Greencoachdog Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 (edited) ... Edited November 7, 2009 by GCD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustink Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 (edited) I may be totally wrong, but I believe it has to do with how they live...not size. Steelhead are born in rivers, live in lakes / sea, and then spawn in the same rivers (and then swim back out). It's because of where they live that they will grow so much larger. Rainbows are born, live, spawn, and die in rivers. dk Edited January 26, 2007 by dustink Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiel Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 ....Actually Glen it's a non related issue. Rainbows are generally land locked strains of trout while a true Steelhead is an anadromous (fresh water born, ocean living) genus of the rainbow. A twist to all this of course is Great Lakes Steelhead, some of which are derived from true steelhead and some from watered down domestic rainbow trout. What I'm trying to say is that rainbows don't grow into steelhead yet some domestic Great Lakes strains display anadromous properties. I'm sure this has helped you none! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bly Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 Ontario Out Of Doors published this info and it seems to do a good job of explaining the difference..... Ontario/Great Lakes Steelhead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishFinder Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 steelhead are strictly "migratory" meaning rivers. The fish you see in small lakes and trout farms are rainbows no matter how big they get.. Basically fresh water = rainbow, ocean water = steelhead with the great lakes being an exception to this. Well atleast this is the way i see it. i just realized how slow i type, lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greencoachdog Posted January 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 (edited) ... Edited November 7, 2009 by GCD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camillj Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 Depends on your point of reference ... in Southern Ontario Rainbow = Steelhead (in name if not definition) ... sorta like pickeral = walleye Course its always open for debate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyk Posted January 27, 2007 Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 That ontario Out of doors article does a pretty good job of explaining what a steelhead is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary George Posted January 27, 2007 Report Share Posted January 27, 2007 (edited) Biologically there is no difference. Internally and externally they are identical in every way. Visually the various strains of either look different in colour and spotting, overall body shapes vary but in the end they are all still the same creature. Before man got involved with moving them around they all resided on the western slope of this and the South American continent. Some were landlocked, some were freshwater migrarory and others were salt water migratory. Before the most recent serious biological indentification was completed they were thought to be in the same genus as Atlantic Salmon. It is now believed they are closer to Pacific Salmon but unique enough to be a genus of they're own. Serious Steelheaders will resent this, ultimately they are all rainbows first. If they migrate they get the nickname "steelhead". Edited January 27, 2007 by RivrRat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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