two things... first stilli closes on friday the 15th (tomorrow) does anybody have any good suggestions as to where some decent wadeable waters are? also, i was in alberston's yesteday and guess what i saw.......steelhead fillets :-( not only that but they also had their adipose (spelling?) fins intact saw, about 3 or 4 like this, i was under the asumption that all hatchery steelies had this fin clipped?

Could have been Quinalt fish.

what is so special about quinalt steelhead?

Most likely farm raised.

do they farm steelhead that are only for supermarkets?, if not wouldnt they tag or clip them?

Quinaults don't fin clip their hatchery fish

Fishhead5

stilli closes friday the 15th? huh?

Albertsons sells triploid rainbows as farm-raised "steelhead." These are freaks of modern science. They are like real steelies in name only. Proportionately they sport the largest fatline I've ever seen in a salmonid. This is probably what you saw.

If you are refering to the "Stilly" / Stilliguamish, it closed back on the 1st.

jr5142

Just 3 questions to you; were they advertised as "Steelhead" on the tray?

2) Or did you just assume that they looked like steelhead?

3) Why didn't you ask the person behind the counter what they were?

Cowlitzfisherman

Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

1)advertised as "fresh local steelhead"
2)assumption is the mother of all f<>kups
3)person at fish counter quote "puts out what they give him"

stilli shuts down for everything tomorrow untill sometime in april (i do believe)

jr5142

I have a suggestion for you! Give the manager of the store a phone call and ask him where the steelhead were purchased from. That will give you the answer!
Good job!

keep up the learning process!

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

The Stilly shut down at the end of Feb. this year(and last) due to emergency closures issued from WDFW. It will reopen June 1st for Fly Fishing only. Not sure why they didn't write that in the reg book since they knew they were going to shut it down long ago.

i have seen "fresh wild steelhead" on sale at Albertsons before. i asked the manager one time about this and he told me they are always from a fish farm, he also said that he has been asked before about this and the only reason they are advertised as wild is that they sell better than if they were advertised as farmed. since they are raised in the saltwater in pens (i.e. in the wild) they qualify as wild fish in the markets eyes.

it seems it would be much cheaper and consistently available to buy from farms, i would think every grocery store that has them gets them from fish farms.

The Albertson in Tacoma was selling it as wild steelhead. I ask what tribe it came from and got a nasty look from the guy behind the counter. And told the lady buying it I would give to her free if she want it next day they pulled it.

A steelhead by definition is a saltwater fish. That's rediculous that they call them wild! Some of the farm raised salmon (not sure regarding steelhead) are not triploid and are capable of escaping and reproducing (I'm sure some of you are aware we now have wild Atlantic salmon on some Vancouver Island rivers.....Their life cycle makes them direct competitors with steelhead.) I personally won't buy farm-raised salmon, and if I buy salmon at all, I look for local or wild Alaskan. I'd be pissed if that was my local Albertson's.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a website with some interesting info on buying seafood, for those interested.

Wild Chrome,

By the "definition" I'm most familiar with, "Steelhead" is a term given by commercial fishermen from years past to the sea-run rainbow trout they would incidently catch in their nets. When they tried to dispatch them with a blow to the head like they did the salmon, they found it to be considerably more difficult, hence the name. Also, are not the anadramous rainbows of the Great lakes called steelhead as well? I'm pretty sure that the lakes contain fresh water. IMHO, by purchasing "local" or Alaskan wild salmon or steelhead, you are supporting the very commercial fishing industry that we sportfishers profess to hate so much. Farm raised fish may not be the ultimate solution to supplying the demand by consumers for fresh fish, but when all is considered, I'll take farm raised over gill-netted or purse-seined any day.

4Salt,

I care deeply for wild/native fish. My decision to purchase wild salmon did not occur without reason. If you think you're doing a good thing for wild salmonids by buying farm-raised salmon/steelhead, think again! I'm not a commercial fisheries expert, but consider the points below:

1) Many farm raised fish can escape from net pens and spread disease to wild fish.
2) Some of the fish that escape are capable of establishing spawning populations that could compete with native species. Some of these fish may be genetically modified to grow quicker than native fish.
3) Net pens are a huge source of near-shore polution.
4) Most commercially available wild salmon comes from Alaska and BC, where the commercial take of many wild salmon stocks is now based on returns. Thank Trout Unlimited for essentially authoring the US-Canada salmon treaty that established an abundance-based salmon take.
5) Supporting local commercial fishing in a moderate, abundance-based fashion helps to justify to the public the need to protect our fish and fish habitat.

If anyone has other supporting or contradictory information or opinions, I'd be curious to read it.

WC

For those interested in eco-friendly seafood: web page

Hope the url worked

WC

I work for a major airline and I remember a couple of months ago shipping 4 or 5 thousand pounds of boxes of fish to San Francisco marked wild steelhead. My first thought was Indian fish as they are usually the ones who target and sell them.
Ramprat