whats the difference?

[miles]

Hi everyone, I am new to steelheading this year and the forum. I have fished since I was a little kit but this is the fist year I have really went after rainbows. I almost always fish a Huron trib upstream. Since I have started catching a few more I notice two very different behaviors and characteristics of the fish I catch. I catch much fewer of the second ones.

#1. Very light in coloration, light belly. When I fight them they tend to hug the bottom and very rarely jump or surface. Not a huge amount of fight normally two or three good runs and its over.

#2 Much darker than the other. Jump like crazy sometimes five or eight times before I can take it in. Long fast runs and it seems to have much more power than the first. They like to snap my line...

So is one just a fish that's been in the river for a while? Are they two different strains? I don't know if this is a stupid question sorry if it is. Thanks.

 

[dsukh]

Hi everyone, I am new to steelheading this year and the forum. I have fished since I was a little kit but this is the fist year I have really went after rainbows. I almost always fish a Huron trib upstream. Since I have started catching a few more I notice two very different behaviors and characteristics of the fish I catch. I catch much fewer of the second ones.

#1. Very light in coloration, light belly. When I fight them they tend to hug the bottom and very rarely jump or surface. Not a huge amount of fight normally two or three good runs and its over.

#2 Much darker than the other. Jump like crazy sometimes five or eight times before I can take it in. Long fast runs and it seems to have much more power than the first. They like to snap my line...

So is one just a fish that's been in the river for a while? Are they two different strains? I don't know if this is a stupid question sorry if it is. Thanks.

Darker means it's been in the river longer. The lighter one should have a bigger fight..

 

[miles]

Thanks exactly what I thought, the dark ones seem to jump much more though. I haven't caught all that many bows so It might just be me imagining things lol

 

[Float_On]

I believe it's strains... I've caught mixed bags of steelies in the same day that have different fights and colours. Some are silver bullet jumpers, others are dark blue-purple and wrap themselves up to your float but never surface.

Some might be stray American stock, some might be from 80's genetics, or 90's or some types of hybrids.

If you fish the same system enough, you can start to notice the different strains.

I saw schools of 15-30 fish this weekend that were all identical clones, it was interesting. Every single fish was the same - 24", same profile, colour, behavior. Not every school was the same tho.

 

[archibunker]

For the most part

The males get more color and like to jump a lot more....
The females usually don't color up as much, and like to hug bottom....

 

[Spinninreel]

Float on is correct. I've been involved with stocking rainbows and some will grow faster than others and some will fight better than others.

 

[shuynh]

Float on is correct. I've been involved with stocking rainbows and some will grow faster than others and some will fight better than others.

I want to get involved in that program too, what do I have to do?

 

[rocheleauc]

I believe it's strains... I've caught mixed bags of steelies in the same day that have different fights and colours. Some are silver bullet jumpers, others are dark blue-purple and wrap themselves up to your float but never surface.

Some might be stray American stock, some might be from 80's genetics, or 90's or some types of hybrids.

If you fish the same system enough, you can start to notice the different strains.

I saw schools of 15-30 fish this weekend that were all identical clones, it was interesting. Every single fish was the same - 24", same profile, colour, behavior. Not every school was the same tho.

Agreed. I've had darker fish fight harder then some chrome fish, I've had chrome ones rocket out of the air cartwheeling repeatedly. I've had some 10lb fish fight like crap and landed in under a minute.

I always was told that darker fish were in the system for longer, but I've seen some darker fish get pulled out while drifting the lake. Even some post opener fish were chrome, and some were coloured up.

 

[miles]

Thanks for all the reply's guys, very interesting. I landed a bunch of 6-8lb bottom loving females and thought I was all tough...That is till one 10lb+ fish took my bead, fired its self in the air a moment later and went on a rod wrenching run! Then my line snapped... I thought some some of the adrenaline was out of it for me I was very wrong. Back on the white knuckle express!

 

[[email protected]]

i've seen several different colour types, from green backs, to black to bluish, even a bronze back, that was on the ganny in april, we thought it was a brown at first, but it was indeed a steel. from my experiences, fish are like dogs, you can have the exact same breed with different colouring, and temperment, either way, they are still a ton of fun

 

[Rain-Bow]

Most of the steelhead I've caught put up a decent fight no matter the coloration or time of year. The one in my avatar put up an awesome fight. Occasionally I get into one that goes totally nuts. Brown trout seem to put up the crappiest fights IMO.

 

[Spinninreel]

I want to get involved in that program too, what do I have to do?

I belong to a cottagers association that gets together and stocks the lake. That's how I've seen the difference in different strains.

 

[Kestrel]

When it comes to the fighting qualities of rainbows, a lot of people forget that water temperature plays a huge role in what you experience at the end of the line (regardless of strain or sex). Hit a fish when it’s warmer out in October and you’ll usually have your hands full. Hook the same fish when the water temps are sub zero temps and the fight is no where near as spectacular. Remember that fish are cold blooded.

The strain of the fish can also play a role in how well they fight. Ever hook a Chambers creek strain from the Salmon river, a Little Manistee strain from the Superior/Michigan tribs? Wild G-bay/Huron fish? Stocked or wild, those fish kick ass and fight nothing like the PA mutts (London strain). With that said, perhaps with domestic or clipped rainbows, it might be somewhat easy to differentiate amongst various strains. With the wild (or unclipped) migratory fish that we have running up the rivers in the great lakes, it’s tough to distinguish strains of fish without collecting a DNA sample to see the genetic make up. The wild fish we have swimming up our rivers today are a genetic soup of various strains of fish that have bred and naturalized over the last century (and more). In large rivers that have smaller tributaries flowing into it, you can have genetically distinct wild fish that are unique to those individual tribs, despite swimming up the same river. The rainbows of the great lakes aren’t bound by international borders either. Fish from Lake Michigan have been found swimming up Lake Ontario rivers (they either fell down Niagara falls or swam through the Welland canal). A little Manistee strain fish from Lake Michigan could potentially swim in a group of wild fish from the Ganny and spawn.

With regards to colouration, the SAME fish can be chrome and have a blue back in the lake. A greenish/brown back with a chrome body when it starts going up the river. A dark bronze back and body with a giant red stripe on both sides when it’s far up river and spawning. And then developing that chrome colour again with a blue back once it recovers from the spawn and starts dropping back to the lake. It’s all about the cycle the fish is currently in.

 

[Luke]

Very well explained kestrel, you took the words out of my mouth and then some. If my phone could do a plus youd get one.

As for the felllow discussing brown trout fighting ability I disagree, odds are you must have never hooked a fresh one or caught one casting the lake.