What is Skamania trout?

What is Skamania trout?

Skamania steelhead is a species of summer-migrating steelhead trout the DNR stocks in Southern Lake Michigan. The fish is named for Washington hatchery where they originate. The DNR stocks the steelhead in the summer and the winter, which provides a nearly year-round fishing opportunity.

What do Skamania trout eat?

Skamania, like other steelhead species and unlike salmon, continue to feed when they begin their run down the river. They respond well to anything resembling their natural food sources such as fish eggs, mayfly nymphs, larvae, leeches, and even minnows.

How is fishing on the Trinity River?

The Trinity is legendary for its salmon and steelhead fishing by drift boat or walk-in riverside spots, as well as for trophy brown trout. Chinook salmon are the most sought-after gamefish in the Trinity River system. Spring-run salmon begin to enter the river in May and provide trophy fishing through November.

How can you tell a Skamania trout?

Skamania are fairly easy to identify. They are long and slender, while their Michigan-strain cousins are usually shorter, fatter and more football-shaped. Both types of steelhead are bright silver when they begin their spawning runs, and they each develop a pink stripe on their flanks as the run progresses.

What is the difference between steelhead and coho salmon?

Steelhead have a mostly straight or square back edge to the tail. Coho have a more pronounced fork or V-shape to the back of the tail. Perhaps the easiest way to quickly identify a steelhead is to check the color of the inside of its mouth. The inside of any coho or chinook (king) salmon’s mouth is dark gray or black.

How big do Skamania get?

This creates a real bonanza for anglers who are anxious to catch one of these trophy-sized fish. Mature Skamania average 8 to 12 pounds, and often push the scales to 15 or even 20 pounds.

Is the Trinity River good for fishing?

From its origins high in the rugged Trinity Alps, California’s Trinity River tumbles through 165 miles of the Klamath Mountains and Coast Ranges. It’s the largest tributary of the Klamath, and for salmon and steelhead anglers it is one of the great, sometimes underrated fishing rivers on the West Coast.

Can you fish the Trinity River right now?

The Trinity River is open to fishing every month of the year, with the exception of the “Fly Fishing Only Section”, the few miles immediately below Lewiston Dam, which only opens to fishing from April 1 to September 15.