Steelhead trout are perfect for anglers pursing freshwater fish with saltwater instincts.
Description
Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are rainbows that spend part of their lives in the ocean. Steelheads are more streamlined and have a more silvery sheen than freshwater-only rainbows.
Steelheads are found from the southern end of the Inside Passage to Southcentral Alaska and on to Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula.
Alaska record
42 pounds, 3 ounces, caught in 1970 on Bell Island by David White. (Same as the rainbow trout.)
Tips for fishing
Adult steelheads like fast, deep, running water. Fish the deep holes in the stream, as well as white-water areas and behind rocks and log jams.
Steelheads like colorful flies such as the Russian River coho, hair skyhomish, skyhomish sunrise, red rascal and polar shrimp. Egg imitations work, too. A single hook with a tuft or strand of orange yarn is often just the ticket for steelhead.
Small spoons to large spinners also will catch steelhead.
Best time to fish
Southcentral Alaska
- Susitna, Talkeetna and rivers flowing into western Cook Inlet -- July
- Kenai Peninsula / Cook Inlet -- August, September, October
- Kenai Peninsula streams -- May, June, July August, September, October
- Resurrection Bay -- July, August
- Prince William Sound -- July, August
- Prince William Sound streams September
Inside Passage
- Inside Passage streams, north of Stikine River -- April, May, October
- Inside Passage streams, south of Stikine River -- April, May, November, December
Western, Interior and Northern Alaska
- Bristol Bay and Kodiak offshore -- August, September
- Bristol Bay streams and Kodiak -- January, February, March, April, May, September, October
Sources of information include the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
