Species Guide: Steelhead

A native adult steelhead is one of the rare jewels of the natural world. Hatched in the gravel of the Pacific Northwest, it survived winter ice and famine, a gauntlet of predators, and an endless assault by man who has dammed rivers, taken the water for irrigation, and logged the forests, leaving naked rivers choking on debris in barren landscapes. The steelhead grew large in the North Pacific, evading seals, killer whales, larger fish, and the nets of the commercial fishing fleets to return to its natal river to spawn.To the fly fisher, this miracle of survival is made even more poignant by a steelhead's instinctive strike, and frantic fight for survival. After all those miles, and all those obstacles, he's accidentally given himself up to a small hook and bits of fur and feathers. It goes without saying that all wild steelhead should be released to propagate the species. These giant, sea-faring rainbow trout are more than just the ultimate freshwater gamefish. They are a literal coal mine canary, indicating just how far we've gone toward destroying our coastal rivers.Steelhead lifecycles and habits are closely related to the Pacific Salmon except for that fact that they don't die after they spawn. After the fry emerge from the gravel of their natal streams, young steelhead live in freshwater for 1-3 years as parr--often living and feeding in the same places as similarly sized rainbow trout. Juvenile steelhead often look exactly like resident rainbow trout, but their instinctual drives are different, and steelhead smolts drop downstream where they grow large in the fertile waters of the North Pacific.Mature steelhead return to their home streams to spawn after 1-5 years in the ocean, and each river system seems to produce fish with different lifecycles and characteristics. For instance, Klamath River steelhead--often called "half- pounders"--forage in the coastal waters and estuaries of California and Oregon and most commonly return to freshwater after only one year in the salt. Steelhead spend most of their adult lives in the ocean, but return to their native streams to spawn. Summer-run steelhead (like the Kispiox River female pictured above) will take dry flies. Winter steelhead are most often caught with sinking-tip lines and weighted flies. In the Great Lakes area, transplanted steelhead grow large in freshwater, and run up small lakes tributaries to spawn.On other rivers, like British Columbia's Kispiox River, steelhead commonly spend three or four years in the North Pacific, ranging as far from home as the Aleutian Islands and Russia's Kamchatka Penninsula. Kispiox fish usually come back to spawn as jumbo trout, with 30- pound specimens caught every year, but Mother Nature hates to put all her eggs in one basket, and steelhead of varying sizes and ages can be found with every run of spawning fish. On the Klamath, 10-pound steelhead and larger are seen every year, and while not the norm, 20- inch steelhead sometimes share the same pools with 20-pound leviathans on the Kispiox.Because each strain of fish exhibits different spawning habits, steelhead can be found in some rivers of the Pacific Northwest every month of the year. "Summer-run" steelhead enter freshwater from June-October and spend the winter in freshwater, resting in slow pools, waiting for the spring thaw and their March-April spawning rituals. Because of the huge energy reserves these fish have stored, and their sometimes trout-like behaviors, summer- run fish caught in the days and weeks after they leave the ocean are the most sought-after of all steelhead. Although they do not actively feed in most cases, they will instinctively crush a skating dry dry, or take a wet fly swung through the depths of a pool.Winter-run steelhead enter the rivers much closer to their actual spawning time, but are still chrome bright when they first come in from the ocean. Because of cold water tempertures, winter run fish will not take dry flies, and wet flies must be presented deep and slow, so the fish doesn't have to move far to take the fly.While juvenile steelhead are nearly identical in every respect to resident rainbow trout, mature steelhead are easily distingiushed by their size. In almost every respect, they look like an overgrown rainbow trout, with chrome flanks, and olive backs peppered with dark spots. Their tails are square and spotted. As they mature in fresh water, they begin to take on characteristics of a spawning adult. Females will develop a broad, pink stain on their gill plates and a bit of a "rainbow stripe." Males become much more dramatic-looking as they approach the spawn, developing a hooked kype, and turning a dark red reminiscent of some of their Pacific salmon cousins.Like Pacific salmon, native steelhead populations have been decimated, and many races are already exctinct. Mining, logging, and hydroelectric industries have either destroyed or marginalized much of their habitat through the Pacific Northwest. Almost everywhere you can fish for them, you will be chasing the "remants" of a once-prolific steelhead run. Only in the undammned rivers of northern British Columbia and southeast Alaska can you find wild steelhead runs even approaching their histocial productivity, and these populations are threatening by bad logging practices, and commercial overfishing.Steelhead are also stocked in many tributaries to the Great Lakes. The fish migrate to the lakes instead of saltwater, and return to the streams when it is time to spawn. While these fisheries are far from natural, they are often prolific, and may be your best chance to tangle with large steelhead on a consistent basis.