Where does the name 'steelhead' come from?

[okumasheffield]

Does anyone know why those fish are called 'steelhead'?

[dave524]

named after a beer??

[bigfish1965]

I think it is because the original ocean running rainbows had a steel (chrome) color to them at sea, while getting their rainbow colors during spawn, unlike the rainbows who stay upriver all year and are always colorful.

[BillM]

I'm guessing because of the blue/grey steel colour they have.

[Roy]

They rust in the fall??

[Paully]

They rust in the fall??

 

 

No.. thats Salmon Roy

[Roy]

No.. thats Salmon Roy

 

No, salmon ROT in the fall.

[majorlifts]

I think its funny that Loblaws sells rainbow trout and on the same rack next to those are steel head rainbow trout for 40 cents more,.... ?? Okay whats up with that. Hello! Same fish! I smell a marketing scam, big time.

[Roy]

I think its funny that Loblaws sells rainbow trout and on the same rack next to those are steel head rainbow trout for 40 cents more,.... ?? Okay whats up with that. Hello! Same fish! I smell a marketing scam, big time.

 

Oh sure. You can get more money for a gold watch because this one's not only gold, it's gold PLATED!!!

[young_one]

I remember seeing "Wild Steelhead Salmon" at a resturant menu! Now thats a scam.

[vinnimon]

A little trib at erie I fish for chromies.There are 2 diiferent types of chromies that run.One is bigger,more slendor.The other is smaller and rounder(like a football).As I was told the first is a steelie,the second is a rainbow way back when.Both look the same except for their body and size.I beleive the 2nd is a strain from a stocked chromie.As for browns the ones that were stocked and fin clipped at 50 point.They should call them cement heads.Their always jumping out and hitting the wall.My dad told me back then, they were the retarded ones. Go for the smart ones.

[HTHM]

So that blondes can fish with a magnet.....

Let's all wait for Solo to chime in with the correct answer

In the meantime, here is what Wikipedia says:

The rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America as well as much of the central, western, eastern, and especially the northern portions of the United States. The ocean going (anadromous) form (including those returning for spawning) are known as steelhead, (Canada and the United States) or ocean trout (Australia). The species has been introduced for food or sport to at least 45 countries, and every continent except Antarctica. In some of these locations, such as Southern Europe, Australia and South America, they have had very serious negative impacts on upland native fish species, either by eating them, outcompeting them, transmitting contagious diseases, or hybridization with closely related species and subspecies that are native to western North America.[1][2]

 

The species was originally named by Johann Julius Walbaum in 1792 based on type specimens from Kamchatka. Richardson named a specimen of this species Salmo gairdneri in 1836, and in 1855, W. P. Gibbons found a population and named it Salmo iridia, later corrected to Salmo irideus, however these names became deprecated once it was determined that Walbaum's type description was conspecific and therefore had precedence (see e.g. Behnke, 1966).[3] More recently, DNA studies showed rainbow trout are genetically closer to Pacific salmon (Onchorhynchus species) than to brown trout (Salmo trutta) or Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), so the genus was changed.

 

Unlike the species' former name's epithet iridia (Latin: rainbow), the specific epithet mykiss derives from the local Kamchatkan name 'mykizha'; all of Walbaum's species names were based on Kamchatkan local names.

[BillM]

A little trib at erie I fish for chromies.There are 2 diiferent types of chromies that run.One is bigger,more slendor.The other is smaller and rounder(like a football).As I was told the first is a steelie,the second is a rainbow way back when.Both look the same except for their body and size.I beleive the 2nd is a strain from a stocked chromie.As for browns the ones that were stocked and fin clipped at 50 point.They should call them cement heads.Their always jumping out and hitting the wall.My dad told me back then, they were the retarded ones. Go for the smart ones.

 

If they are coming from the lake I would think they are steelhead regardless.. Now you might be getting into some different strains.. Manistee fish, Ohio fish, etc.. They definitely don't all fight the same...

 

I consider resident fish to be called rainbows (ie they are in the river all season)

Edited January 5, 2010 by BillM

[irishfield]

They gotta have steel heads.. have you ever watched them TRY to enter a fish ladder...

