When would the river/stream steel head finish in the spring roughly?. I know it typically starts in October,but not sure when they head back into the lake for the summer.Thanks.
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winter/spring run
Started by davey buoy, Feb 15 2012 06:00 PM
13 replies to this topic
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#2
salmotrutta
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Largemouth Bass
Posted 15 February 2012 - 07:30 PM
When would the river/stream steel head finish in the spring roughly?. I know it typically starts in October,but not sure when they head back into the lake for the summer.Thanks.
Caught a steelhead this year August 31st that was running up. I've caught them way upstream in mid June. Guys that start fishing the mouths for salmon early have reported steelhead catches in July.
At my usual spots, I would say by mid May, the quantity is greatly reduced. By late May, few remain. By June, you are catching stragglers. Every creek will be different, and each year the timing can vary greatly. This year will be early, many are probably spawning right now!
#3
NOTTA STEELER
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Sunfish
Posted 15 February 2012 - 07:40 PM
Hi , how are ya.When would the river/stream steel head finish in the spring roughly?. I know it typically starts in October,but not sure when they head back into the lake for the summer.Thanks.
Depending on water height , length of river or how early spawning takes place are all factors .
Bigger rivers will have fish in them usually through into the end of May and sometimes June . Where smaller tribs are concerned , it's possible for the majority to be back in the lake before opener .
The Credit for example , fish travel a great distance to the spawning areas . As they drop back they gorge themselves on what they can find to build up the strength for re entering the lake .
I've fished quite a few of the larger rivers with great success into June . After opener the crowds die back and you'd be suprised to see how many fish are still in the river .
A heavy rain can take them out faster , low conditions can stall them ... Get out and try your luck .
#4
Fishheads
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Posted 15 February 2012 - 10:31 PM
Hi , how are ya.
Depending on water height , length of river or how early spawning takes place are all factors .
Bigger rivers will have fish in them usually through into the end of May and sometimes June . Where smaller tribs are concerned , it's possible for the majority to be back in the lake before opener .
The Credit for example , fish travel a great distance to the spawning areas . As they drop back they gorge themselves on what they can find to build up the strength for re entering the lake .
I've fished quite a few of the larger rivers with great success into June . After opener the crowds die back and you'd be suprised to see how many fish are still in the river .
A heavy rain can take them out faster , low conditions can stall them ... Get out and try your luck .
well said x2 this year will be early IMO
#5
Guest_Blair_*
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Posted 15 February 2012 - 11:12 PM
well said x2 this year will be early IMO
I too believe that this year we could see a change of 30-45 days BEFORE the "norm".
In most areas (Zone 16, 17) the SPRING OPENER is Second Sat in APRIL. (Allowing the spawing ......Mid March to Mid April)
This year the fish will be spawning Mid Feb - Mid April!
HOPEFULLY EVERYONE will understand an AWARENESS of INCREASED:
CATCH & RELEASE!
(If we are catching and KEEPING the PARENTS ... before they have spawned ... we will have DECLINED STOCKS for future generations)
I forsee this for the: BASS and PIKE as well.
I certainly plan on taking full advantage of the situation, with the knowledge that we may be "LUCKY" too have more opportunities to CATCH fish!
I sincererely hope that everyone ... practices more RELEASE of the spawing fish that will become available outside of the "Normal regulation times" set for spawing periods.
#6
Float_On
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Crappie
Posted 16 February 2012 - 11:04 AM
Some fish spawn by change in daylight too, same as trees that drop their leaves based on sunlight.
As the days get longer the fish will know its time to spawn.
They will likely be confused that the temperatures are unusual, but so are we.
Not sure if this applies to steelhead.
Anyone know?
As the days get longer the fish will know its time to spawn.
They will likely be confused that the temperatures are unusual, but so are we.
Not sure if this applies to steelhead.
Anyone know?
#7
Alfiegee
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Largemouth Bass
Posted 16 February 2012 - 01:09 PM
Hey all. Just to correct, I think. The opener for trout has been the 4th Saturday in April as long as I can remember. I traditionally take the Friday before off work to get ready and travel if that is in the cards. I've been doing this for 25 years. The 2011 regs do say the 4th Sat. in Apr. is opening day in divisions 16 and 17. I don't have my 2012 regs yet. Have things changed this year?I too believe that this year we could see a change of 30-45 days BEFORE the "norm".
