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3. trapped steelhead

Hi I was steelhead fishing in my local trib. yesterday and saw a recently built beaver dam. their is still a bunch of steelhead in front of it. it is a pretty big dam and the fish can not get over it to get back to the lake. do you think these fish will die or adapt to living in the stream? the water gets really low in the summer but there is one deep hole they can go in. what do you guys think?

If water is flowing through it, they will find a way back out. They can live in tiny streams all year long actually. When the water levels rise, they will find their way back out if they need to.

This happens where I live in Sweden too.
But not with steelhead since we don't have any. But with sea run browns, they swim up small tribs into even smaller tribs if they can. Every now and then they find themselves trapped for one reason or another.
They adapt, and some never leave because they like their new place.
Some of the big trout caught during Ephemera Danica-season are actually old seatrout that never bothered (or couldn't) making it's way back to the sea.
Don't know how things work with steelhead, though.

Fish adaptions are so incredible. There are a few small tributary streams to some of the lakes i fish scattered across the east and west, and it blows my mind the trout behavior that takes place within these watersheds. Fish will move in, adapt to new habitats due to channel changes of whatever kind, and carry on with their business one way or the other. I wouldn't worry about those fish because whatever happens to them we'll be whats meant to happen, and i would bet that they will find a way to adapt and survive. Truly remarkable!