Steelhead

Steelhead Parr.

Terrace, British Columbia – A Copper River Steelhead.

The rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is a species of salmonid native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes “steelhead trout”) is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coastal rainbow trout (O. m. irideus) or Columbia River redband trout (O. m. gairdneri) that usually returns to fresh water to spawn after living two to three years in the ocean. Freshwater forms that have been introduced into the Great Lakes and migrate into tributaries to spawn are also called steelhead.

Adult Freshwater Stream Rainbow Trout average between 1 and 5 lb (0.5 and 2.3 kg), while lake-dwelling and anadromous forms may reach 20 lb (9.1 kg). Coloration varies widely based on subspecies, forms and habitat. Adult fish are distinguished by a broad reddish stripe along the lateral line, from gills to the tail, which is most vivid in breeding males.

Steelhead on a Bubblegum Pink Worm.

Wild-caught and hatchery-reared forms of this species have been transplanted and introduced for food or sport in at least 45 countries and every continent except Antarctica. Introductions to locations outside their native range in the United States (U.S.), Southern Europe, Australia and South America have damaged native fish species. Introduced populations may impact native species by preying on them, out-competing them, transmitting contagious diseases (such as whirling disease), or hybridizing with closely related species and subspecies, thus reducing genetic purity. Other introductions into waters previously devoid of any fish species or with severely depleted stocks of native fish have created world-class sport fisheries such as the Great Lakes and Wyoming’s Firehole River.

Some local populations of specific subspecies, or in the case of steelhead, distinct population segments, are listed as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The steelhead is the official state fish of Washington.[2]

See here for Steelhead Memories … ONCORHYNCHUS MYKISS … “The Gray Ghost”

A Chrome Lake Ontario Migratory Steelhead.

“It seems you can’t say the word “steelhead” without starting an argument. The fighting points are numerous. Are beads flies? Are hatchery steelhead killing wild steelhead? Is nymphing wrong? But the most contentious and, frankly, mind bending disagreement is over what a “Steelhead” actually is.

There are historically two sides of this argument. It’s a classic East vs. West conflict. Eastern anglers refer to fish running from the Great Lakes as steelhead and western anglers insist that only fish running from the saltwater are steelhead.

A steelhead is by definition an anadromous fish. That means it runs from saltwater to fresh. End of story. No fish which lives its entire life in fresh water is a steelhead.

Here it is from Webster.

Steelhead—noun, plural steel·heads (especially collectively) steel·head.

a silvery rainbow trout that migrates to the sea before returning to fresh water to spawn.

anadromous —adjective

(of fish) migrating from salt water to spawn in fresh water, as salmon of the genera Salmo and Oncorhynchus (distinguished from catadromous ).”