In most areas (Zone 16, 17) the SPRING OPENER is Second Sat in APRIL. (Allowing the spawing ......Mid March to Mid April)
This year the fish will be spawning Mid Feb - Mid April!HOPEFULLY EVERYONE will understand an AWARENESS of INCREASED:
CATCH & RELEASE!
(If we are catching and KEEPING the PARENTS ... before they have spawned ... we will have DECLINED STOCKS for future generations)
I forsee this for the: BASS and PIKE as well.
I certainly plan on taking full advantage of the situation, with the knowledge that we may be "LUCKY" too have more opportunities to CATCH fish!
I sincererely hope that everyone ... practices more RELEASE of the spawing fish that will become available outside of the "Normal regulation times" set for spawing periods.
Alfie.
#8
Spinninreel
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Piscicapturist
Posted 16 February 2012 - 05:10 PM
So many of these rivers have not had any ice on them what so ever, it would logically figure that spawning will happen sooner this year than normal.
#9
salmotrutta
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Largemouth Bass
Posted 16 February 2012 - 06:03 PM
With the rivers being wide open, most of the trout will be running sooner. Many will be running throughout the winter, and by the ending of winter a lot of them will be way upstream.
I've only been fishing for 2.5 years, and I'm not really sure how water temperature effects their spawning. More trout will be in the rivers and will have made their way farther upstream by mid March than last year, that's a guarantee. I'm wondering what % will actually spawn earlier too? Do most of them wait for the water to reach a certain temperature? If so, then the timing of the actual spawn will differ less than the timing of their run. A very early run may not necessarily cause a very early spawn for them all, if water temps don't rise sufficiently. Can anyone with experience in this clarify?
I've only been fishing for 2.5 years, and I'm not really sure how water temperature effects their spawning. More trout will be in the rivers and will have made their way farther upstream by mid March than last year, that's a guarantee. I'm wondering what % will actually spawn earlier too? Do most of them wait for the water to reach a certain temperature? If so, then the timing of the actual spawn will differ less than the timing of their run. A very early run may not necessarily cause a very early spawn for them all, if water temps don't rise sufficiently. Can anyone with experience in this clarify?
#10
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Posted 17 February 2012 - 12:29 AM
Hey all. Just to correct, I think. The opener for trout has been the 4th Saturday in April as long as I can remember. I traditionally take the Friday before off work to get ready and travel if that is in the cards. I've been doing this for 25 years. The 2011 regs do say the 4th Sat. in Apr. is opening day in divisions 16 and 17. I don't have my 2012 regs yet. Have things changed this year?
Alfie.
Your absolutely right! ... my friend.
4th Saturday in April (So this year thats: April 28th)
- I must have tired
- Thinking about Bass
- Thinking about Pike
- Doing the laundry
- fixing dinner
- Just finished a "bong".......
So many excuses, so little time!
*SMILES*
(As they say ......" Always double check the regulations".)
#11
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Posted 17 February 2012 - 12:38 AM
With the rivers being wide open, most of the trout will be running sooner. Many will be running throughout the winter, and by the ending of winter a lot of them will be way upstream.
I've only been fishing for 2.5 years, and I'm not really sure how water temperature effects their spawning. More trout will be in the rivers and will have made their way farther upstream by mid March than last year, that's a guarantee. I'm wondering what % will actually spawn earlier too? Do most of them wait for the water to reach a certain temperature? If so, then the timing of the actual spawn will differ less than the timing of their run. A very early run may not necessarily cause a very early spawn for them all, if water temps don't rise sufficiently. Can anyone with experience in this clarify?
Ontario's Steelhead
By: Bruce Ranta
The rainbow trout is extremely plastic. It readily modifies behaviour and survival strategies to suit its surroundings. For example, although most steelhead spawn in spring, the exact timing varies considerably. There is also great variation as to when adults return to a spawning stream. While individual fish might return during any month of the year, most spawning runs in the steelhead's native West Coast streams are categorized as winter runs or summer runs. Winter-run fish normally spawn during April and May of the year they return, but summer-run fish do not spawn until spring of the following year. Many of Ontario's steelhead are spring spawners. They enter streams in fall and again in early spring.
One of the earliest runs occurs in the Grand River in southwestern Ontario. The run peaks in late September to early October. Biologist and Ministry of Natural Resources(MNR)Stewardship Co-ordinator Larry Halyk thinks this run is in response to the difficulty steelhead have in negotiating a dam near Caledonia. Because steelhead have to leap over the dam, they've adapted to do this in early fall, when water levels and temperatures are most favourable.
