# POLL: Steelhead Vs. Lake Trout



## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

The ultimate smack down! Which fish has more fight to it? Which one do you prefer.

Inspired by another thread in this forum.


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

steelhead. i haven't caught many lakers, but the few i did catch were in Montana and didn't fight as hard as a Michigan Steel.


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## plugger (Aug 8, 2001)

If you gotta ask you aint caught many!


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## steelheader12345 (Oct 5, 2006)

A skam in 50 degree lake water.


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## Erik (Jan 17, 2000)

Steelhead Rule!


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## steelheadpursuit (Feb 16, 2008)

*steeeeeeeeelies!*


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## glnmiller (Jan 7, 2006)

A laker is like pulling in a log, a steelie is pure excitement.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I could be wrong, but I believe that Steelhead are the fastest swimming freshwater fish in North America, and possibly the World. I voted for Steel. 

Lakers are native, and should always be here. I know a couple ways to cook them, so they taste good; and they smoke really well because they have so much fat in their flesh. And don't forget that they fight approximately twice as hard as a Walleye of comparable size; which is still only 1/4 as hard as a Steelhead of comparable size. They are great for your ego, because you can land a very high percentage of them.


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## BeWild (Mar 19, 2007)

Steelhead all the way. I personally haven't caught many lakers because I don't own a boat, but if I wanted to pull in dead weight I would hire myself out as an anchor pulling boy at 6th street.


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

plugger said:


> If you gotta ask you aint caught many!


Hey now...This wasn't my idea!! Go read that other thread (Respect the Resource) and you'll know why this was posted. :lol:


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## Creek-Chub (Apr 15, 2004)

thousandcasts said:


> Hey now...This wasn't my idea!! Go read that other thread (Respect the Resource) and you'll know why this was posted. :lol:


Phew! And here I thought you had been watching too much of that Gene Simmons reality show...


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## waterfoul (May 18, 2005)

In all fairness.... the lakers Nympho is refering to in the other thread are Canadien sheild lake Lakers. They are a different fish up there . . . bigger and stronger than any laker I've ever seen here in Michigan.

But, I gotta go the other way on this one:

Steelies rock... Lakers take co... (never mind).


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## cireofmi (Feb 13, 2001)

Do Lake Trout even run up the rivers on the West side?


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## Slick fishing (Sep 25, 2002)

Like there is any comparison here, :lol: I guess I will pick lake trout so I can fight a boot and then get it in the boat and it can **** on me:lol::lol:..Cya Slick


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## waterfoul (May 18, 2005)

cireofmi said:


> Do Lake Trout even run up the rivers on the West side?


A few here and there but nothing you should count on.


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## fish-on (Nov 27, 2004)

Well this isnt much of a question,steelies duh :lol::lol:.Neither one holds a candle to a mad spring king.:evil:


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

cireofmi said:


> Do Lake Trout even run up the rivers on the West side?


Yes. The Grand used to have a lot, not so much now. If you fish down their much you can pretty much still count on a few a year.

We caught this one near Tippy the other summer while fishing skams


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## Spanky (Mar 21, 2001)

steelies for sure, but like Scot said, nothin fights as hard as a spring king!


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## SuperSnapper (Nov 6, 2007)

For real? I'm pretty sure I know the results of this poll.


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## Alpha Buck (Jan 24, 2006)

Here is a grease ball I pulled off from the bottom about a week and a half ago. As soon as I set the hook I told my buddy this can't be a steelhead it must be a sucker or walleye.:lol: Sure it did its typical bottom hugging for a minute or two but never took any line out on me. They are a pretty fish but I will take a steelhead fight over a laker's tug any day of the week.


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

Fight a steelhead, smoke a laker.
I had lakers up to nearly 8 pounds that didn't even pop a release on a downrigger. Never had even a skipper steelhead that didn't pop a release.
BTW, flatheads don't even fight like a steelhead, they have stamina and weight but as for drag screamin gonna take your rod away from you runs, not gonna happen.


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## Splitshot (Nov 30, 2000)

The Lake Superior strain lake trout are excellent fighters as well as some of the lake trout but I still give the edge to steelhead.

Flatheads are strong fighters and outlast any steelhead any day. Still I like the explosive fight of steelhead better. In any event a big flathead will test your tackle. Even channel cats will out fight a walleye, but that was not the question.

Spring salmon are great fighters, and are bigger on average than steelhead. Pound for pound however steelhead are faster and in my opinion provide a better fight.

Now if bluegills got as big as either one of the above, I wouldn't bet against them.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

I've only caught one spring run river king. 4wt tied up as a drift rod, 4lb and I landed it as quickly or quicker than a spring steelhead. So, in my experience with one fish, I'll take steelhead over spring river kings any day, or at least spring Mi river kings.


