steelheads in loyalhanna

was at loyalhanna lake today under perfect weather conditions.  we caught the usual ton of crappies and gills (3-4 slabbers) and a few bass but we also got 7 steelheads from 14-18 inches.  these were clearly rainbow trout that have lost all their coloring and are steel colored.  they must've come down from the creek and are now living in the lake.  they were all very healthy and fat.  i got two of these a few years ago and thought they were flukes but they're in there.
 
phish

Phish - think I saw you out there today, PM sent.

Lots of traffic out there.

eric - yah, lots of traffic but down by the dam it's a no wake zone so guys in small boats don't get rock and rolled all day.  i think i got seasick the one and only time we fished away from the no wake zones.
 
phish

Some years ago when I was a DWCO for Westmoreland County. I remeber a sportsmans's club did actually stock small steelhead into loyalhanna as a experiment.

ORIGINAL: kyler16

i got two of these a few years ago and thought they were flukes but they're in there.

do you know that steelhead are lake run rainbows???


all they are is just rainbows that were stocked and went into the lake they arent manistee or anything like that.

Is it Loyalhanna (creek) going into or out of the lake (or both?)

ORIGINAL: esbdmb

Is it Loyalhanna (creek) going into or out of the lake (or both?)

loyalhanna flows into the lake, loyalhanna creek also continues below the lake but fish cant get into the lake from downstream because of the dam which is pretty big. keystone state park and twin lakes county park are both part of the loyalhanna watershed, i wouldnt be surprised if fish from those lakes eventually end up in loyalhanna lake.

no foolin' and we officially weren;t drinking - i didn't have a camera and they were outta season so we thru them all back - but here's a photo of the two i got in 2006 in loyalhanna.
 
they are there!
 
phish

So, what makes them not steelhead? What makes a steelhead a steelhead? Steelhead are rainbow trout. The only thing that makes them steelhead is if they're ocean run. Seeing as Erie has it's own lil set up for them, they can obviously adapt to being lake run too. I guess the only way to be sure is to find these same silver trout upstream somewhere during spawn time. IF these fish would even go upstream to spawn. They may just be rainbows that lost their color due to environmental effects. Like steelhead blackening after time in the creeks. Who knows...

ORIGINAL: KJH807

look like dead stockers that spent the better part of an afternoon banging with a half case of bud light in a cooler



there are no steelhead in loyalhanna lake

And how do you know it's Bud Lite?

rainbow trout - latin name = Oncorhynchus mykiss
 
steelhead - latin name = Oncorhynchus mykiss
 
look it up!  they're the same species - only one runs to salt water and changes coloration and body shape slightly.
 
the "steelhead" in erie are rainbow trout - not steelhead - it's just local tradition to refer to lake run rainbows as steelhead.
 
the loyalhanna "steelheads" are also rainbow trout, not steelhead - but they've lost their coloration somehow - and look very similar to erie "steelhead".
 
call em what you want - outside of erie this is the only lake i've ever caught silver rainbows out of.
 
phish
 
 

ORIGINAL: KJH807

steelhead get silver when they make physical changes in the smoltification process to prepare for years in salt water

Care to explain Erie chromers?

those fish look just like the trout you will find in a seafood department of a grocery store

I'm in agreement that they shouldn't be considered "steelhead" by any stretch of the term, but I do feel that being in big(ger) water brings out more silver than being in a stream, whether due to diet or water, or whatever...environmental differences. Whether these fish had been in the lake for 5-6 months or 5-6 days would mean a bit more.

Worst.
 
thread.
 
ever.

Norm caught a silvery brookie on saturday.  is it a lake run steelhead/brookie hybrid? 

Same genus, same species. 10 years ago this was not the case. This classification change only occurred recently.

The fish we have in the great lakes today are related to the fish (strain, a step beyond genus and species) that run from the pacific into west coast streams. Our stocked rainbows are from an inland strain. There was a time in erie when stocked rainbows ran in erie before the steelhead stockings.

When it comes to color, silver fish have been stocked in the past into north park lake from the north carolina hatchery. I've also caught a couple silver fish in glade run lake which is lacking a sizable inlet stream. These were both inland strains of fish. Golden rainbow trout (Palomino trout) also share the same genus and species (and if you want to become more confused check out the Pa fish and boat ID page on their website to see there is a difference between pure palomino and golden rainbow or not.)

Were steelhead strain fish stocked into the loyalhanna? How often? Did the size of your fish match the growth rate from these stockings? Does this lake stratify to provide a cold habitat for these fish in the summer?

you likely caught rainbow trout not of a steelhead strain. they may be steelies but the chances are slim. The smaller fish of the two does have part of her tail missing (top corner) which is usually a sign of a recently stocked fish and not a fish stocked as a smolt . Either way if the fish you caught recently look like the fish pictures you posted you're doing something right. nice fish

ORIGINAL: D-nymph

Worst.

thread.

ever.

Worst post ever...

Some people have the imagination of a robot, and are about as fun as a sack of rotten potatoes.

I vote for the potential based on what citycop said, if there's truth behind it. Also, based on me finding a largemouth bass in a ditch next by my parents house while on the way to the bus stop as a kid. People can put fish anywhere. I'm goin steelhadin at Loyalhanna while the gettins good!