Lots of postulations to answer a specific question: do steelhead (and,as a sidebar, salmon)
feed in fresh water? While this is a fair question, the bigger point unequivocally remains- that steelhead (and salmon) may or may not feed, but they do
bite, and, at times, rather actively, on a variety of things. And they most often do so in the period before or after I get there.
So for whatever motivation they bite, I'm glad they do, if for no other reason to be part of the sounds, sights, and camaraderie of the river.