Lamprey Spawn

[Mark Kranhold]

I was out fishing the American last night and came across these Lamprey pairing up and making a nest for spawning. Pretty cool this time of the year along the river with all the different wildlife. Turkeys fluffed up and strutting around to impress the ladies, lots of different song birds singing away in the distance.Families of deer running around and eating the fresh grasses and lamprey's doing there thing at my feet. Thought i would share this photo, sorry for the quality. iphone photo with sun glare off the water. Maybe next time i should bring the frog gaff with me, i know the bait stores get big money for the lamprey from the Sturgeon and Striper guys. I believe $30 a piece!

[kokaneejr]

Thanks Mark,
I AM NEVER SETTING FOOT IN THERE AGAIN!!
jk cool pic.

[Bryan Morgan]

Watched a couple of guys during Shad season a few years ago who had licenses to collect Lamprey. They were out of S.F. They had burlap bags with 20-30 apiece. The smaller ones were going to bait shops, and the larger ones were going to restaurants. The scars covered both of those guys arms. Nasty critters!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

From the American River salmon/steelhead spawning data:

Pacific Lamprey spawning:

We observed Pacific lampreys spawning in January, February, March, and April in 2003. The
surveys in 2004 continued into June. During 2004 fewer lampreys spawned than in 2002 or
2003 and they were only observed from March 30 into June. The peak in lamprey spawning
was after the peak in steelhead spawning (table 15). During the final survey in 2003, on April 3
– 4, we counted 278 lamprey redds, 42 of them with lampreys actively spawning on them. Dead,
presumably spawned out, lampreys were found in March and April of 2003. No more than about
15 likely lamprey redds were observed in any survey in 2004 and the maximum number of redds
observed with lampreys occupying them was three on both March 30 and May 26, 2004. The
peak lamprey count in 2005 occurred on April 4 – 6 when we counted 71 likely Pacific lamprey
redds with 10 of them occupied by spawning lampreys. We encountered commercial lamprey
harvesters during our surveys on March 15 and April 5. During the April 5 survey at Paradise
Beach, where we usually see the most spawning lampreys, the commercial crew had just worked
most of the area by boat when we arrived. The harvest appeared to result in few spawning
lamprey observations there.

Experience gained by the survey crew during 2001 and 2002 surveys aided greatly in
differentiating steelhead and lamprey redds. During the final survey in 2002 some lamprey redds
were undoubtedly mis-classified as steelhead redds. At least one experienced survey crew
member needs to be present for identification of species constructing the redds. Because the
lamprey run was smaller in 2004 there was less chance that we mis-classified lamprey redds as
steelhead redds that year.

.

[Larry S]

Thanks, Mark. I never realized there was a commercial market for them. They certainly wreaked havoc on Great
Lakes fishing and still do to some extent. They came in thru the St Lawrence Sea Way and devastated the lake trout
population. I believe they still use electric weirs across streams as well as occasional poisonings to control them. Thru
the 1990's, it was quite common to find them attached to lake fish that we caught or find a 50-cent piece-size scar on the fish.
Getting them off the fish was made easier if you smoked cigars. LOL.
Best,
Larry S

[Charlie Gonzales]

I was lucky enough to watch 4 of them with Hartwick several years ago and got some cool underwater shots. I think if you go to photobucket and search BigValleyGuide you can view them. I also have shots of juveniles that I found durring low flows