When do they consider them Steelhead?

[Z]

Kerry, agreed. A conversation like this is best at a fish camp campfire. I do belive we will be doing that in Lowell, ID! When are you gonna make it there?

[pspaint]

A conversation like this is best at a fish camp campfire.

Definitely... and of course...beer. lol.

[NJTroutbum]

Agreed.....a good discussion at a fishing camp is pretty much what you find here:^)

[luckie88]

I guess we can call this the "Cybercampfire" (pun intended). This topic was something a friend and fellow angler had brought up while we were catching big bows (Oh,mykiss) following the Kokanee spawn up out of Wickiup Reservoir. We weren't sure what to call them because they reminded us of Steelhead but had no chance of making it to the ocean. The State would define them as "Steelhead" then, so do I need my tags to fish for them? That's the other thing do people that fish for these "20+ inch lake run Steelhead" in Central Oregon need more than just an annual angling license? Because the Hillbillies from LaPine would be screwed.

[salt_flytyer]

The origin of the term "steelhead" is still something of a mystery. Some of the earliest sources indicate that the name was applied by commercial fishermen (back when there was still a large commercial harvest) because the steelhead's generally heavier and stronger bone structure (including its skull) required two or three whacks with the fish club to apply the coup de grace; other members of the genus Oncorhynchus required only one. Of course the steely, blue-gray color of a fresh-run steelhead's back and head may have contributed to the popularity of the term.

The twenty-inch rule (in Washington) is an (admittedly lame) effort to differentiate between large resident rainbows and steelhead and, as such, has no particularly rational basis. A twenty-inch resident rainbow in most of Washington's anadromous rivers, while potentially possible, is very unlikely. It does provide endless fodder for fishing forums in the form of: "Was the twenty-inch rainbow I caught on the Yakima River (where such a possibility does exist) a steelhead or a resident rainbow?"

I do not know if the 20 inch rule (or 16 inch rule) is lame, I think the dfg will readily admit it is just a practicailty. The only way to tell if a 16 inch rainbow (in anadronymous waters) is by a scale sample, which a angler is unable to do.

[pspaint]

luckie88, I think the easiest way to determine that is, if they're in a tributary (to the ocean or great lakes), they probably are steelhead. If they're in a landlocked situation, they're rainbows. It definitely isn't scientific, more of an "air on the side of caution". Hope that helps.

[luckie88]

pspaint, But these big bows come up out of a big lake that is regulated by a dam and has no fish ladder. Alot of this is also sarcastic, to see what people consider "Steelhead". The Deschutes is a trib of the Columbia which goes to the ocean. The lower stretches have a great run of Summer and winter Steelhead but the upper stretches have two Great Lakes (Crane and Wickiup) but the fish have now chance of getting to the ocean. See the sarcasm and controversy here. Thanks for the comment though.

[billknepp]

Don't know... But that's a beautiful Bronzehead that thar feeshie on the bottom is!..lol I've refused to call em anything but a rainbow forever!

[Kerry Stratton]

Kerry, agreed. A conversation like this is best at a fish camp campfire. I do belive we will be doing that in Lowell, ID! When are you gonna make it there?

Maybe. Just maybe.

[Steven McGarthwaite]

I am so happy that all of us can talk about some fly fishing topic, and be in total disagreement with each others ideas and thoughts, and still be united in the thought that this is all a part of what fly fishing is all about.! ~Parnelli