It's one steelie per day, so we released the others unharmed.
The fish in the picture weighed 8.6 lbs., the others were smaller.
I was surprised on the pull from the fish on the 6w, and had the drag
set light cause I was using 4x tippet. Took about 13 min. to bring
in. I wouldn't know about the thin tail, not an expert on steelies,
had nothing to compare to.
Also my first time eating steelhead, they taste great.
A 6 wt is undergunning for steelhead, and you probably want to move up
to a tippet in the 0X-2X range
On that piece of water, there are times when small nymphs are about the
only productive fly to use. With little rain, they have very low, and
clear water conditions. Not many new fish are in the systems, and the
ones that are, are getting pounded. 4X and small flies can be the only
game in town at times. 0X might not even go through the eye of the hook.

BINGO! Even on the upper parts of the Klamath I've often fished with a
6 or 7 wt and 4x tippet, but no doubt, that's appropriate for the
Trinity and the Scott, too. Flies are anywhere betwen sz 12 and 4, and
seldom do you go as large as a 4 unless the water is cloudy/muddy.

When we fish the Stanislaus, we're ususally using 5-6wts and 6x tippet,
and flies as small as 16s are pretty common... this is generally a
half-pounder run, but we get fish as large as 12 pounds.

Larry