How to know it
A rainbow trout is silver to green with a pink or red stripe down the side and small black spots over the body, the head and the whole tail. A steelhead is a rainbow that has lived in a big lake: chrome silver when fresh from the lake, with the stripe faint or absent, taking on color the longer it is in the river. The spotted tail is the mark that separates both from a brown trout; the dark spots on a light ground separate them from brook and lake trout.
Where it lives
Rainbows are a Pacific fish, brought east in the 1800s and now stocked in streams, ponds and lakes across the Upper Midwest, with naturalized populations in some. The steelhead story is the Great Lakes: fish stocked in Superior, Michigan and Huron live in the open lake and return to the tributaries — the Brule, the Knife, the rivers of Michigan's west coast, the streams of Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shore — to spawn. In a river a steelhead holds in deeper runs, behind boulders and at the tails of pools; in the lake it follows the cold water and the baitfish.
Through the year
Stream rainbows fish like any trout, through the hatches of spring and the early mornings of summer. Steelhead are the seasonal event. Fall brings the first fish into the rivers with the cooler water and rain, and they hold through winter wherever the river stays open. Spring is the main run, the fish moving up to spawn as the ice goes out and the water rises; the states manage this run closely with seasons, limits and refuges. Through summer the fish are back in the lake, caught by trolling offshore and, in June and July on Superior, along the shore in the surf.
How guides fish for it
Steelhead in a river means drift fishing: a float and a spawn bag, bead or jig drifted through a run; bottom-bouncing with yarn or spawn; swinging flies with a two-handed rod; nymphing with an indicator. The guide reads the river's level and color, knows which runs hold fish on which flow, and keeps the angler's drift honest for hours between fish. On the lake it is trolling with spoons and plugs off boards and downriggers, or casting from a boat in the shallows in spring and fall. Stream rainbow trips use the same methods as any trout trip, often with beginners, because a stocked rainbow is a willing fish.
Handling and release
Steelhead are released on most guided trips and are strong enough to swim off well if kept in the water. Hold the fish in the current until it leaves on its own. Stocked stream rainbows are often kept where the rules allow.
Rules
Steelhead and trout rules are detailed and change with the season and the stream, including closed stretches near spawning areas. The Wisconsin DNR and the Minnesota DNR publish them, and a guide will know the ones for the water you are on.
