Steelhead on Tenkara ...

Fishing Tenkara Fishing
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… on the Brushy Fork Creek, a headwater tributary to the Lochsa and Clearwater Rivers in Northern Idaho.

There is no resident rainbow population in the Lochsa system, according to several Idaho Fish and Game Biologists that I have talked to. They consider all rainbow looking fish in the system to be steelhead.

So - I bring you a steelhead caught on a TenkaraUSA Ayu, fishing a small, dark FEB Hopper pattern.

The system also is home to West Slope cutthroat trout, including inhabitants of this little hole on Spruce Creek, a tributary to the Brushy Fork Creek …

… such as this …

… pure West Slope cutt, and, of course, some steelhead / cutthroat hybrids …

These are all juvenile trout, the “young of the year”, and the cutthroat and his hybrid cousin will stay as residents. That little juvenile steelhead has a 750 mile trip down to the Pacific ahead of him, and a return trip in several years as a much bigger fishie !!

Beautiful, remote backcountry creeks and lots of fun fishing the Tenkara on them.

John

P.S. These creeks are also spawning grounds for wild chinook salmon. Saw a good number of very small fry which quite possibly were chinook. They, too, will be headed downstream to the Pacific shortly. And will be much larger than the steelhead when they make their spawning run in 3-5 years.

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To get things straight at the start, John, I want you to be knows as the guy who caught a steelhead on tenkara. If anyone deserves that honor, it is you, and I accept that the Brushy Fork Creek trout in your hand is indeed a steelhead.

Yet I can’t help pondering the question of whether a steelhead is a steelhead from time of hatch onward. For as long as I can recall such things, I’ve heard and read steelheads described as “a sea-run rainbow trout.” The word sea is defined in its broad sense, of course, to include large bodies of fresh water, such as the Great Lakes.

But is a little hand-sized rainbow a sea-run fish? Should it be called a steelhead? I turned to the Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America and Mexico and discovered that there are six subspecies of rainbow trout listed. Of those six, the Coastal Rainbow Trout (subspecies irideus) and the Columbia Rainbow Trout (subspecies gairdnarii) each come in two forms, a stream-resident form and a sea-run (anadromous) form. In describing the two subspecies, Peterson refers to the anadromous form of the Coastal (Peterson’s brackets) as [“Steelhead”] and to the Columbia (Peterson’s brackets) as ["Redband Steelhead]. Peterson also notes that there in another subspecies, the Great Basin Rainbow trout (subspecies Newberri) that, in some locales in Oregon, are “nearly identical” to Coumbia Rainbow Trout.

Thus, from a scientific point of view, it would seem that certain species and forms of rainbow trout are hatched with anadromous tendencies and capabilities. But the question remains: Can these anadromous trout be considered “steelheads” before they run to sea? From a biological classification standpoint, probably Yes. But from an angling standpoint? I don’t know the answer. Should the name of a fish depend on its life experiences? Does a rainbow need to serve a tour of duty at sea before it can be called a rainbow? It’s good question, but the answer is beyond me.

It could be that the rules of some steelhead fishing contests defines what fish can be considered as qualifying fish. But probably not, because the winner is bound to have gone to sea. Unless, of course, the angler is required to fish with a tanago rod; in that case, the littlest fish might be deemed the winner. Micro-Steelheading we might call it.

~Paul

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… starting with the fact that there are no resident rainbows in this system. If the trouts that spawned this little guy are steelhead, that makes him a steelhead. For me, it is that simple.

This little trout is headed to the Pacific. All I can do is wish him bon voyage and a safe return. Same for all the other little steelhead and chinook salmon in the system right now.

On the point of no resident rainbows in the system, consider the following, in addition to the position of the Idaho Fish and Game folks, who do know what they are talking about.

First, the Lochsa supports a very healthy population of West Slope cutthroat and bull trout, along with whitefish and the seasonal adult steelhead. West Slope cutts, as a species, don’t normally get larger than about 18". This one went 19 and 1/2 inches -

The bull trout in the system also get quite large. Well over 20".

If there were a resident population of rainbows, they would easily grow larger than the West Slopes, and it would be routine to catch rainbows in the mid to upper teens inches and relatively common to catch them in excess of 20".

Fishing the Lochsa and several of it’s tributaries a total of about 170 days over the past four years, I have caught ZERO rainbow trout over about 10". The only larger, mid teen inches rainbow looking fishies were clearly cutthroat / steelhead hybrids, which do seem to represent a small resident population of “cuttsteels.”

