Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Steelhead trout

Little research I've done steelhead are rainbow trout that enter into saltwater (I think)? I know under the wright conditions you can raise rainbow trout in ponds but if I remember they have more of a white flesh I believe. I recently bought some steelhead and it was more like salmon which I prefer (it was great).

Is it possible to raise steelhead in a pond? or rainbow trout that have a orangey-pink color with nice fat layers?

I will be looking for a future home site and figure I need to think about that before looking into what state to move.

[img:center]https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UqWXXAfPCxXIhTNwC_ws6uSkZttks5aF/view?usp=sharing[/img]

IMO it depends on what they are eating. My rainbows eat lots of scuds and always have pink meat.

Cool, do they have some fat layers like in the photo and have a salmon like taste?

Unfortunately my fish die every year and I have a shorter growing season so I haven't gotten that far yet. The meat quickly turns pink after they are stocked though.

They do not taste like Salmon. Still taste like Trout.

catfish, welcome to the forum!

You are correct; steelhead are an anadromous form of rainbow trout. Some other species of trout may run to the sea as smolts, eat and grow for a number of years, then return to the rivers where they were born, to spawn. Brookies (then called salters), brown trout in Europe, cutthroat trout-Hood Canal of Puget Sound-are examples.

I raise some trout in my pond. In years past when I was feeding commercial chows other than Optimal, my fish tasted like typical planter rainbows and were white fleshed and mushy. We disparagingly call them slimeys.

Since last fall I've been feeding Optimal Bluegill. The rainbows and tiger trout also have natural feeds, eg. various insects, crayfish, yellow perch and sunfish, etc. My fish on the present feed regimen have pink flesh and are rather tasty.

I normally will not eat trout unless they are from the high country lakes and streams out here in the west. Brook trout, high mountain lake cutthroats, and tigers from a specific lake in Utah all rate highly in my book.

Trout flesh will vary in color from white through pink to shades of orange. The texture will vary from mushy to relatively firm to almost flakey. Taste can be all over the place. Water quality, including temperature, and what the fish are eating contribute to flesh color, texture, and taste. I've always believed that fish feeding on crustaceans, such as wbuffetjr's scuds, will have the most colored flesh and the best taste. Brookies and goldens from high altitude waters with lots of these "fresh-water shrimp", as they're known out here, can have meat the color of sockeye salmon. They taste like the trout they are, ie, rare jewels from the high mountains.

Kokanee salmon, landlocked sockeyes, that we catch from a local reservoir, taste like salmon. The trout from the same lake, even though some are pink-fleshed, do not; they taste like mediocre trout.
The few wild caught, Pacific ocean steelhead I've eaten were incredibly delicious, but not salmon flavored.

Thanks for the info, the Peru Steelhead in the photo above was great and if I din't know it was steelhead I would of thought if was salmon for sure. Do you think its the salt water or the diet that would give the fish in the picture it characteristics? Does anyone know if there is a technique of pond raised steelhead? Maybe taking rainbow out of the lake and putting into saltwater tanks?

It is possible to get salmon fry/smolt send to Indonesia?


https://earth.google.com/web/@-2.85739004,128.43375871,907.15760061a,3903282.29473829d,35y,-0h,0t,0r/data=CkwaShJECiUweDJjNGMwN2Q3NDk2NDA0Yjc6MHhlMzdiNGRlNzFiYWRmNDg1GeCcEaW9Qem_If56hQX3elxAKglJbmRvbmVzaWEYAiAB

4Corners

I don't remember you saying you have Tiger Trout! I am very interested in what you think of them? I am wanting to put a handful in at our place. Are the as aggressive as everyone says (ie. easy to catch)?? How many do you have in your place and can you remind me how many acres?

I am also looking at some Splake. I think the Splake would be a very interesting mix with the Brookies.

Thanks for the info!!

EDIT: sorry for the hijack!

I have been visiting the Puget Sound area regularly for the last 10 years or so and almost always catch a few sea run cutthroats and steelhead way south of the Hood canal bridge when I am there. Last year and last week it seemed like the fish had an unusual high number of sea lice on them.

Kushendarto, welcome to Pond Boss. Don't know the answer to your question. The first step would be to check on the legality of importing them. Then check for somebody who raises the salmon for stocking and ask if they will ship them. The bigger question is whether they could survive the trip.

Thanks for your attention. How about a fertilized salmon egg. Is it possible safe in long trip and hatching as usual? Is there any experience of it?

No experience but it would probably need to be aerated to survive.

we had stocked steelhead(the rainbow/steelhead cross). they fight harder and seem to grow faster and the flavor is very close to salmon and they are all pink inside. I like them smoked but my favorite way to cook them and rainbow is to fillet and put on pan with skin sides down and sprinkle the meat side of fillets with POLISH SAUSAGE SEASONING. Yeah you heard right. them slow bake at 200 degrees in oven and I think it is the closest thing I can make to kippered salmon. I like them but then what do I know I like smoked carp as well. Good Eats if you are a foodie.