2014 Fall Steelie Season

 Well of the 28 years I've been fishing steelhead will have to put the fall of 2014 as one of my toughest. Now that I am a 9 to 5 worker makes it even tougher were I have to use that 28 years of knowledge and pick the days with perfect river conditions to maximize the the days that are going to be most productive. Well I hit some great days on the the river as far as water conditions that should of brought fish in but it really didn't happen as compare to the past. Plus I had to take the month of Dec off to fix a an old fishing injury. Yes broke a leg on the river 1999 and the knee had to be fixed up .
 There is a few theory's out there to why it was a tough year for all but that's fishing and if you think every year is going to be a banner year well are you going to get a rude awaking. One theory is because of such a late spring this year and there were a lot of fish that spawned late are still out in the lake to try to rebuild the fat for 2015 spawn. Another is we could of had a bad spawning survival rate back 3 to 4 years ago.
 I was still able to get a few fish so here is a few pictures of my fall 2014 all put into one blog.

Nice female coho 

Believe it or not but a laker caught in the river

Big coho buck in his full spawning colors and big kype jaw

Nice hen steelie

live action release 

Another nice steelie 

sorry but the one ended up in the frying pan

Dec Under Construction!!!!!!

2014 Family Derby

Santa finally has arrived with the trophies for the 2014 Maxfield Family Fishing Derby.
This year we started with the Trout trophy which was a fish caught by my brother Cricket during the Sarina derby and pulled off a 3rd place prize and earned it the title "money fish"

The next Trophy awarded was for the largest Salmon, again my big brother Cricket took the glory with a 10 lb Chinook salmon. I made the mistake of hooking into a big coho and forgot to weigh the brute, I  could given Cricket's 10lber a run for it's money but this was my mistake (Dumb A**).

Cricket was in the running for what we call the triple crown only to have been achieved by my mother Ardis Maxfield. He was well on his way to winning the bass derby with a 4 pound 14 ounce bass caught in lake Huron. Kory was still determined to claim the bass trophy for his own which he shared with Cricket last year, this was the 1st time we have had a dual winner on the Maxfield bass trophy. Kory and I headed out to a local reservoir on beautiful mid October day where he landed a 5 pound 1 ounce monster large mouth to spoil Crickets run for the triple crown.

Last but certainly not least we awarded the Miscellaneous Trophy which consists of the biggest  fish caught any where in the world. Well there was a real dog fight with it this year, my daughter set the bar high early in the season with a 90 pound shark which she caught on a vacation in Mexico. My nephew Joe tied hard to bump her off the podium but couldn't quite do it. He landed a quality 50 pound halibut which fell short and Laura ended up winning with her monster shark. This award was special because she is the 1st girl other then Ardis to win any of the Maxfield fishing trophies. She sparked a great interest with the rest of the girls becoming more competitive and looking to knock the guys off and win one of the prestigious Maxfield Fishing Trophies.

Here are a few of the other fish that didn't quite make the cut.

Joe with a p-cod and his 50 b. Halibut

walleye I caught on the fliy rod

My 46 inch lake St Clair muskie

Kory with a 6lb. walleye

My big coho I forgot to weigh