Great discussion so far! I'm glad my picture brought it up. Unfortunately, I've seen these discussions turn almost as brutal as an East Coast / West Coast gang war, which actually isn't a bad analogy. I've personally fished for both "varieties", and to me, a Steelhead is a sea OR Great Lakes running Rainbow Trout. Key here for me is that it is a LARGE Rainbow Trout... Anything else is just semantics.