24 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 
I want to impress upon my readers is the wonderful adaptability of 
the steelhead when introduced into any suitable waters; its superior 
food and game qualities; and some of the characteristic habits that 
make this species a most desirable one for artificial propagation and 
distribution. ; 
Contrary to general belief this fish may be readily introduced into 
inland lakes far remote from the sea, and while these landlocked ex- 
amples do not ordinarily attain the immense growth of those that are 
sea-run, in lakes of large area and ample food supply they should run 
as heavy as twelve or fifteen pounds. In the smaller lakes, ones as 
small as 150 or 200 acres, with a depth not less than forty or fifty 
feet, the steedhead will usually average around two or three pounds, 
although of course this will vary with the character of water and 
food. The ideal lake for its introduction is one that has several 
large tributary streams emptying into it, and one in which the outlet 
can be screened or racked, for the steelhead is migratory and will 
seek salt water unless prevented from going down stream. For this 
reason it is not a desirable variety for planting in streams, and no 
doubt this is why so little success has followed so many of the 
plantings. Spring-fed lakes having little or no outlets are in many 
ways particularly suited for its adaption, but in these you could not 
expect any great amount of natural reproduction, for this fish requires 
a tributary stream to ascend for the purpose of spawning and for the 
development of the eggs and fry. If sufficient fingerling or yearlings 
could be readily obtained from your state hatcheries at stated intervals 
to keep up the supply, then no better water could be found for the 
purpose than that of a spring-fed lake. 
In structure, coloring, habits and general appearances the steel- 
head when in fresh water very closely resembles its near relative—the 
rainbow trout. There has been considerable controversy over these two 
fish, and many still claim that the steelhead is simply the sea-run form 
of the rainbow trout. To repeat a statement I made a short time ago 
in another magazine, ‘‘The typical rainbow trout (Salmo irideus) and 
the other of the rainbow series, even though sea-run and bright silvery 
in color, can always be distinguished as rainbows; and the steelhead. 
whether in salt water or landlocked for twenty years in an inland 
lake, always remain a true steelhead.’’ The steelhead, both in fresh 
and salt water, is usually more silvery, is much slimmer and more 
symmetrical in shape, and the black spots or markings are very much 
smaller and more irregular in shape than in the rainbow. In the land- 
locked forms where both species inhabit the same waters, each type 
holds true to its original shape, appearances and habits, year after 
year, and generation after generation. To distinguish the steelhead 
from the rainbow there are several reliable methods of which the fol- 
lowing two are perhaps the best: In the typical steelhead, the dorsal 
fin is always located farther forward than in the rainbow. If the 
distance from in front of the dorsal fin to the end of the snout is 
quite a little less than from this same point to the end of the fleshy 
part of body or beginning of tail, then the fish is quite certain to be 
a steelhead, for in the rainbow these measurements are about equal. 
In the steelhead, the length of the head (from tip of snout to end of 
gill cover) is always contained more than four and one-half times in 
the entire length of body (from tip of snout to end of fleshy part of 
body) while in the rainbow this measurement is always less than 
four and one-half times. 
Comparing the two fish as to their respective game qualities is 
almost as difficult as telling the two species apart when in the 
