The FUTURE Of STEELHEAD In The NW... If We Actually WANT A Future Steelhead Fishing.

[Music] all right good morning addicts guess what here we are doing some early steelhead fishing typical nick pop-up going down the river in the dark well it's not dark now but we launched in the dark a little bit of light dude it's freezing cold out here what the hell are we doing i know there's nobody around it was freezing this morning but they still bite in the cold weather right they're steelhead the winter's stealing they're not summers all right that's right dude we're after wild broodstock today it's super early in the season we're trying to get some early fish there's a few fish around i don't know how the day is going to go we might get one we might get 20. because we're fishing with this guy so you never know like oh the pressure's on pressure's odd so it's early steelhead season and the three of us had this great idea to go out and try to collect some brood stock for the hatchery systems going on the oregon coast now we haven't even started our steelhead season i hadn't even been fishing much there's been a little bit of fishing going on down there at the river but we all three of us had the day off ryan nick and i and said you know what let's go out and just see what we can do but we were definitely gonna give it our best effort but when you're fishing with nick popov you just know damn good and well you're fishing dawn till dark [Music] oh he's gone mother what happened nick pop off oh i just hooked one and [Music] i lost him so hey at least there's a fish around there there was now he i mean i stopped his butt there was uh there was no biting that beat again is he no he's not biting that beat again but who knows maybe there's more than one maybe there's more than one oh heartbreak hotel i'm doubling dude i just had one in there as well we're going we're going full brood stock mode today yeah baby easy easy easy easy get up here just talk real quick you won't know we're here see this trick right here guys this is the rod and the river trick all you do is put your rod tip real low in the water i'm just reeling that fish is getting that push of water against the bobber and he thinks i'm pulling from the other direction and it keeps that hook pinned so i'm just gonna literally let the fish swim to me nice and easy i'm not fighting the fish i'm tricking him now i'm fighting him he's fighting he's fighting you be a wild it's the only time we ever go fishing right we want to catch wilds these early fish man we need them you guys need them everybody needs them ready there you go there you go you're good you're good no no keep it down give around the door dude he jumped up did you see him jump up nope one more time this is a lot of current ready we had to bail out here just because we got to get that box ready we didn't expect to get a fish so early dude that fish is gonna sit there and just chill in the water for a minute we're gonna get that tank ready and she's gonna go on a boat ride and give you guys some more fish to work with in the next few years it's just so incredible these fish are these fish actually are really resilient these anglers on these rivers catch hundreds a year and they bring them into these hatcheries and then they gotta hold them in the hatcheries for sometimes months at a time before they're ripe and ready to spawn she's gonna then get live spawn then they're gonna take those eggs take those babies and she's gonna go back in the water correct for another chance to come up the river it's just so incredible and they see like zero mortality it's barely any mortality any loss like at all and it's just an incredible such a strong genetic pool instead of keeping that the genetics these are the fish that are supposed to be here in basin genetics everything's right about this fish an incredible steelhead i'm stoked dude so early in the day too and just nick bust's a good one buddy i know that's a lot it might be the same thing dude you hooked up down there and i had another bite up there and it was like i mean those fish were squirting through right there man [Music] nice beautiful wild steelhead so we got this little aerator here basically just hooks to we got a box here with an aerator in it and it just hooks to uh our little battery there and it keeps that that box aerated keeps those fish nice and healthy i mean it's really incredible what those boxes will do even while we're transitioning them from here i mean you'll pull them out at the end of the day i've kept them in here for quite a bit and they just do a great job so super awesome let's go get this thing dude we're done let's go stay over no yeah right let's go it's a good dude freaking hey hell yeah nobody out nobody out here steelhead in the box oh man i'm stoked [Music] all right guys so we made our first float here and we we basically mission accomplished we came out it's pretty early we got a beautiful wild fish in the box here and what we're gonna do is we're gonna run this fish up and we're gonna drop it off and we weren't gonna just call it a day but it's such a nice day out i think we're gonna we're gonna head back up and go do a second float and hopefully find a couple more fish they're pretty few and far between but we scratched out one on that pass and got got a beautiful fish i couldn't believe it man you got you smoked that thing right out of the gate we had a couple other bites right there too so like you said we're gonna go try to chase the rest of those fish down i mean especially if you know like they're they're a wild fish you might have a might have another one her boyfriend might be up there waiting for us yes sir so stay tuned guys we're gonna run back up go drop this fish off we'll show you that here in a little bit look at her she's just chilling super relaxed super calm upright super healthy that's the beauty of this tank we got a great aerator in there it's just constantly pumping [Music] perfect beautiful there she is nice healthy hand there's a nice healthy buck in there this should be on every damn river in the northwest we do so much to these fish as far as our the habitat as far as