When do they consider them Steelhead?

[luckie88]

Had some thought and rivertalk about this one. In the mid-West they sometimes consider lake run Rainbows, Steelhead. Here in Central Oregon on the Deschutes we get some big bows that come up the arms of the reservoirs and have no chance of making it to the sea. They are similar to steelhead and as they can get really big, shiny as chrome and fight like hell, but to me a Steelhead has to hit the ocean! I think the regulations in Oregon say something about over 21" they are considered a steelhead in rivers. In the mid-West do they still call lake runners Steelhead?

This may stir up some controversy, but hey? Do they possess the same gene? Do they have to hit the salt? ect...

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We also get some big Browns too
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[Steven McGarthwaite]

Some trout species are split between those that have the DNA for heading to the Oceans or Large Freshwater Regions, as part of their life cycle, while other trout of the same species, remain in the the same stream or river where they were born. Sea going Brown Trout are commonly called Sea Trout, Sea going Rainbows are commonly called Steelheads, while the Sea going Brook Trout (I include them even though they are not truely Trout related to directly to the Salmon Family) are called Coasters. I really do not know anything more on the subject.

[billhouk]

I think the act of going out in to the larger bodies of water (for rainbows) is called smolting. The juvenile fish adapt to salt water if they move in to the ocean. The other thing that occurs as they smolt and while they are in the lake or ocean is they loose the rainbow colors and become silver on the sides and steel gray on the top and on the head. That is why the rainbow variety is called steelhead. I've been studying up for my first steelhead trip this fall or winter here in Indiana or over in Ohio. So I'm no expert.

[24mileboy]

I believe that in Idaho a Rainbow over 20" is considered a steelhead.

[Wes]

I believe that in Idaho a Rainbow over 20" is considered a steelhead.

there are plenty of rainbow in idaho over 20" that aren't steelhead and if they are to be considered as steelhead then every angler would need a steelhead permit. if you mean to be counted as a steelhead when completing a steelhead card in waters that support steelhead habitation then the fish need to be 20" or more. steelhead in the west are anadromous, migrate from fresh water to salt water then return to fresh water for spawning. i suppose indigenous rainbows could be called land locked steelhead much the same as the land locked salmon of the north east usa. the moniker steelhead could well be from fishermen that found the jaw bone of steelhead to be more boney than most other species and very difficult to hook and hold. other pseudonyms iron head, iron jaw.

[Kerry Stratton]

There are no genetic differences between steelhead and rainbows. They are the same fish. From the spawn of an ocean going steelhead could come a fish that stays resident in the river, never going to the sea and on the other side of the coin from the spawn of a resident rainbow some may decide to head to the ocean. What is the difference?

[John Forish]

Here is another one for you. We are on Vancouver Island and we go after what we call Sea Run Cut Throat. They must fall into the mix somewhere as well.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

John,

As your friend and neighbor to the south, there are is no such fish as a sea run cutthroat. They're just cutthroat that are silver torpedoes covered with sea lice. We don't really want the rest of the world to know about them, do we?

REE

PS. You got any favorite SRC flies?

[pspaint]

In New York, they stocked both steelhead and domestic rainbows, so we had both. The state stopped stocking the bows (a few years back), so now it's only the steelies that are stocked. We do however, have natural repro on some streams, so i'm sure we've ended up with a mixed gene pool. In answer to your question, up here, if they run the tribs, people just call 'em steelhead.

[24mileboy]

Sorry for the confusion
Directly from the Id F&G

What Is A Steelhead?

Steelhead are rainbow trout longer than 20 inches in length in the Snake River drainage below Hells Canyon

Dam, the Salmon River drainage (excluding lakes and the Pahsimeroi and Lemhi rivers), and the Clearwater River
drainage (excluding that portion above Dworshak Dam

and lakes). Rainbow trout longer than 20 inches in length
with the adipose fin clipped (as evidenced by a healed scar) are defined as steelhead in the Snake River from

Hells Canyon Dam upstream to Oxbow Dam, and in the Boise River from its mouth upstream to Barber Dam, and
in the Payette River from its mouth upstream to Black Canyon Dam, during steelhead seasons.