Steelhead exhibit strong homing instincts, although fish stocked into new waters will readily colonize suitable new habitats. In the upper Great Lakes, about 2 per cent of the spawning population in any given stream, in any given year, spawn in a stream they weren't born in. This is referred to as the stray rate.
The shallow fine-gravel spawning sites steelhead prefer are found in riffles at the head of a pool or at tail-outs, often in small tributaries of a larger stream or river. Spawning occurs day and night, when water temperatures are between 50 and 60°F(10 and 15.5°C). Males court the female, which constructs a nest or redd by turning on her side and beating her tail up and down into the gravel, displacing it. Although males are aggressive and try to drive off other males, two males often service one female. As soon as the eggs are laid, the female digs on the upstream side of the redd to cover the eggs with gravel.
Females dig and spawn in several redds, depositing as many as 1,000 eggs in each one. Because the eggs are large(.117 to .195 inches/3 to 5 mm in diameter), the maximum number in a female is relatively small, usually less than 10,000.
The eggs hatch four to seven weeks later, depending on temperature. Three to seven days after hatching the alevins become free-swimming fry that start eating. Growth patterns of young steelhead parr in rivers, before they smolt and enter one of the Great Lakes, has been described as "bewildering." Preferred foods, chosen habitats, growth rates, and time spent in-stream, vary tremendously between flows.
According to Dave Gonder, management biologist with the Lake Huron office of the MNR's Upper Great Lakes Management Unit, insects and other in- vertebrates form the bulk of the diet of a young steelhead, augmented with sculpins, minnows, crayfish, and other foodstuffs.
While the average stay in a stream is two years, it can be as little as one or as much as five years. The cold, sterile streams on the north shore of Lake Superior tend to hold young fish longer than the more productive streams to the south, but it's by no means a hard-and-fast rule. On the other hand, there's no doubt the highly productive feeder streams flowing into Lake Ontario produce more fish than streams elsewhere. Surveys show streams flowing into Lake Ontario can have from three to five parr per 1.196 square yards(1 square m)of stream bottom, compared with one parr per 2.39 square yards(2 square m)in Superior's streams.
Once in a lake or the ocean, steelhead grow rapidly. Invertebrates, both airborne insects and aquatic varieties, remain the mainstay of their diet, which, according to Gonder, they exploit efficiently by keying in on scum lines and thermobars where they abound. As the fish put on the pounds, baitfish like smelt and alewife become an increasingly larger part of the steelhead's food intake. Generally, after about two years roaming open water, steelhead are ready to return to their birthplace to spawn.
http://bss.sfsu.edu/...bow%20trout.htm
Breeding:
With this fast growth, rainbow troutreach sexual maturity earlier than other trout. Rainbow trout may spawn firstwhen they reach about 12- 16 inches in length, which is usually at the end oftheir second year (Roberts 2001). During late winter or early spring, whenwater temperatures are rising, the maturing adult rainbow trout seek out theshallow gravel riffles or a suitable clear water stream. Spawning occurs fromlate March through early July, depending on the location and conditions of thewinter. Most trout spawn in streams, rivers, and lakes with gravel bottoms andsteady water flow. Trout spawn in spring or autumn. In early spring, rainbowtrout move upstream to a spawning area, then the female choose a suitable site usuallya shallow, gravel area at the beginning of a stretch of choppy water. Then sheturns on her side and beats her tail up and down, scooping out a shallow nestor redd. When the redd is prepared, she positions herself over it. Then themale courts her by swimming near her and shaking his body. When the female isready to spawn she moves to the bottom of the redd and presses her bellyagainst the gravel. Then 200 to 8,000 eggs are deposited in the redd,fertilized by a male and covered with gravel. Hatching normally takes a fewweeks to as much as four months, depending on water temperature. A few moreweeks may be required for the tiny fry to emerge from the gravel. Then thesmall trout gather in groups and take shelter along the stream margins or protectedlakeshore, feeding on crustaceans, plant material, and aquatic insects andtheir larvae. The young trout eat mostly invertebrates (animals withoutbackbones), including insects. Rainbow trout then stay in a similar habitat forthe first two or three years then move into the larger water of lakes andstreams and turn to more of a diet of fish, salmon carcasses, eggs, and evensmall mammals.
http://epa.gov/clima...co_animals.html
Fish
Fishing is highly valued inthe U.S. as both a commercial enterprise and as a recreational sport. Accordingto the IPCC, certain <a href="http://www.grida.no/...2/561.htm">fish species are becoming lessabundant worldwide. Fish populationsand other aquatic resources are likely to be affected by warmer watertemperatures, changes in seasonal flow regimes, total flows, lake levels, andwater quality. These changes will affect the health of aquatic ecosystems, withimpacts on productivity, species diversity, and species distribution (IPCC, 2007).
