Fishing for steelhead or rainbow trout is very popular in the Great Lakes Region. In spring steelhead migrate up rivers, streams and creeks in the Great Lakes basin to spawn. The biggest day of the year for most river anglers is Trout opener, which occurs at the end of April. Thousands of anglers descend on popular river systems, crowding pools, and trying their luck with these majestic fish. They aren't called steelhead for nothing, hooking into a trout can send your reel screaming, with the fish leaping out of the water multiple times. Steelhead are one of the most exciting fish to catch. Steelhead stay in the rivers up until late May, when spring rains draws them back into the lakes.

During summer, steelhead are caught trolling spoons at various depths, although generally spoons trolled in the upper water column under 60 fow are preferred. Larger trout can be caught deeper mixed in with King salmon, Coho Salmon and Brown Trout. Downriggers, Dipsys or lead core / copper lines are used to get the angler's spoons at the target depths. In spring and fall steelhead can be caught inshore around river mouths, since these are common staging areas before they enter the rivers. During summer, they can be caught all over the main lake basin, sometimes many miles off shore, some anglers refer to this area as the "blue zone".

In fall steelhead, once again enter the rivers, usually following the salmon runs. They can be readily caught drifting roe, worms and various fly patterns. Some flies that are popular with steelheaders, include the egg sucking leeches, woolly buggers, nymphs and stoneflies. Single eggs, egg imitation flies and beads are also very effective, especially when steelhead are feeding on salmon roe. Steelhead will stay in the rivers all winter long as they prepare for spawning.

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