American Steel In Hatchery

[Troutsource]

12/6 article: "American River Hatchery full of salmon – steelhead numbers increasing (http://www.wonews.com/california-outdoor-news.aspx)"

"The number and size of the steelhead in the holding pond and even those observed coming up the ladder while I was there was quite encouraging for the upcoming season..." I don't know how knowledgeable the source is.

The article refers to an observation from last week.

I'll take any encouragement I can get. It would be nice to get some counts and compare them to prior years.

According to the article there are still "quite a few [salmon] still in very nice condition."

[Troutsource]

Here it says some were over 10 lbs: http://www.redding.com/news/2011/dec/06/FishingReport120911/

[DAVID95670]

I will go by the hatchery today and check out these reports. I walk this river daily and I can say that while closed to fishing there is little action besides a lot of old NOT SO IN GOOD SHAPE salmon

[Mike Churchill]

Stopped by the Nimbus hatchery Sunday morning. I spotted about half a dozen large Steelies in the holding pen at the top of the ladder with the salmon. The two biggest might have been 8 or 10 pounds. (WAG that the biggest salmon were 20 lbs. or so.)

A few salmon were still climbing the ladder.

Mike

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Here is an email report I got from veteran fisheries biologist of the CA DF&G, now reitred, Dennis Lee.

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To All:

I stopped by the Nimbus Fish Hatchery today and spoke with the Paula Hoover, Hatchery Manager. She indicated that hatchery staff has trapped 300 adult steelhead through this week, which compares to 299 adult steelhead at the same time last year. During the past ten season, an average of 1,677 adult steelhead (range 778 in 2007-2008 and 2,772 in 2004-2005) have been trapped for the entire season but only 987 adult steelhead were trapped last year. Only three half-pounder sized fish (<16 in TL) have been trapped this season but this is not unusual since typically less than 3% of the total fish trapped are classified as half-pounder steelhead. The Lower American River does not support a run of half-pounder steelhead and the smaller sized fish trapped a the hatchery are likely resident rainbow trout, non-migrant juvenile fish released from Nimbus Fish Hatchery, or strays from the Sacramento River and its tributaries. I also observed several large winter steelhead in the holding trap at the hatchery in additional to Chinook salmon. The steelhead appeared to be bright and ranged from 8 to 12 pounds.

The winter steelhead run into the hatchery generally peaks the later part of December, but this may vary by several weeks. The last steelhead has been trapped at the hatchery as late as the second week of March and in general, there has been a trend towards the last steelhead being trapped later in the season. This change reflects a trend in hatchery operations to keep the ladder open longer in the season. Artificial spawning of winter steelhead generally begins the last week of December.

American River stream flows at currently at 2,060 cfs and reflect a decrease of about 200 cfs since December 1. Currently, the 1958 SWRCB Decision (D-893) specifies the legally required minimum flow in lower American River is 500 cfs between September 15 and December 31 and 250 cfs at all other times, however, during the past ten years flows have generally not been below 1,000 cfs. There are no currently scheduled changes in Lower America River streamflows. Stream flows at this time last year were much higher, ranging from 4,000 to 7,000 cfs, and reached a peak of 30,900 cfs on December 16, 2010.

I have fished for winter steelhead on two days so far during December but have not hooked any steelhead. The water is clear and water temperatures are currently about 54o F. and have dropped about 1.5o F. since the first of the month, concurrent with a cold trend in the Sacramento Valley. This year I observed fall Chinook salmon spawning activity in the lower American River near Paradise Beach and Howe Avenue and numerous dead salmon on the bank. Showers are predicted for the area by mid-week December 14 and 15.

Dennis



Dennis P. Lee

dpleeconsultants@comcast.net

916 293 1825 cellular

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