[ceviche]

Out of politeness and respect towards some other fly tying/fishing forum located somewhere else in the greater Internet, I will not name names. However, I must ask, how is it that folks east of the Rockies and/or the Mississippi seem to think Rainbows and Steelhead are either different fish or a distinction of size? As an example, if someone from the Midwest or further east came over here and caught the RF hog shown in the article below, he'd be exploding spleen over the "steelhead."

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/dec/21/wimpy-fly-rod-lands-whopper-fish-at-rocky-ford-cre/

Now, WE do know that this is NOT a steelhead. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

So I figured it was my duty as a WFF member to do some humble educating when I witnessed the "ex-regional" confusion. When the first bit of resistance to Science resembled a "political argument," I knew I needed the double-whammy of both Science and Eloquence. Since memory does tend to serve me well, I recalled Preston Singletary's WWF contribution to this matter, dating a good couple of years back. That summary, of both the life-cycle of Oncorhynchus mykiss and biologists' decision to combine rainbow and steelhead under the rainbow's scientific name, was brilliantly concise. So I supplied them folks with the link.

Thanks for the "heavy lifting," Preston!

 

[7919]

The midwest folk claim that because the plants came from west coast steelhead hatcheries that the great lakes fish are steelhead, not adfluvial rainbow trout.

my person opinion, is steelhead have to go to saltwater, get chased by orcas, etc, to be a steelhead.

I dont call a big rainbow from sprague lake steelhead either, even though it came from steelhead eggs.

 

[napawino (Roger Craft)]

If it doesn't go to salt water, it's not a steelhead.

 

[dust in the wind]

I've lived here in Moses Lake for awhile. I've heard of the Salmon/Steelhead in Rocky Ford a couple of times

 

[napawino (Roger Craft)]

I've lived here in Moses Lake for awhile. I've heard of the Salmon/Steelhead in Rocky Ford a couple of times

Off topic.....

You ever fish for crappies? I've hauled out zillions of them from up by Airman's Beach.

 

[DeadandBloated]

I've lived here in Moses Lake for awhile. I've heard of the Salmon/Steelhead in Rocky Ford a couple of times

there were some Atlantic Salmon..for real, at RF.... reared and accidentally (?) escaped the hatchery there..I caught one or two 20+ years ago..crazy stuff !

Very cool and very unique. they were smallish

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/forum/threads/rocky-ford-history.6479/

 

[Bjorn]

I lived in Ontario Canada for 20 years and caught a lot of Rainbows in rivers running into Lake Ontario and Lake Huron-I caught fish that were 15 pounds and more, the biggest was right around 20; most were 6- 7-8 pounds-we always called them Rainbows regardless of size.
Sometime around 1970 the magazines and other media began calling them 'Steelhead'; personally I always scoffed at the notion and continued to call them Rainbows-to me, that's what they were. Around the same time Pacific Salmon were introduced into the Great Lakes as well, and we used to catch them at river mouths; but once they entered the rivers they stopped feeding and any that were caught were snagged and some guys became excellent at that. I moved to California in the mid eighties and as far as I know the Rainbow fishery is still as good as it was when I left.
The Rainbows we caught in Ontario were all wild fish-there were no hatcheries on the rivers I fished.

 

[Stonefish]

Any rainbow over 20” is considered a steelhead in many stream.
Out of Rocky Ford, it is just considered a aquarium pond monkey.
If it doesn’t hit the salt, it isn’t a steelhead in my opinion.
SF

 

[constructeur]

If it doesn't hit the salt, it isn't a steelhead in my opinion.

*Insert Midwesterners gnashing their teeth*

 

[Adam Saarinen]

I'd say it's only a Steelhead once it's been out in the salt & gotten pumped up on salt steroids! Same thing goes for seatrout, until they get to the salt they are still a brown trout, but because the parents were seatrout, they will also become seatrout!

 

[Squamishpoacher]

Steelhead are anadromous. They are born in freshwater, spend time there when young, go to saltwater, feed, grow and sexually mature. Once mature, they return to freshwater and spawn. Some die and some survive to return to saltwater to repeat the process of their adult lives. A rainbow over 20 inches caught anywhere is just a nice rainbow. If it originally came from steelhead eggs, unless it has had the opportunity and ability through a biological urge to go to saltwater, feed, grow, and sexually mature, then return to freshwater to spawn...it isn't a steelhead. But if over 20 inches it's still a nice rainbow.
The Great Lakes fishers who praise their "steelhead" need to get humble and admit they are just rainbow trout. It's like lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig.

 

[napawino (Roger Craft)]

And they have those "Lake Trout" things too.

 

[newfydog]

OK, but what about Lake Erie? I won't name names, but a baseball game in Cleveland was halted due to fog rolling in off the lake. A famous pitcher said "what do expect when you build a ballpark right on the ocean"

 

[Stonefish]

OK, but what about Lake Erie? I won't name names, but a baseball game in Cleveland was halted due to fog rolling in off the lake. A famous pitcher said "what do expect when you build a ballpark right on the ocean"

That's like people that visit Puget Sound and say they went to the ocean or coast.
No wonder the Indians haven't won a series since the 40's.
Fake Steelhead.....
SF

 

[Irafly]

Colloquialisms are interesting things. Try to help people understand the difference between a Yam and a Sweet Potato. Dinner versus Supper. Soda, pop, coke... How many other times do we allow people to call things by common names that we don't correct them on? Where exactly is the line? Is it a rolly polly, potato bug, wood louse, isopod?

Let them call it what they want to call it. This of course all applies until someone has the audacity to try and call a strike indicator a bobber. After that the gloves come off.

 

[napawino (Roger Craft)]

And for the LOVE OF GOD, it's a KING, not a Chinook, and a SILVER, not a Coho.

 

[Irafly]

And for the LOVE OF GOD, it's a KING, not a Chinook.

Nope, if you aren't calling it a Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, you simply are an imbecile.

 

[Squamishpoacher]

And for the LOVE OF GOD, it's a KING, not a Chinook, and a SILVER, not a Coho.

Nope.

 

[blackbird]

Michigan state hatcheries list some of their hatcheries as producing rainbows and others as producing steelhead.
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10364_52259_28277---,00.html
not sure how they make this distinction in their own thought process.

and then there are the fish sold in grocery stores as steelhead that were actually net pen raised trout

I suppose if we want to be rigorous, there are

anadromous Oncorhynchus mykiss
&
resident Oncorhynchus mykiss

 

[Bjorn]

Colloquialisms are interesting things. Try to help people understand the difference between a Yam and a Sweet Potato. Dinner versus Supper. Soda, pop, coke... How many other times do we allow people to call things by common names that we don't correct them on? Where exactly is the line? Is it a rolly polly, potato bug, wood louse, isopod?

Let them call it what they want to call it. This of course all applies until someone has the audacity to try and call a strike indicator a bobber. After that the gloves come off.

Yeah and then there are all those "Buffalo" running around-right?