development downtown seattle and portland and all these metropolitan areas and you want to talk about a way you can have a healthy wild fish these guys down here fishing on these river systems they haven't seen restrictions on their fisheries in 22 years for both wild and hatchery fish it's just it blows my mind and it's it's just such a simple concept you're leaving you're leaving the good healthy genetics you're implementing that into the hatchery system and then you also don't care if your broodstock fish go back and spawn in the gravel because then it's just helping the wild population you get that first generation turnover and like nick said you can see the negative of these programs now i can't find one negative of these programs yeah they've used these programs to bring so many different species or so many different runs of steelhead and salmon back from extinction correct why not it's crazy let me tell you a secret to you real quick before we do our second float if you want to go fishing with nick popoff there's a key there's a there's a secret to his heart and he'll put you on fish you got to bring him like just the most obnoxious candy so this is your reward bud second float i got you like all sorts of just terrible hey he's not joking either [Laughter] first trip to the broodstock tank we haul it up there throw it in there mission accomplished anything else that day was bonus but the day was still young so we put it on the trailer and we hopped back up river and said well screw it if we're going to find one maybe we're going to find some more [Music] round two boys we made it just launched talked to a couple bank anglers not much going on so we'll see if we can run into that little batch of fish we ran into this oh my morning what are you doing what are you doing dude literally i reeled down and he pop i saw the bobber coming back up one thousand don't let it run too far in there cam guys you know i better get in there here listen to your guide i know where to set a hook you are almost there though i mean one more down and but he did dude he was just one little quiver i would have just started to go down on you so we reset on the second float and first thing i go through one of the runs and i get a little bite and i miss and nick's every time a bomber goes i love nick to death but every time a bomber goes down man it's it's oh that was a steelhead and it's like i saw the bobber go blink doing and i'm like that looks like a trout and it goes there's no trout in this river there's no trout in this river dude all those trout all those trout that aren't in here i think he like bathes in berkeley just a hungry little bugger oh yeah oh god so stupid i haven't even caught a winter steelhead yet this year and now all i'm doing is catching small oh it's another trout [Music] nice cut throughout there here's a good one you guys stick brood rock get the tank ready get the tank come on get some water in there give me the bucket it's head shaking it is oh it's a good one petrified and i'm taking that one home you guys no we gotta put that one in the tank still looking still looking still looking no it's like a bunch of limb rocks or brood crocs brood sticks brewed logs brood twigs blue grass supposed to be brewed though we're getting off topic here we're after brewed stock we get into this one run and ryan's letting his gear go way down the river just i mean he's bombing it down there also when we hear the camera guy sean pipes up he never says any damn thing he goes hey he goes hey that looks like a fish that looks like a fish and ryan sets the hook on it and starts reeling to find nothing there i reeled down on it it felt weird it didn't really feel it almost felt like line and i just kept reeling on it reeling on it all sudden i get tight and it head shakes instantly i knew it was a fish it's a fish oh i just woke up it's a big fish dude it felt like a stick dude oh my god it hasn't woke up yet dude i'm pulling on it like line what the hell i thought i was hung up on line you guys like it didn't even move it just pulled all weird next thing you know fish on you guys we really want to get this in the boat for the broodstock program so you can see i'm really being gentle and letting her run when it wants to run come on go back down you saw earlier with nick you we like pulling these rods down and get their head back down to the bottom and they'll mellow out a little bit [Music] look at her just a diamond just a beauty [Music] that's what we're here for you guys that right there that's a beautiful not a mark on her nice hen would be going to the broodstock program and produce a bunch of awesome fish i'm gonna run a candy here guys but i gotta figure out how many to do it so i gotta find a way to mold it so i'm gonna get it nice and warm so i'm gonna run a candy bead catch a steel head on it it might just happen nice big fruit stock oh brood stock on a candy come on now dude [Music] the old candy wiggler baby it's got a little twist it's like an old-school birdie dude remember the birdies oh yeah look at that thing it's like a birdie oh yeah i'm gonna probably first cast my guess first cast trout that you never catch that's a little steelhead is it not it's like a really really little steelhead i got a steelhead guys this one's a little we don't want this one it's a little summer it's a summer summer you can tell by this wild summer i don't know what it is in my and on some of my rivers i catch something like that it's already been spawned out this time of year i mean for how early it is it'd be a summer but i don't know i can tell you what that one doesn't need to go to the broodstock tank dude i think i just missed one on the candy i'm not kidding dude my barber went down down there and look dude i just had a bobber down on the candy on the candy i don't i didn't hook them or anything but it sure looked good and the candy is now hanging down on my hook and all munched up this thing is super hard though it's kind of crazy so i'm going to roll another one up catch one fish on bro we walked down around the corner and we're working a little boulder maze so nick's guiding me and he wants me right