There was a study out of Oregon regarding the direct relationship between steelhead and resident rainbows. They determined that they are one and the same and that steelhead were mating with resident trout with some of the offspring staying in the river and some heading out to sea. There was another article some time ago from a former head of the F&W and he said that when native steelhead stocks start declining the fish residualize into rainbows until their numbers get to a certain point and they will then start out sea. The upper Elwha has a fantastic population of native rainbows above what was Lake Mills and there are naturally spawning rainbows in the river between the two lakes. If those studies are correct those resident rainbow will again become steelhead. That is one more reason not to put hatchery fish in that river. If they leave it alone they will have native steelhead in several years.
I have heard this story before and without any supporting "scientific" evidence, I'd guess that it is enormously overblown. Picture, if you will, a wild trout that has not seen an adult salmonid in its lifetime, not eating the eggs.....or battling large bull trout for them. If that doesn't do it for you, picture the amount of jizz a trout can produce and what it's success rate of fertilization would be trying to zap an egg-wagon steelhead. Is there a possibility? I would say yes, but again, the idea that trout-size natives are going to substitute their five decade old lake-bred sperm and produce wild steelhead that were the same as before the dams is ........... hopeful at best.
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