Steelhead often migrate directly into high-seas waters during their first summer in the ocean.  One fish released from a hatchery in Idaho swam to the center of the Gulf of Alaska, a distance of about 890 nautical miles offshore, in only two months.  Another from Oregon's Alsea River hatchery was caught south of Kodiak five months later, a distance of at least 1200 miles.  These fish must be cruising at speeds of 10 miles per day or more.  While most other species of Pacific salmon initially migrate through along the coast of British Columbia and Alaska, juvenile steelhead appear to head directly to the open ocean.
These rapid migrations into subarctic waters of the North Pacific do not apply to all steelhead.  Steelhead from the southern part of their range, south of the Rogue River, may not migrate to the north after entering the ocean.  Instead, these fish remain in productive upwelling regions south of Cape Blanco their entire ocean life.  And some steelhead from the Rogue and Klamath Rivers, for example, return as “half-pounders’ after only a few months in the ocean.  
 
Occasionally, steelhead released from a hatchery at the same time have been captured together in the high seas.  Coded-wire tag recoveries of fish, up to three years after release from hatcheries, suggest that some tagged steelhead traveled together in the open ocean.