The only time there are any pure rainbow looking fish in the system ( other than full grown adult steelhead ) is early to mid summer, while the current steelhead hatch is coming down from the tributaries and before they clear the area on their way to the ocean. From March through June and then September through November, it is virtually a “cutthroat only” fishery, at least for trout. And that would be true for December through February, also, except the river is typically almost completely frozen over and buried under up to several feet of snow for most of that time.

For example - in early February this year.

( Note that there is a resident population of river otters. )

John

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Paul,

Here is something interesting for you to consider. Here in Indiana where we live the DNR and/or state does not distinguish any difference between a steelhead head or a rainbow trout. They consider them all to be rainbow trout. This is why the state record for a rainbow caught is 18 lb 8 oz. http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3588.htmMike P.

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You are a fund of information, Mike. I guess you’re not going to break the state rainbow record in the Brookville tailwater, then – competing with steelhead.

The steelhead catch that holds the Indiana rainbow trout record is likely a skamania steelhead from Lake Michigan. I’ve looked at several sources, and they disagree as to whether skamania are a type of rainbow or a hybrid. It is is a hybrid, the Indiana records are really skewed. The Peterson Field Guide is no help here, on skamania.

Did you notice in the Indiana records that one guy, Duane Stafford, holds the records for both Asian Carp and Bighead Carp, that each of the two fish weighed 53 lbs. 8 oz., and were both caught in the White River in Pike County in 2000. He must have had a helluva day. Caught them both on a sakasa kebari, no doubt.

~Paul

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Okay, someone pointed out that I was incorrect. I know at one point I had read that Indiana did not distinguish a difference but can not find where I read it. So as it stands I was incorrect and will acknowledge the fact I was wrong. But it seems when you google the difference between the 2 there are people that believe they are the same and some that they are different. The consensus is they only difference is the habitat in that steelhead are sea run or great lake run fish.

Mike P.

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I google a lot of things, and often rely on what I find. But this time I’ll go with the Peterson Field Guide until someone comes up with a better authority. John is right, from a biological standpoint, but when people talk about steelhead they don’t mean something you can hold in the palm of your hand.

What did you catch those suckers on in Sugar Creek? San Juan worm? Something else? Were you packing life worms as well as flies? :wink:

~Paul

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I am people and the Idaho Fish and Game Biologists are people, and when we talk about steelhead we do mean something you can hold in the palm of your hand. Just like when we people talk about chinook salmon we mean the fry that are smaller than a lot of minnows and not just the 30"-40" bruisers that have made their spawning run up from the Pacific.

John

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Back to the Brushy Fork Creek today, on downstream a way from the other day …

… and, fishing the TenkaraUSA Ayu, caught another steelhead starting his run to the Pacific.

John

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John – You are absolutely correct. ~Paul

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Just curious about the Bull Trout, John. With all the time you have put in on the Lochsa, have you seen any?

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… on the Lochsa, Karen.

About a year ago, I was swimming a rubber legs stonefly nymph around in a very large, deep hole. The indicator went down, the rod tip went up, and for about 20-30 seconds a very large, strong fish, which I could not see, swam in circles.

Then he hunkered down. I could feel him move, but I couldn’t move him. I was fishing a 7 wt rod and using 2X tippet. For a minute or two I tried to lift him, and couldn’t. Finally, I pulled hard enough that the tippet let go, and the fish went bye-bye with the fly.

My initial impression was that it must have been a big bull trout, and it may well have been. But a fellow that I talked to mentioned that some steelhead do the same thing ( hold on the bottom rather than run ), so it is possible that that fish was a steelhead. Or as a far outside possibility, a chinook salmon since they were running right through that hole and do occasionally grab something - but I don’t think a salmon would have held like that ??

I did hook one steelhead on a stonefly nymph a couple months ago, and lost him when he pulled free of the hook. I saw that one close enough and clearly enough to be sure it was a steelhead - in the 22-24" range. And last fall, a very large fish ate one of my FEB October Caddis and popped a 4X tippet like it was fly tying thread. That was almost certainly a steelhead.

An acquaintance, fishing FEB Salmonflies that I gave him on the Lochsa, hooked and landed a 15" bull trout about two months ago, and hooked a couple steelhead, one of which he landed, about the same time.

John