[Toney]

I was fishing with a budy in a creek above goldbar, and we saw a hidous looking anadromous fish. My firend said it was a summer run steely. My question is, do people actually fish for these things? They looked terrible. Which leads to the next question: What do summer runs do while in the rivers waiting for March to spawn? Do they just hunker down in a deep hole, or do they travel up and down a system? Assuming they are native fish.

For that matter, what do native winter run fish do while they are in the river and 3 months before spawning? Do they move and down the system. This is assuming they get passed all the fisherman.

Finally, is there a good book out there that explains the intricacies of fish movement day by day in a system for steelhead and salmon?
:hmmm:

Thanks,

 

[ak_powder_monkey]

yea summer fish hang out from when they enter to when they spawn, in deep holes and lakes and stuff. And people fish for them, usually in the summer and fall though when they are still full of piss and vinegar.

 

[Toney]

Do the summer runs turn color quickly in the Winter and become blotter and fungus looking?

Also, what does a spawned out winter run fish look like?

Thanks,

 

[Gone’r]

what you probably saw was a coho dude. steelhead dont really get too roached out. they'll get dark but they arent moldy. check the gallery right now to get an idea of what a summer fish in late january will look like, theres been a few posted recently. and as few wild summer fish as there are in the sky, i highly doubt you chanced upon a pod of them on a spawning trib. im almost positive what you found were late coho.

 

[tediousthumper]

See the thing with steelhead is they rarely "Spawn Out" See because mostly they return back to the ocean at some point, then return to the rivers to spawn.But they can do that back and forth trip many times in their life.Unlike Salmon that spawn and die. I agree what you saw was most likely a late coho or possible christmas nook.See the thing about steelhead is.If they have color that means they've been in the river awhile.And when the'yre chrome they recently got into the river system.So see thats one of the ways we determine if they're summer or winter runs.Winter runs are gonna be chrome because they've just arrived.And summer are gonna be dark and red sided.Meaning they've been in the river awhile probley since the early summer months.

 

[Poopy McButtfart]

I'd be really surprised if it wasn't a coho

 

[Gone’r]

ive seen buddies get "downstreamers" (aka spawned winter steelheadz) that were chrome and gorgeous fish. they are easy to identify as they'll be skinny from the load they recently dropped and are usually seen smoking cigarettes with smug grins. and im no expert on the matter but thad i think your assertations that they successfully spawn again and again is a bit optimistic. i believe the mortality is high along with the high probablity of ending up in a gill net.

 

[James Waggoner]

Yeah, doesn't sound like a summer run fish. Steelhead are just as beautiful with color as they are in chrome.

 

[ak_powder_monkey]

ive seen buddies get "downstreamers" (aka spawned winter steelheadz) that were chrome and gorgeous fish. they are easy to identify as they'll be skinny from the load they recently dropped and are usually seen smoking cigarettes with smug grins. and im no expert on the matter but thad i think your assertations that they successfully spawn again and again is a bit optimistic. i believe the mortality is high along with the high probablity of ending up in a gill net.

Rechrome fish caught in saltwater

Rechrome Fish getting passed over a weir downstream

Mortality of summer run fish are especially high because they have very little energy to outrun seals and stuff

Here's a colored up winter fish right before spawning

 

[papafsh]

ak-powder-monkey,
Those are nice photos, the first two I would call "Snakes" because of their spawned-out condition. Everybody loves bright chrome, but man, the fish in your third pic is truly a gorgeous specimen in it's own right.
And Toney, those had to late spawning salmon you saw.

LB

 

[ak_powder_monkey]

yea that fish took me into my backing on a stream that was maybe 250 cfs, I did get the fly back when he caught it... I also passed it across the weir one night and even after spawning it was still huge. Those snakey fish actaully put up a heck of a fight, we'd catch them then release them downstream of the weir as it was really really difficult to get them to pass downstream on their own at night. We did manage to trap 3/4 of the run to pass downstream. I wish I coulda pulled some scales to know what the composition of the run was I'd guess <3% were second time spawners, I saw maybe 3 out of 400 that would say were.

 

[Mumbles]

What happened to photo number three? One, Two and Four are there...the mystery of the disappearing bright fish in photo number three has me intrigued.

 

[ak_powder_monkey]

photo 3 is where you imagine one of those snakes getting bitten in half by a seal

 

[Old Man]

Not all Steelhead Survive after spawing. Some die just like Salmon. The big Steelhead are usually females as most of them will live after spawning. They are probably 3 salt fish.

 

[Preston]

In fact, very few steelhead survive to spawn a second time (let alone multiple times). Although the number varies considerably for different rivers (steelhead from upper Columbia tributaries rarely, if ever, survive to return to the ocean), in coastal rivers anything over a ten percent return is considered very good indeed. Most steelhead who survive the rigors of spawning are females who head for the salt as soon as they have deposited their eggs. Males, on the other hand, tend to hang out in the river, fighting with other males and looking for that one last chance to spawn (sound familiar?) significantly reducing the likelihood of surviving to return a second time. The percentage of steelhead surviving to spawn more than twice is vanishingly small.

Fish that successfully return to salt water are in such reduced condition that they rarely gain much in size or weight before returning to spawn in the next cycle. Unusually large steelhead (20+ pounders) are almost always fish that have stayed for an extra year or more feeding in the ocean before returning to spawn for the first time.

 

[tediousthumper]

but thad i think your assertations that they successfully spawn again and again is a bit optimistic. i believe the mortality is high along with the high probablity of ending up in a gill net.

I never said "successfully spawn" I said they "can" do the back and forth thing over and over, but I do agree with Preston that the rigors of spawning can be detrimental.