I caught a nice little hatchery hen on the umatilla R. in oregon today that was full of some sort of bug and also whole salmon eggs .All of this is perplexing . I was taught that steelhead only bite the eggs to break them and they dont eat till after they spawn. I thought I would get some good eggs instead her gut was full. great fight to jumped several times fought like a september fish.I have caught 2 or 300 steelhead in my time and have not noticed this befor.

Hey congrats on the Umatilla Steelie Desert Drifter...I live in Pendleton myself but have yet to catch a steelhead this year on the Umatilla...hoping to get out this wknd.

Steelhead do eat in freshwater altho it's not all that common this late in the year. I have caught them many times in September and October with grasshoppers and various other insects in their stomachs. I have always maintained that both steelhead and salmon eat our lures because of "instinct". All their lives they have been eating things when they become available to them. Then one day they are sitting their in the river and tumbling down in front of them is a cluster of eggs, a worm, a jig, etc., and they eat it...even if they are on a spawning run and technically "not eating".

Congrats.

RM

Not to sure about this one, but I will go with I believe that they do eat. Every fish (steelhead) that I have caught in the past 2yrs. I have looked inside the stomach to get a better idea of what these things are eating. I will usually always find some sort of bugs, mostly beetles, some eggs, and 70% of the time, sand shrimp tails. Another reason that I would say they eat is that if you think about guys plunking in the mud, the fish smell this from down stream, and come to it, most likley triggering a memory of food smell from the past. But I will also say that I am no biologist so this is just what I think. I will tell you that in looking in the stomachs of these fish I have been quite surprised by what else I have found in a few of them, walking away in bewilderment trying to picture what the scenario may have been. Last year a hatchery fish from the Bogey was so ready to explode, when I cut the stomach open 3 sand shrimp tails, 2 egg clusters, and a 3 inch bird all came out. Yes a small bird, try imagining that one. Then 2 weeks ago another Bogey fish had a 2inch piece of light blue plastic in its gut, along with 3 sand shrimp tails and some eggs. Amazing what you find in those things.

Wish the post wasn't deleated from a different message board. But a kid caught a steelehead, cut the belly open and there were nymphs and stoneflies everywhere. Pretty cool picture. Yes I do think they eat also, and have cut open fish before loaded to the brim with eggs. One thing that was cool was knowing you are into a pod of fish just hours from the lake due to their bellies still stuffed with hardly digested bait from the lake.

I would say that 90% of the steelhead that I've killed had absolutely nothing in their stomachs. Some of the others had odds and ends like rocks, twigs and, in one case, a bird's wing (I believe it may have been an ouzel). Only once have I caught a steelhead that appeared to have been eating regularly. It was a very bright hen on the Dungeness in May (back when it was open in May). She was a very late-run fish (her eggs were already loose in the skeins) and her belly was chock-full of large black flying ants which happened to be out in good numbers at the time.

Fishing summer runs, I have on several occasions been fishing to steelys I know were feeding actively on October Caddis. Switched over to the Caddis pattern, small body - large hook, and within a couple passes have been into fish. Despite what others have said I have experienced this and know they feed, at least the summers do. My very first steelhead on a fly rod was feeding on mayflies. I thought it was probably a trout but their was almost no ring and a rather loud sucking noise. I lined my offering up and drifted it right down the feeding lane, right on queue she popped her snout up and sucked it down. Luckily I was fishing with heavier lines because I thought it was a larger fish. No doubt in my mind they feed actively.

I've seen it on occasion on coastal summer runs...in fact real fresh fish (c-liced) have alot of shrimp, etc. in them. On the Columbia River, I've seen several "hatchery" summer run steelhead that had been feeding regulary. I believe some of those fish are non-migrating steelhead that have chosen to stay in the Columbia. They've become local rainbows rather than steelhead. They tend to look alot nicer too....as least in the mid to upper Columbis region.Especially if they've been caught in November and later.

I believe that both summer and winter fish feed, at least occasionally. I suspect the winters feed less because of cooler water, a shorter period from entering the river until spawning and less food in the river.

Even so, most of us who have fished winters with bait have had steelhead take the bait, be it sand shrimp, eggs, or prawns, very deeply. Downriver winter fish are often aggressive feeders, which I believe fits well with my theory that they feed when they can and when they need to.

I have a friend who swears he took a winter fish that had a water ouzel in its stomach.

I think that fits right in with a 3inch sized bird.

Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that you can identify every object in the stomach of the steelhead you are looking at. With trout any "bugs" that are eaten are much within hours.

While it is clear that some steelhead have taken food items it is questionable whether they derive any nutriental benefits from those items. It seems that their digestive systems may well be "shut down". In one case a hatchery trained summer steelhead collected for brood to feed on trout pellets (used hatchery rainbows for tutors). The thinking was that by feeding them they would stay in better condition over the 6 months or so they were in the hatchery and produce better eggs. While it was clear they were feeding - can you image the feeding frenzy with 500 adults in a raceway - it was also clear that at the time of spawning the fish had no more fat reserves or better eggs than unfed fish.

That is contrasted with some work by the Yakama Tribe that has been trapping kelts and re-conditioning them by feedign them. This has worked very well.

While unspawned adult steelhead will occasionally take food items I would hestitate to call that "feeding". That said I still can resit the temptation to look to see what is the stomach of the fish and like others have found a large range of items ranging from expected to the such things as buttons (one fish had 2 and for the life of me can't figure out it found 1 let alone 2), bird feathers and wings and as reported but others a whole dipper.

Happy Holidays and may the New Year bring you tight lines.
S malma

smalma I think mooch might be able to help you figure out where the buttons came from. :p

I keep so few winter fish that I can offer very litle to the actuall topic but...

I have run into a rash of spawned out hatchery fish in one of my favorite canal tribs.Unfortunately they are filling there bellys with smolt.

LtlCLEO -
I saw Mooch's post on buttons and had to chuckle!

The button fish was one I caught in the mid-1960s and it had 2 of those small "pearl" button one typically finds on a shirt. Unless Mooch has been using button's much long than I think and was spending time on the Snoqualmie I suspect the button mystery will remain just that.

Happy Holidays and may the New Year bring up tight lines

S malma

My son caught a steelhead in the Cowlitz last year that had a bird (looked like it might have been a sparrow), a piece of nylon strapping material and part of a coat hanger! Hard to believe but true!

Again the question arises tho as to whether these fish are "eating" or striking out of:

1. Anger
2. Instinct

Nearly all the fish I have caught over the years had nothing in them but there was the occassional surprise. It seems tho that early fish and fish caught in higher water temps are indeed "feeding" while others may simply be going "through the motions".

RM