Please meet my hometown friend Greg from Rockford, MI with a bruiser of a Muskegon river steelhead! Nice job Greg!!
Not to be outdone by Dad, here’s Greg’s son Ben with a very fresh, very chrome hen from the Muskegon.
Greg with a hard fighting buck that hit at the end of his swing when stripping the line back in.
Here’s Ben with another beautiful chrome hen.
Again, not to be outdone by Dad, here’s Ben with his largest of the day that tipped the boga grips over 16lbs and 30-inches long! Great job Ben!! You da Man!!
Saving the best for last, here’s Greg holding a wall-hanger 23 & 1/4″ massive native Muskegon river rainbow trout! The size of these rainbow trout brought to the net this spring has been incredible and Greg’s bow is just another prime example of the many rainbows we brought to the net this spring well over the 20-inch mark. Congrats Greg on one hell of a rainbow!
Notice the forked tale and adipose fin on Greg’s huge rainbow. The forked tail is the best way to differentiate a rainbow from a steelhead. The steelhead will have a vertically straight back fin verses a rainbow trout which has a forked back tail. The adipose fin (small nub like fin top side up from the back tail) signifies this rainbow was naturally reproduced in the Muskegon river verses a “clipped” adipose fin the DNR clip before releasing the trout into the river as hatchlings. Congrats again Greg on such a nice rainbow trout!
Steelhead remain in the river system in pockets. One day they are in one location the next they show up in other spots throughout the river system. Despite the low numbers of steelhead, new chrome hens continue to show up keeping the big male steelhead around.
post by: jon fortuna