Steelhead

[Steve Carson]

This issue comes up every year when we do this stocking, so I'm going to try to do the short version.
The fish stocked in Irvine are a hybrid hatchery strain, since true "wild" steelhead take very sophisticated [expensive] facilities such as are maintained at the handful of DFG hatcheries that produce them for release in northern river systems.
The Irvine Lake fish start as a "true" steelhead crossed with a hatchery cutthroat, then backcrossed again to where the fish is roughly 75 to 80-percent steelhead.
Although not as efficient as hatchery-strain rainbows, these fish can be raised much more easily than what is required for the true "wild" strain.
FYI, all rainbows "can" become steelhead; but steelhead-strain fish have a kidney function that allows them to pass between freshwater and saltwater with only about 24 hours of acclimation time.
"Regular" rainbows would need 30 days or more of gradual acclimation in a brackish estuary to head out into saltwater.
There are numerous populations of "landlocked" steelhead that will never see salt water, both in California and other areas, most notably the Great Lakes.

[Troutman65]

This issue comes up every year when we do this stocking, so I'm going to try to do the short version.
The fish stocked in Irvine are a hybrid hatchery strain, since true "wild" steelhead take very sophisticated [expensive] facilities such as are maintained at the handful of DFG hatcheries that produce them for release in northern river systems.
The Irvine Lake fish start as a "true" steelhead crossed with a hatchery cutthroat, then backcrossed again to where the fish is roughly 75 to 80-percent steelhead.
Although not as efficient as hatchery-strain rainbows, these fish can be raised much more easily than what is required for the true "wild" strain.
FYI, all rainbows "can" become steelhead; but steelhead-strain fish have a kidney function that allows them to pass between freshwater and saltwater with only about 24 hours of acclimation time.
"Regular" rainbows would need 30 days or more of gradual acclimation in a brackish estuary to head out into saltwater.
There are numerous populations of "landlocked" steelhead that will never see salt water, both in California and other areas, most notably the Great Lakes.

Steve Carson, Thank you for taking the time to explain the Steelhead trout that were stocked into Irvine Lake last Friday. It sure clears up alot.

[mullet]

Extactly landlocked steelie=rainbow
nothing else.
Mike

[Steve Carson]

The separation of steelhead from rainbows is much more complicated than the "Wikipedia" definition.
Yes, any rainbow trout "can" become a steelhead, but thousands of years of genetic separation and "survival of the fittest" in an ocean environment of the wild anadramous runs has created a superior strain of fish.
California has "true wild" populations of landlocked steelhead in lakes like Sonoma [trapped when dams were built decades ago], also in lakes like Oroville's Thermalito Forebay where they stock wild steelhead in a lake for recreational fishing, and of course the midwest's Great Lakes have a large population of wild steelhead [also hatchery help] derived from the Pacific's wild strains.
There are even a few situations for little kids fishing events [Bedrock Park in Oroville] where it is a legal requirement by DFG that steelhead-strain rainbows be stocked instead of the "regular" variety.
To top it all off, about 10 years ago the Federal government [not CA] decided that steelhead were not trout at all, but were instead a species of Pacific salmon, this decision due to their life cycle and DNA differences from non-steelhead rainbows.
Anyway, Irvine Lake's fish are as close as we can get for a body of water such as ours, and even at only 75-percent they offer a unique SoCal inland angling experience.

[FISHJUNKIE4446]

O.K. I have a bad feeling about this!!! That I will get alot ofguys & gals that think that the NC is the way togo... Including my partner in crime that has to have them onboard every time we fish together. Which is most of the time I fish the Vine !! I personaly like PB and have had alot of luck with it for years..I Know... I know.. alot of you swear by the NC . But the truth hurts... That berkley is the world leader in dough baits and now there plastics baits are really starting to show results. I, like most you out there, like to mix it up. I came up with a secert weapon last year that gave me limits almost every time I fished the Vine. But it was taking all dam day to get the limit in the boat 10 hrs. for five fish was not good anough for me !! So my partner and Icame up with a great idea of injecting power dough. Now we have the Super secret weapon!!!!Now I have had limits in less than two hours and heading for the cleaning station around noon several times, a matter of fact it has been 48 fish in ten trips to the Vine this season!!!! my personal best for the 20 + years fishing there!!! So there is someting to be said about PB and berkley plastics. So this is why I have givin up the NC!! wile waiting for my partner to get his share, witch has'nt been working for him with that Dam NC drenched in garlic sauce!!!I keep a record of the fish that I catch..I keep the sticker tags on the inside of my tackle box and wright down the # of fish I caught for the day this gives me a avreage for the season. We only troll when it gets too windy to bait and wait.... O.K. I have to say that my partner did get in the Masters w/a 6.04 Bow on a dam NC ,But nothing since. Tight Lines and See ya on the water....

[Marley]

....injecting power dough. Now we have the Super secret weapon!!!!Now I have had limits in less than two hours and heading for the cleaning station around noon several times, a matter of fact it has been 48 fish in ten trips to the Vine this season!!!! ....

You're injecting the stuff into what? You'd have to cut it with something or use a caulking gun to get that thick a substance to inject into anything. I KNOW you're not shooting up a worm with it. And (I must be very careful here not to jinx or violate myself), getting to the tables by noon with a limit is not exactly stellar fishing. If it took me and my herbed wigglers that long to bag a limit...

[FISHJUNKIE4446]

Think of what baits are hollow.... You take it from thier

[Koontaj]

Sooooo where are the steelies?

[Marley]

Think of what baits are hollow.... You take it from thier

hmmmm......I'm still worried about the injector. I'll work on it. Used to be a catfish "lure" that worked something like that. Jimmy Houston reportedly caught a bunch of big cats at Irvine while fishing the face of the dam, behind the buoy line.

[Marley]

Sooooo where are the steelies?

Oh, yeah! The steelies! Didn't they win the Super Bowl?