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## vando45 (Feb 25, 2004)

Steelhead.... Only fish better is an Atlantic.


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## Still Wait'n (Nov 25, 2005)

Pretty much a no brainer.


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## live2fishdjs (Sep 9, 2003)

I have caught 100's of "Canadian Shield" and Superior Lakers and they don't even hold a candle to steelhead...remember we have to be talking pound for pound.


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## chuckinduck (May 28, 2003)

vando45 said:


> Steelhead.... Only fish better is an Atlantic.


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## FishKilla419 (Feb 22, 2008)

I've caught both in the lake and in the river. The laker fight is defenitely better in the river. But no comparison to a steelhead.


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## fowl assasination (Mar 18, 2006)

This was an easy one, I wish my tests in school were that easy I would have gotten straight A's:lol: Metal heads are #1 in my book!


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## bowonly (Oct 31, 2006)

Steelies all day! Especially when the water hits 42 degrees right before they hit the redds or when the big lake flips in June and skams hit the pier heads, nothing finer than tightlines with steel!


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

> nothing finer than tightlines with steel!


Well...except for an August king, fresh in from the lake, that slams a crankbait in front of a log jam and goes berzerk...but that's another poll, I suppose. :lol:


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## Ugly Stick (Mar 25, 2004)

I voted for the Steelhead. Although I disagree with the Lake Trout fighting like and old boot. I have caught many Lakers from the Grand, Traverse bay and Lake Superior. The colder the water the harder the fight. I have caught some cold Steelies that just kind of flopped around.


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## Belongtothewoods (Aug 1, 2007)

All this talk about drag ripping steelie is getting me pumped. Off to bed I go so I can wake up and try to catch a few.


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## sea nympho (Aug 7, 2006)

cireofmi said:


> Do Lake Trout even run up the rivers on the West side?


Yes, the Grand gets a run. Uses to be (before the evil transplants arrived:evil a REAL BIG run, fish everywhere!



live2fishdjs said:


> I have caught 100's of "Canadian Shield" and Superior Lakers and they don't even hold a candle to steelhead...remember we have to be talking pound for pound.


Just don't know what to say to you, I catch 'em by the hundereds every spring (in Canada, along w/ tons of Splake, a smaller fush but even better fighter!) from 6fow and WOW, they dive immediately for 60+fow, the fights great. The fish AVG 8-15#, _you_ must catch 100 dinks? The fish dive and you can't turn 'em. I enjoy hard-diving fish, and pulling them up outta the depths. And they NEVER gas, we net 'em by basically corraling the fish into a net. It nets itself!


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## sea nympho (Aug 7, 2006)

Alpha Buck said:


> Here is a grease ball I pulled off from the bottom about a week and a half ago. As soon as I set the hook I told my buddy this can't be a steelhead it must be a sucker or walleye.:lol: Sure it did its typical bottom hugging for a minute or two but never took any line out on me. They are a pretty fish but I will take a steelhead fight over a laker's tug any day of the week.


...it looks nothing like the lakers I catch. It looks sick & lean. And it's totally chromed out whereas the ones I catch are dark spotted fish. If I caught that fish in canada, I'd say it was sick or diseased!

So if I've confused two differing strains of lake trout, _my bad_! :chillin:

But the ones I've caught are pure torpedoes - unturnable powerhouses that never gas, they make BIG dives just to porpise (sp?) and then dive in another direction. Tons o' fun. 

Guess I should have posted that about 'lakers fighting better than steel' in the _Ontario Lake Fishing_ forum! Folks may have known what I was talking about. :lol::lol::lol:


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## Sam22 (Jan 22, 2003)

Yeah.. seriously...LOL.. lakers don't fight, and steelhead are some of the best fighters there are!


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## Alpha Buck (Jan 24, 2006)

Seanympho, does this one look sick and lean to you? How about the chrome look you speak of?










This one fought like crap as well, hugged bottom but never took any long runs. I would compare the fight to a sheephead (garbage fish). I have caught some lakers north of superior as well and was never impressed.

Let's see some of those uncontrollable torpedo like beasts that you speak of.:lol:

Have you ever hooked a steelhead that was in good shape? In good shape I mean a lake fish or a summer/fall river steelhead. It's all in good fun, your entitled to your opinion just like everyone else.


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## waterfoul (May 18, 2005)

Alpha Buck said:


> Seanympho, does this one look sick and lean to you? How about the chrome look you speak of?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well, he grew up in Baldwin... so what do you think??


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## Alpha Buck (Jan 24, 2006)

I really do not know what to think!:lol: What would you think if you looked at the poll results?


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## Ultra-Light (Oct 4, 2007)

It is probable cause that humans give a better fight over the steelhead, then the steelhead themselves. :chillin: 

I hope this doesn't void the poll.... :lol:


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