on the outside edge of this boulder so i fire in there i'm letting the drift go down through that thing and the bobber drains and i set the hook on another damn summer steelhead this that's fish that's fish that's fish dude nick called it man he like goes cam leave that in there it's just right behind the boulder he goes it's right behind the boulder and it just started straining down what do you got it's a steelhead it didn't take 25 seconds to figure out as a steelhead nice work boss well i don't have it yet and for the record 25 seconds for all three of us to figure out it was a steelhead be a wild card nice one clip clip yep [Music] [Applause] darn it it's a hatchery fish when do we when do we say that darn it it's a hatchery fish we're trying to help the broodstock program we're looking for nice wild fish to put in the tank to help out the future runs that was pretty cool i don't know if sean got that though [Music] summer run she looks really healthy actually for a down river summer fish so we're gonna get her back in the water and kick her loose good job ken she got me all right guys i know that was a summer fish but i mean there was the just sheer disappointment the second we saw the fish was clipped like it's just like is it i oh man it's a hatchery fish we're after them wild ones wild honeys that's what we're looking for nothing else but you know the ultimate goal is to put more fish in the river with better genetics good for the wild fish good for the hatchery fish good for the angler it's a beautiful mix well i mean we just want to actually have fish in the river you know what i mean everything else we try to do as far as like i mean the habitat work the restoration work is fine but the reason why we put these hatcheries in these rivers to begin with is because we felt the need to have more fish in these rivers like just to keep up natural stocks or to have some sort of harvest as well now obviously the sport has changed to where like we are perfectly content coming out here and catching and releasing wild fish but we want them too yep i mean a broodstock program achieves all those goals those goals it's just a beautiful mix all that it's like you you can't ask for anything better that's fish that's fish there's another one another one of those trout that don't exist they do not exist in this river that's a cuddy dude that bobber just sank so good i'm the trout master oh this is great we've nick's like there's no trout in here there's no trout i mean i've caught tons of trout today i want nick to say oh there's no 25 pound steelhead in there he ran into the dam look at that [Music] he's out of here his nose was all like crunched down like he oh my god fish i don't know that was on a worm dude [Music] it's under [Music] whoa that's a big fish dude you guys this one's going to go in the tank i can already tell what is it oh it's a big hatchery hand you guys already saw yeah i want the eggs you're not getting the eggs ryan i'm getting a set of it i'll pop it off right now go ahead i'll cut the line because none of you're getting here oh you might as well then i personally was like a little bit low on eggs and i'd given given some eggs to ryan just maybe the week before and so i was like oh good it's a hatchery fish get that fish in i need some eggs i looked at both of them and i said i'll break this fish off before anyone takes my eggs yeah this is a rough crowd you guys see this i don't know if anyone's watching but this is a rough crowd oh double oh i thought it was well i'll take yours all my bait all day and then they want the egg i just want the eggs of the fish i caught two days ago that he took whoa she's got a little sponge left in her body i'm starting to think these broodstock fish got a little more spunk in them [Applause] wow that's a giant piece dude you like look at the sea lice you guys got them if you can see that check out the sea lice on it oh no brood stock fish bridge stock fish yep wild yep brood stalker oh my god can't just clear fish you're not clear finn it's just such a bright fish holy crap good check i knew it too i know it was hot fight this hot fish finally get it in the net we're all leaning over the side of the boat to see if it's really a hatchery fish ends up being a while another beautiful wild hen [Music] i told him i was going to cut it off we were fighting over the eggs i was like i'll break it off break this thing up we don't even want it we missed that bike sean didn't have to help me out on that one no kidding that was the typical see the bobber go down double pump just real down nice and easy and that fish come out of that pocket like a rocket i was in a foot of water like you know two and a half feet of water weird little spot beautiful fish fresh out of the ocean fresh out of the ocean nobody sea lice on it fish moving unfortunately i don't know if we got it on film but the sea lights came off as we netted it but it was as just as fresh as they get just the nine piece supermodel and and to get them early and to get three wilds in one day is unbelievable it's gonna be a huge help to this program and i'm just super stoked it's gonna be awesome all we need now is that big buck big buck to play yeah we got three girls we still got a long way to go we got a lot of room so we already had ryan's second fish in the tank we end up landing in the third put the third fish in the tank and off to the broodstock tank we go we had three fish on we couldn't believe that all three of them were wild and here we are putting three fish in the broodstock tank go go go getting this beautiful hen into the tank as quick as we can you guys look at that look at that fish [Music] oh sweet cheeks see ya baby every damn river should have this program drives me nuts all right guys that's two drops today we are going to make a third we still have a little bit of a road down river i think we're gonna catch another one comment below if you think we're gonna be successful but tell you what if you guys are trying to familiarize yourself with these broodstock programs go to www.hatcherydashwild.coexist.com read all about the science is there the studies are there the