When a RB measures over 20 inches it becomes a Steelhead. If it came out of the salt water. If it was a resident RB it would be more colored up. Besides Jacks are under 20 inches long. I just call them a nice fish.
Looks steelhead-y to me. This is a stupid reason but I would expect the fins to be bigger on a resident rainbow ancient enough to make it to 22" in the anadromous zone of a freestone western WA river.
As an aside, I think 22" is a pretty rare length for a winter steelhead. Pretty common for a 1-salt summer, but weird for a winter, which I feel like typically come back as a 24-28ish inch 1.5 salt or rarely, a 18-19" .5 salt. So for the sake of being different, I'll vote post-spawn 1-salt summerrun.
I wouldn't think a 22" steelhead would be called a jack, would it?
Not a jack, just a small winter run male steelhead. I've caught a few, but not many, male winter steelhead that were 20 - 24" in length. Just a couple winters ago I caught a female winter run that was 19 or 20", which was a first for me.
Not sure what part of Western WA this was caught, but I remember winter fish this size being fairly common in SWW. Some years more so than others, but never what I would call rare. Or maybe I just had a knack for catching small steelhead.
Always tough to tell. Limited spots below the lateral line, I would guess a young steel. Assuming this river flows into the salt with no impassable barriers...
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