Stream habitats are projected to decline across theU.S. by 47 percent for coldwater, 50 percent for cool-water, and 14 percent forwarm-water species. In the southern Great Plains, summer water temperaturesalready approach the limits for survival of many native stream fish (IPCC, 2002). An 8°Fincrease in average annual air temperature is projected to eliminate more than50 percent of the habitat of brook trout in the southern Appalachian Mountains.The Northern pike, which spawn in flooded meadows in early spring and whoseyoung remain in the meadows for about 20 days after hatching, would beespecially affected by low spring water levels. Higher winter temperatures havebeen observed to decrease the survival rate of the eggs ofyellow perch (a coldwater species). On theother hand, one study found that higher winter temperatures (by 2ºC) werebeneficial for rainbow trout. However, the same temperature increase in summercaused negative effects (IPCC, 2007).
Changes in the geographic distribution of oceanfish stocks have been linked to climate-ocean system variations such as the ElNiño events. Fluctuations in fish abundance increasingly are regarded as abiological response to climate-ocean variations, and not just as a result ofover-fishing and other human factors. Climate change can compound the impact ofnatural variation and fishing activity and make marine life management morecomplex. For example, scientists have observed that elevated temperatures haveincreased mortality of winter flounder eggs and larvae and lead to laterspawning migrations. As oceans warm, tuna populations are predicted to spreadtoward currently temperate regions (IPCC, 2007).
Currently, NOAA is conductingthe North Pacific Climate Regimesand Ecosystem Productivity (NPCREP) (PDF, 2 pp., 141 KB, About PDF) project in the eastern Bering Seaand the Gulf of Alaska. This geographic region was selected for initial climateand ecosystems studies due to its importance for living marine resources(Alaskan fisheries account for approximately 50 percent of the US commercialfishery landings), model predictions that climate change will be most severe athigh latitudes, and many indications that environmental conditions are alreadychanging in these regions.
http://pubs.usgs.gov...fs2011-3002.pdf
Effects of Glen Canyon Dam Operations on Early Life Stages of Rainbow Trout in the Colorado River
www.aquabreeding.eu/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket...tabid=98
Review on Breeding and
Reproduction of European
aquaculture speciesRainbow trout U.S.
http://clearwatertu..../USGS_study.pdf
Influence of Spring Floods on Year-Class Strength of Fall- and
Spring-Spawning Salmonids in Catskill Mountain Streams
#12
georgianbaydrifter
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Smallmouth Bass
Posted 17 February 2012 - 01:17 AM
as i said in chase's thread earlier in the winter......steelhead are tenacious survivors. i've also heard of them spawning on off shore reefs as well as windblown gravel shorelines
#13
NOTTA STEELER
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Sunfish
Posted 18 February 2012 - 04:39 PM
With the rivers being wide open, most of the trout will be running sooner. Many will be running throughout the winter, and by the ending of winter a lot of them will be way upstream.
I've only been fishing for 2.5 years, and I'm not really sure how water temperature effects their spawning. More trout will be in the rivers and will have made their way farther upstream by mid March than last year, that's a guarantee. I'm wondering what % will actually spawn earlier too? Do most of them wait for the water to reach a certain temperature? If so, then the timing of the actual spawn will differ less than the timing of their run. A very early run may not necessarily cause a very early spawn for them all, if water temps don't rise sufficiently. Can anyone with experience in this clarify?
In the Boyne river for example , if the river is at least open down the middle , spawning will take place almost always in mid March .
I knew a woman who owned property on the Boyne and she would always inform me as to when the fish were in .
Very rarely did they ever spawn much earlier and if the winter was really cold and ice was clogging the flow , they would spawn when the ice blew out .
I have though caught female steelies in January that have been totally " loose " .
Water temp has a role , but if the water temp is warm enough not to form ice than it's possible that the trout could spawn early as long as the volume of water was low enough .
#14
NADO
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Unaccomplished Steelheader
Posted 24 February 2012 - 04:46 PM
What if cold temperatures were maintained from now until mid april, if I remember correctly spring came late last year? Im wondering if a late spring could hopefully mean a late run.
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