Steelhead name?

G
greenhorn
Why do they call it a Steelhead?
 
F
fish_4_all
Only reason I can come up with is because a freshish one has a distinct smell of steel, at least the ones up here do. Touch a nice fresh one and then smell your hands and you will think you have been working with clean metal for hours.
 
L
luv2fish
cuz it looks like so metallic...steel almost.....i donno if you have seen a bright coastal fall steely...it is blinding. and henceforth they are called steelheads
 
G
greenhorn
steelhead

steelhead

well that might account for the body but where does the steel "head" come in?
 
A
ArcticAmoeba
Oh, good gravy you guys! This is a funny thread. Fresh Steelhead have a very distinct color seperation. Mirror chrome on their flanks, and a dark polished look on their upper portion, that begins as a dark "hood" over their heads, and contuinues down their top side.
 
G
greenhorn
well now that makes sense, thanks arctic.....
 
A
ArcticAmoeba
No problem GH. Here is a picture of a little finned hen from last week that got released, but it kind of shows the darker shade, on top of the chrome flanks... The darker color, when they really are just "black, and white" is a very similar shade to mill scale on sheet steel. They could have called them MillScaleHeads...Haha. that would have been killer.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
B
bigdog
Three blondes are fishing on the river, game warden comes along and asked to see fishing licences. One girl speaks up and says, "We arent fishing sir, we have magnets on the ends of the lines trying to get whatever metel things on the bottom of river out."
Guy says " Oh really let me see then"
So they reel the lines in and show them and sure enough there is magnets on the end. Guy says "Well ok ladies have fun and be carefull" with that he leaves shaking his head.
After he is gone one of the ladies say "Dumb guy doesn't he know there are Steelheads in this river"
 
Troutski
Troutski
Barb...a rebuttal...?

Barb...a rebuttal...?

bigdog said:
Three blondes are fishing on the river, game warden comes along and asked to see fishing licences. One girl speaks up and says, "We arent fishing sir, we have magnets on the ends of the lines trying to get whatever metel things on the bottom of river out."
Guy says " Oh really let me see then"
So they reel the lines in and show them and sure enough there is magnets on the end. Guy says "Well ok ladies have fun and be carefull" with that he leaves shaking his head.
After he is gone one of the ladies say "Dumb guy doesn't he know there are Steelheads in this river"

Just waiting on Barb...;):think:

Chuck
 
K
Kodiak
The reason why

The reason why

If you have ever been headbutted by a steelie you would know where they got their name....pic comming soon.
 
F
Fishtopher
Oh jeez,this is gonna be good...both the headbutt, and the
rebuttal !!:lol::cool:
 
L
luv2fish
greenhorn said:
well that might account for the body but where does the steel "head" come in?


so u heard what arctic amoeba said.....yes cuz of the finish at the head....i just said body cuz it covers all but yes thats very specific.....steelhead and nowadays a slang term called "metalheads" is also gettin popular........
 
F
fish_4_all
Have you ever had a steelhead bury itself in the gravel while trying to bring them in?

Not a joke, I actually saw this happen on the Humptulips river a few years back. The head got close to the bank and literally swam as hard as it could into the loose gravel and had its head buried a good 4 inches in the bottom of the river.

Maybe that is why every once in a while you will be fighting one and it is like they wrapped you around a stump or something and won't move.
 
A
ArcticAmoeba
I see this on the Hoh, and the Sol Duc too, with other species. The Hoh, and Sno Steelhead have the same personality trait... The Head Bury. I have only ever felt them do it when they start to feel the gravel on their guts though. When you get those Steel that won't move for anything, you found yourself a chrome side-planer. They turn just right into the current, and literally can plane out line without giving up too much energy. Stupid Troots! Or are they??? Haha.
 
C
chunk_style
I've had chinook do this to me, too! Once on the Kilchis I was playing one in a large pool with a gravel bar on the far side. By the time I figured out what he was doing as he tore across the river straight out from me, I felt a headshake, lots of wierd vibration up the line, and he was gone! Scraped the size 6 blue fox right out of his mouth!! A few weeks ago on five rivers I had a nookie on, and saw him scrape his face into the bottom, trying to dislodge my mepps! I put the screws to him before he could do any damage, and managed to land that one.
 

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