Hughes 7/11,12

[IA bowhunter]

Went to Hughes for the first time friday with my 4 year old son, fished for a few hours in morning and evening caught a few shakers 150-185 fow kevorkian and steely dan did most of action moved out to 300 fow and got into steelies on divers with spinnies and atomiks flies dont know the names. Saturday morning was a different story- 150-185 fow 2.5-2.9 on GPS marked alot of fish hooked up with 12lber turned around to go back through and gone, decided I would do a nw troll and wire goes, spent 30 minutes shuffling rods around and trying to steer boat and trying not to have my sons snoopy rod that he decided to put in the water wrap around the line(nightmare) and landed a 23.5 lb steelhead.

The big question no i am not in the derby, unfortunetly :evil: Last week out of oak orchard I caught a 22 lb steelhead and no I was not in the derby :evil: I didnt show pics last week because attheoak there was a young boy that caught a 22lb 44'' steelhead and wasnt confident in the scale I was using and my fish was only 34 '', so i used 2 scales today and 23 & 23.5lbs 37''decided to use the 23.5lbs I didnt know steelies didnt get as big as kings as this is my first year targeting salmon and steelies and thought about mounting the 22lber but figured I would get something bigger, Woody told me I was nuts that i put the knife to it, that that size fish isnt everyday so when I got this in the boat I already knew where it was going. I know everybody is telling me I am nuts for not getting in the derby, I just dont get up to lake o enough as i would like but as you see im suffering for not getting in now for the second week , I will be in every derby from here on out!!!

Chris Jolly is was nice meeting you and your father and talking with you, and Hughes is a nice quiet area, not alot of traffic, plus closer to home.

[Chromeslayer]

the fish in the pic is a def a king

[Zebedee]

Glad to see another newbie doing well on the big pond! I've been watching your posts on Seneca (I fish the north end). I just started fishing Lake O last year myself. At least that Fish didn't HIT the snoopy pole! I bet your son was pretty stoked when you pulled that fish in the boat!

[IA bowhunter]

Zebedee, my son was stoked when he saw it in the water and a little nervous at first when it was in the boat but kept wanting to look at, you get a little spoiled when you fish on lake O, and then have to settle for Seneca lake, Lake trout, no comparison!

I got stopped by the DEC a month ago at Oak Orchard and they wanted to take some fish samples, I think they were interns, I told them we caught 3 kings and to my surprise I had 1 king and two steelies, they told me a few ways to tell them apart, I cant remember everything they said but do remember the distinct dark green with black spots on the back. From the pic you really cant see the green and black spots to well, I dont know if its because of the sun or how Im holding but it had alot of green on the back, the taxidermist also took one look at it and said that is a very nice steelhead. It wouldnt matter to me what I caught as its the biggest freshwater fish I have ever taken, just be kinda a shame if i put something on the wall that really isnt what i thought it was.

[Tim Bromund]

IA Bowhunter,

If your taxidermist told you the fish in the pic was a steelhead, you need to find a diffferent taxidermist who at least knows how to ID fish. That is, with 100% absolute certainty, a king salmon.

Nice fish by the way

Tim

[Legacy]

IA bowhunter,

i hate to burst your bubble but by the looks of things, what you have is a big king. the black mouth and gum line give it away. a steelheads mouth and gum line are white. all in all a nice fish.

[IA bowhunter]

Thanks for smoke checking me guys, either way happy with the fish, Legacy, so that is the easiest way to tell them apart is by the mouth- kings have black mouths and steelheads have white mouths, thanks for the info, All in All had a blast, just wont brag about something I dont have again,

[Tim Bromund]

IA,

That'll do for a start. As you gain experience (by catching more of each of them), over time, you'll be able to tell at a glance whether it's a king salmon, coho salmon or steelhead. They really don't look anything alike if you know what to look for. The mouth, the shape of the anal fin, the shape and spotting pattern of the tail are quite different on each of them and once you learn to recognise the differences, they jump right out at you.

Brown trout and atlantic salmon have the same issue, they look similar but there are subtle differences to tell them apart, not that you'll likely catrch many atlantics on Lake O. Of course as a finger lakes fisherman, you probably already have a lot of experience differentiating between those two species.

Tim

[woody 184]

Paul really nice King there bud. I told you that boat is a fish catching machine.... How did you like Hughes Marina?...How many fish did you boat in the two days there?..... Let me know when you want to get back out there to fish.....Dale

[IA bowhunter]

Woody

went 9-14 or right around there with a mix of kings and steelies, one less steelie and 1 more king, . except for a few on friday morning seems the wire was 2 or 3-1, i'll look you up next time I get up that way, I met Chris and his father up there, nice guys!

[woody 184]

Paul you had a heck of a weekend... Very nice..... Hughes is a great little place and the people there are great to.... Glad you had a chance to meet Chris and his father they are really good people also and very knowledgable about fishing. Nice going this weekend and get signed up for the Fall LOC.........Dale

[Fishstix]

Nice king. Glad you had a good day at Hughes.

Wait till they really turn on there.(Ive got a campsite there}

Im thinking there were 4 boats out on Sunday..NICE

[IA bowhunter]

Fishstix you fish out of Hughes quite a bit, I see your out of Candor-right down the road. I am thinking about getting a camper and parking it there. I like the quietness of the marina/area

[muskybob]

Congrats, definately a nice king. This might help you out a bit in identifying them: http://www.great-lakes.org/fishid.html Also, most of the tackle shops carry small fish ID cards that you can keep in the boat.