nice fish man!!!!!!!!!!! thats definetly a brute. i caught one almost identical to yours on my last trip up to erie which was about this time in janurary the fish i had caught was a 28″ 1/2 inch male that weighed 11 lbs and had a 17 3/4 inch girth got an senior angler award for it not to mention i caught several others that trip too brought 9 home all of them were over 20 inches long fished three days limited out every day if ya want to see my pic ill send it to you. also keep the action going i love it im just like you got hooked on steelhead fishing when i caught my first one been catching em ever since.