Bill McMillan about Steelhead

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

http://www.steelheadersjournal.com/honored-at-the-photography-awards/

[John Sv]

Very cool.
Hey I always thought the salmon-trout were what they called Lahontan cutthroats...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

From Dennis Lee's new book "The Half-Pounder, A Steelhead Trout"


"The common name steelhead has been in use for over 100 years although its origin is unclear. Authors and anglers have suggested the name applies to either the steel-like color, or the hardness of the steelhead’s head. In the 1880 Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of California, reference was made to a fish with the common name of “Hard-head” or “Black Salmon” and was identified by the scientific name Salmo mykiss. The fish was reported to be an “exceeding large trout…reaches a weight of from fourteen to eighteen pounds” but the origin or specific range of the fish was not mentioned.

In the following 1883-1884 biennial Report of the Commissioners, reference was made to a migratory “Salmon trout” from the McCloud River, a Sacramento River tributary. This trout was called “Mountain trout” and reported to be twice as large as rainbow trout. More than likely, these fish were actually Sacramento River steelhead. Interestingly, the same report indicated that rainbow trout were “neither a gamy nor a choice food fish”. In a subsequent 1888-1890 biennial report, Salmo gairdnerii (Richardson) was identified as “Steel-head salmon, Oregon Brook Trout, or Salmon Trout”, and in the same report it was noted that the “large ones are known as steel-head, the young as Brook trout”.

The name steelhead also appeared in early popular sporting literature about the same time. In 1891, Heywood Walter Seton-Karr wrote in his book, Bear Hunting in the White Mountains, Letter XI, “An Angler’s Eden” “The trout of British Columbia are of two kinds, the ordinary trout (Salmo Purpuratus), having black spots, and the steel-head (Salmo Gairdnerii), the former occasionally attains the weight of ten pounds, but three or four pounds may be considered the weight of a good fish. The steel-head attains from twenty to twenty-five pounds.”

By the end of the 19th century, the name steelhead trout commonly appeared in reports of the Columbia River commercial fisheries and egg taking stations that were in operation on several northern California rivers. Nonetheless, the actual meaning of the name steelhead remains confusing. A 1910 article in the Ferndale Enterprise newspaper, Ferndale, California, suggested, “The term steelhead is applied to a species of large trout or small salmon and is distinguished by its head, which has the appearance of shining steel”. Most likely, we will never know the true origin or meaning of the name steelhead."

[Don Powell]

Bill McMillan is a keen observer of the natural world and an accomplished flyfisher- I value with the utmost respect any observation he puts forth...