[aniceguy]

pretty much if its a resident fish its refered as a rainbow trout if its a migratory its a steelhead, there is no difference in the fish for the most part but after a few hundred years theres some different genetics but for the most part its just a different life history where the residnet spends its life in a stream environment and the steelhead is considered a migratory fish living in oceans and migrating to rivers to spawn. There are variations to all of this but for the most part thats it....

 

Besides Rainbows are pewny things that eat bugs steelhead are hot slick chromers that eat anything

Edited January 6, 2010 by aniceguy

[vinnimon]

If they are coming from the lake I would think they are steelhead regardless.. Now you might be getting into some different strains.. Manistee fish, Ohio fish, etc.. They definitely don't all fight the same...

 

I consider resident fish to be called rainbows (ie they are in the river all season)

Well in this trib I cant see them being in there all season long.Both strains that I came across move in similar patterns.Feeding and migrating.The only difference I do tend to see is where they hold before moving on upstream.And also there size and shape.Correct me if Im wrong.But I think the smaller(football shaped)ones are from a strain of stocked fish.The other longer,slimmer and larger are native to the lake.Not really sure but If Im wrong correct me please.

[trevy727]

a true steelhead migrates from saltwater to freshwater.

[BillM]

Well in this trib I cant see them being in there all season long.Both strains that I came across move in similar patterns.Feeding and migrating.The only difference I do tend to see is where they hold before moving on upstream.And also there size and shape.Correct me if Im wrong.But I think the smaller(football shaped)ones are from a strain of stocked fish.The other longer,slimmer and larger are native to the lake.Not really sure but If Im wrong correct me please.

 

For sure.. There are all kinds of different strains out in the lake. All kinds of wanderers out there Like I mentioned, there are the Manistee fish which we see on the south shore of Lake E, along with the stockers from the Catt, also Ohio fish. But then you also get runs of wild fish (The Catt for example) which are heads above any stocked fish and you can tell as soon as you put hooks into them..

 

I've seen long slender fish that look like bullets with fin clips. It all depends on the strain.

 

a true steelhead migrates from saltwater to freshwater.

 

So I guess we don't have any 'true' steelhead or salmon in the Great Lakes...

 

Good to know.

Edited January 6, 2010 by BillM

[Bob]

They're called steelhead because when they're fresh run fish, the top of the head is a steel-grey colour, a little lighter than what's on the back. None of them are native to eastern North America, they all were originally stocked. The Americans brought in a bunch of fish from a hatchery on the Skamania River in Washington state that were longer and slimmer than the regular steelhead and it could be those that show the difference. I've caught the odd one up here and the difference is quite noticeable. They seem to be far more agressive than the regular steelhead. They brought them in because they run in the rivers as early as mid summer and they spawn in the fall. The idea was to make for a longer river fishing season.

[vinnimon]

Now the the ultimate question.If we have steelhead in our lakes,And been there all their lives.Can they migrate back to saltwater without any problems?Obviously they wouldnt.But,can they?And adapt to it naturally?Or will they over generations need to adapt?Just a thought running threw my mind.I beleive I came acoss this discussion a few years back.

[ChrisK]

I've always been interested in the Skamania Steelhead strain myself......

http://www.flyguysoutfitting.com/skamie.html

[BillM]

I've always been interested in the Skamania Steelhead strain myself......

http://www.flyguysoutfitting.com/skamie.html

 

I wonder if Indiana is still stocking those badboys?.. I wish I was fishing the 'Geen back in the day when your chances of hooking up with one was fairly good.

[eyeforelle]

For sure.. There are all kinds of different strains out in the lake. All kinds of wanderers out there Like I mentioned, there are the Manistee fish which we see on the south shore of Lake E, along with the stockers from the Catt, also Ohio fish. But then you also get runs of wild fish (The Catt for example) which are heads above any stocked fish and you can tell as soon as you put hooks into them..

 

I've seen long slender fish that look like bullets with fin clips. It all depends on the strain.

 

 

 

So I guess we don't have any 'true' steelhead or salmon in the Great Lakes...

 

Good to know.

 

Our steelhead are merely knock off's to what is on the west coast.

[BillM]

Our steelhead are merely knock off's to what is on the west coast.

 

That's great and all, but they are still steelhead..