Is it a Steelhead or a Rainbow? With Katie Kobayashi

When is a trout a steelhead and when is it a rainbow? Are steelhead just rainbow trout that migrate to the ocean? Is it something in their genes or just random chance? And in a given population of rainbow trout, will only some of them migrate to the ocean? And according to a biologist, are the Great Lakes "steelhead" truly steelhead? My guest fisheries biologist Katie Kobayashi [32:13] has studied these fish down to the genetic level and has some exciting information on their life histories. In the Fly Box this week, we have some great questions that I think will be helpful to many of you, including: If I hook a trout in the back behind the dorsal fin, will it survive OK? And can I count this fish as "caught"? What is the most useful saltwater fly line for inshore species? For my smaller creeks in Pennsylvania, would an 8 ½ foot 4-weight or 7 1/2-foot 3-weight be better? Have you used articulated flies? Have you had success with them? Are there articulated subsurface flies other than streamers? I have an 8-weight rod for flats fishing in salt water and want a second rod for bigger stuff. Should I get a 9-weight or a 10-weight? For fishing in a Colorado tailwater, when should I use an indicator setup and when should I Euro-nymph? And when Euro nymphing, how can I get a tiny size 22 nymph down into the right zone?

You can listen to Is it a Steelhead or a Rainbow? With Katie Kobayashi online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Is it a Steelhead or a Rainbow? With Katie Kobayashi is an episode from The Orvis Fly Fishing Guide Podcast by James Hathaway.

This episode is 01:10:33 long.

This episode was published on Feb 11, 2026.

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