. Egg-bite. All of these sayings associated with the great and almighty Steelhead. I’ll tell you one thing I’ve learned about steelhead, the hype is real.

I just thought I’d share my completed report card for 2014. I never thought I would finish filling one of these out and needing to getting a new one. These numbers don’t show fish hooked and lost which is greater than fish landed and recorded. I’m a pretty average experienced steelheader.

Steelhead Statistics
21 Steelhead for 141 hours fished
3 Most steelhead caught in a day
4.7 average hours fished a day
11 Wild Steelhead (52% Wild Steelhead)
10 Hatchery Steelhead (47% Hatchery Steelhead)

14.8% Chance of landing a steelhead per hour
56% Chance of landing a steelhead in a day
6% Chance of landing multiple steelhead in 30 days