glowing examples of what a productive broodstock programmer there please check that out if you guys are looking for any firm information and we got to change this narrative this program should be in every damn river that you and i steelhead fish let's go get it okay we're going so it's late in the afternoon it's getting kind of late i'm kind of bummed because of course i catch all the trout and the two summers and but you know what like i said the day was already made we get down into the a couple more runs we fish through it nick walks downstream i think even ryan might have walked downstream a little bit and i'm just kind of like stuck i'm like you know what that scene looks juicy i'm just going to keep fricking casting eggs in there oh he's still there [Music] just smoked that beat let me know if we got a chase i i don't think so i'm letting him just come i'm doing the nick pop-off sit down just tip down down tip down we were in this spot this morning and nick got a fish but he walked downstream to take a look what's going on cameron you think that's the one you missed earlier this morning yeah that's like the same exact spot where you got bit does the red eye go i already saw it it's not a summer is it big yeah it could be a buck just had a little color on him but he took off like a bat out of hell oh geez he's just dogging this real heavy current i'm just trying to work him up slow because if he burns down below and gets into them there's a lot of stumps and debris and stuff down there just we want to get our eyes on him one time before something bad happens we want to know what this fish is let me take a look at him right now big wild big wow thing solid fin oh my god can i get in the boat go down with him stay there stay there i try i'm gonna try to hold my ground bunch of big rocks he'll saw you off on right here it's got a thin it's got a thin boys he's got a fan oh my gosh [Laughter] i'm ready does not want to do it [Music] up and over go hard double check he's a while i'm sure he is though oh no i can see it from here third drop yeah nice job how lucky is that you know to some fishermen we'd be the most unluckiest people in the world but you know what when you're out when you're chasing wild you don't want to see those clips oh my god and we finally got the buck nice [ __ ] too yes dude i'm excited i don't give a crap i've caught thousands of these stupid things it's still exciting i don't care who you are we gotta get this baby back in the boat nice work good job guys well boys and girls you love wild steelhead there's one for you right there what a beauty here we go dude in a buck yes four banger dude four bangers three trips to the broodstock tank that's why we're here and here we are here we are fishing stupid early in the season and you guys are seeing lots of wild fish but generally wild fish are march april but as you put more and more fish in the system you get the sand pile effect and you get these earlier fish when you have good healthy strongs of wild or good healthy strong ones of wild fish agreed this should be on every river in the northwest everybody's willing to put in that effort it's a very small effort from the state the sportsmen are willing to put in that effort and i think i think if this if the state's watching this video if you want advocates for the state start these programs here's your blueprint there you go another fish fourth winter steelhead four wild fish and guess what now we gotta make another trip to the broodstock tank for our third trip of the day and i think after that honestly we kind of fished our way out because we were literally rowing up to the boat ramp in the dark [Music] from starting in the dark to ending in the dark we're trying to get the heck out of here because we fished a little too late in a little too long today and we got to uh drop off this buck to his date yes all right here you go cameron's a little bit of your energy in there the fuel oh red bull red bulls coffee fruit we were highly caffeinated today it's been a long time we've worked hard but we're really happy to be part of this program with nick and uh couldn't be happier to be here with him [Music] oh [Music] look at that look at that one cameron that was your broodstock buck for the tank look just a beauty look at that as healthy as could be yep honestly the day could not have gone any better that we did we put a lot of time in you know there was three of us guides that do a lot of steelhead fishing throughout the year but wanted to put some time and some effort into getting some of these early fish into the program i mean at the end of the day guys and anglers out there that are watching the show like these programs and these brood stock programs that are using the in basin genetics and perform extremely well or truth be told they are the future like there is no doubt in my mind or anybody's mind because of the results speak for themselves on these fisheries that we're getting out of these broodstock programs and they're not even really being implemented into the full capacity that they could be so if you guys out there if you guys enjoyed this episode and you guys watched and you want to participate in some of these wild brood stock programs be sure to help fundraise where you can be sure to spread the narrative and then also telling your friends and family and the non-fishing public most important that hatchery programs are not bad that broodstock programs work and hopefully we're going to be steelhead fishing for years to come [Music] you

Channel: Addicted Fishing

Views: 56,345

Keywords: broodstock, broodstock steelhead, broodstock steelhead fishing, steelhead fishing, steelhead future, future of steelhead fishing, washington steelhead fishing, oregon steelhead fishing, california steelhead fishing, idaho steelhead fishing, wild steelhead, hatchery steelhead, wild steelhead fishing, hatchery steelhead fishing, addicted fishing, winter steelhead fishing, broodstock management, steelhead fishing oregon, fishing, steelhead, winter steelhead, steelhead trout

Id: bVdMK32P_Do

Length: 30min 55sec (1855 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021