Identifying Steelhead smolts vs. very immature rainbows?

[The Quadfather]

I feel a little silly asking this question, but I guess i have to admit that I have next to no experience with Steelhead from the egg stage right into the dead stage.
So my question is, I am wondering if very immature Steelhead ( in the 3-4" range, look very similar to rainbow trout in the same 3-4" range?)
Sure, I've got plenty of little rainbows that size. But lately this year I am catching these fish which are 3-4" and I want to call them rainbows, but they have those verticle bands along the body, as well as what I think is blue hews in color, but I am red/green color blind, so hell, I don't know, but they are VERY colorful at this immature age.

The reason I question all this is that I am talking about in a river system, but I am talking about 30 miles above the dam, in the alpine wilderness. (The large native fish within this portion of the river are cutthroat, if that means anything regarding these little fry I'm catching)
There seriously would not be native steelhead up there, correct? I mean do all dams have fish ladders? and would Steelies travel 30 miles above a dam into the tops of the mountains?
Now, what makes me question all of this is that I have caught the same looking smolts within the Lower Cle Elum river, below lake Cle Elum. These ones were caught at the site of a newly built salmon restoration habitat. There was signage with pics. of the whole restoration process, etc. and darn it! but they showed pics. of this same blueish/goldish colorful smolt. I can't remember if they were talking about Steelhead restoration at that Cle Elum river site, or it was about the Sockeye stuff going on in regards to lake Cle Elum... Anyway, sorry for the ramble. But this is just eating at me.

Edit: Yes, I've googled some images of both species at imature stages, but they both have those same vericle bands. Kind of looking for a tell-tale way of knowing.

[schu7498]

The trout you are catching could be red band trout. They look pretty similar to rainbows and have the same parr marks as young smolts. It is not easy to tell the difference between steelhead smolts and regular rainbows. In fact they are the same fish, just something in the genetics of one rainbow urges it to go to saltwater while the other one is happy staying in its freshwater. The only way I can ever tell is if the small rainbow is clipped. Not all dams have fish ladders, grand coulee doesnt.. Also sometimes when smolts are young enough they all look relatively the same. A good identifying characteristic is to look at the tail. If its forked its a salmon smolt, not forked and more squared its a rainbow smolt.

[NFCustom]

Steelhead Smolt go through a process called smoltification. There is lots of good info on this if you want to dig further. During smoltification process juvenile steelhead start to get a silvery sheen to them. Immature rainbows will not have a silvery sheen to them, they wi have typical rainbow markings.

[NFCustom]

It sounds like to me what you are catching are smolts because those vertical bands you speak of sound like parr marks that are starting to dissapear. After they dissapear a somewhat blueish color can be seen during smoltification.

[The Quadfather]

Thanks for the info. folks. I will look for the forked tail next time, or lack of this fork, for further identification.

[natetreat]

Where are you catching them. That will help to figure it out. Some rivers are inaccessible and un-planted. The upper Snoqualmie and its forks never had populations of sea going fish because the falls are a natural barrier. Sam with the Sultan river above the canyon falls.

[hewesbob]

A game agent many many years ago when I was a kid fishing the Wenatchee River told me that young rainbow and young steelhead area both classified as rainbow until the steelhead returns from saltwater. I have seen mature steelhead in several small creek in the Cashmere and Leavenworth areas and even up past Lake Wenatchee.