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Thread: Blue Backs On The American?

  1. #1
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    Sep 2010
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    Default Blue Backs On The American?

    I landed an 18" and 19" fish Saturday on the A high-sticking with a Frenchie. The first (bigger) one jumped 3-4 times, as high as 5 feet in the air, and spooled me three times. Second one hunkered down on the bottom. Arguably my best day ever on the A. No other hookups, only a few other hits over the course of 5 hours. I saw no one else fly-fishing, only a few spincasters.

    Are there any defining characteristics of a blue back? These were hatchery fish. One had a chewed up tail and the other a semi-healed slash on the side -- as if they both had some battle scars from being in the ocean. So I doubt they were fresh hatchery releases. If I'm wrong that would be a real bummer.
    TroutSource.com
    we deliver the river

  2. #2
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    Jan 2005
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    Great news TS........



    In the Spring time, March/April/May, we can get some smaller Half-pounder Steelhead and some nice small adult Spring run Steelhead.

    If my memory serves me the Half-pounders are 12" to 15". Spring run adults are 2 to 4 pounds? called Blue Backs by some.

    They can feed on caddis, small salmon, crayfish and sculpin.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
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    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  3. #3
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    Oct 2008
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    California
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    Default Fish names

    The name blueback has been applied to several different salmon and trout species. Blueback was also a local name used by North Coast anglers for small late season steelhead found on rivers such as the Mattole. For several years’ anglers report catching steelhead from the American River during March and April. Most of these fish have been from 12 to 20 inches in length although some anglers report fish as large as 6 pounds. Tom Satterthwaite, a Fisheries Biologist with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, suggested bluebacks might be a subset of the winter steelhead run. He indicated bluebacks return in February and March after just 10 months in saltwater, and consequently weigh much less, often two to six pounds. If one of the Nimbus Fish Hatchery juvenile fish returned as a blueback it would be adipose fin marked. Unmarked fish might be strays from the Sacramento River. Half-pounders, a late summer/early fall run steelhead, demonstrate a different life history.

    Dennis
    www.dennisplee.com

  4. #4
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    Nov 2009
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    Rescue ,CA Cromberg, CA
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    [QUOTE=DPLee;195543]

    The name blueback has been applied to several different salmon and trout species. Blueback was also a local name used by North Coast anglers for small late season steelhead found on rivers such as the Mattole. For several years’ anglers report catching steelhead from the American River during March and April. Most of these fish have been from 12 to 20 inches in length although some anglers report fish as large as 6 pounds.

    Tom Satterthwaite, a Fisheries Biologist with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, suggested bluebacks might be a subset of the winter steelhead run. He indicated bluebacks return in February and March after just 10 months in saltwater, and consequently weigh much less, often two to six pounds. If one of the Nimbus Fish Hatchery juvenile fish returned as a blueback it would be adipose fin marked. Unmarked fish might be strays from the Sacramento River. Half-pounders, a late summer/early fall run steelhead, demonstrate a different life history.

    Dennis

    www.dennisplee.com[/QUOTE

    Thank you Dennis! My favorite steelhead to swing to on the A! Spunky fish with attitude! If you all haven’t read Dennis’s book (The Half Pounder) you should. Full of great steelhead history in the Central Valley and more!

  5. #5
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    Jan 2005
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    Someone has been studding the Redds of the Spring run smaller adult Steelhead in the lower American river.

    I think it is a couple of guys from Federal Fish & Wildlife in a drift boat.

    About 10 years ago when Keith Kaneko was guiding locally he took these two guys down the river and helped them catch some.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  6. #6
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    Feb 2020
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    Sacramento, California
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troutsource View Post
    I landed an 18" and 19" fish Saturday on the A high-sticking with a Frenchie. The first (bigger) one jumped 3-4 times, as high as 5 feet in the air, and spooled me three times. Second one hunkered down on the bottom. Arguably my best day ever on the A. No other hookups, only a few other hits over the course of 5 hours. I saw no one else fly-fishing, only a few spincasters.

    Are there any defining characteristics of a blue back? These were hatchery fish. One had a chewed up tail and the other a semi-healed slash on the side -- as if they both had some battle scars from being in the ocean. So I doubt they were fresh hatchery releases. If I'm wrong that would be a real bummer.
    I was lucky enough to catch my first ever steelhead the last two weekends. I just learned today about this Blue Back variety today sharing photos with a friend.

    Blue Back: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-L1CvTF...=17cmbx3k0tg5i

    Winter Chrome: https://www.instagram.com/p/B9x2xYzF...=1gfs6pkoghsh5

    A workweek apart lol. A good start to the year.

  7. #7
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    Congratulations.......pretty cool.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    1,067

    Default Ar blue back

    I believe blue backs exist as a subspecies on the American River and occupy a niche separate from A) hatchery steelhead B) winter Eel R. steelhead C) strays from Coleman River, Feather River and Mokelumne River steelhead and D) Nimbus and Folsom football and other natural origin and planted trout which enter the American River via the Nimbus Dam in high water years.

    I have caught many over the years and they seem phenotypically and genetically distinct from the aforementioned strains of O. mykiss.

    Fish below are from yesterday's outing. it was overcast so the stark, iridescent blue does not completely show... but when you catch one of these fish, you will see that they nearly GLOW in the water with their perfect, wholly-intact diamond-shaped scales and in sunlight, the blue is a rich and blindingly-saturated sapphire.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    These are not to be confused with down-runner, winter, Eel River steelies which CAN and do regain a fully-scaled and chrome-bright body POST-spawn BEFORE emigrating the river... like these fish also caught in late March:


    Click image for larger version. 

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    It is rare to practically never that you will catch a blue back on the AR with its adipose fin clipped. It is also rare to catch one over 2lbs much less 6lbs though it has happened...

    They come up in March and April and are voracious, mostly piscivorous feeders.

    This is because the timing of their limited-window run coincides with the out-migration of 1-2" steelhead and 2.5-3.5" salmon fry.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    These fish will kick your ass and surprise you when you land what you thought would be a 4-6lb chromer and it ends up being 18-22 inches.

    The run of blue backs on the AR in a given year is very water temperature-dependent. In order for these fish to successfully spawn, they require water temps to remain cold enough into the early summer for their offspring to survive.

    Because the AR is so artificially-controlled and water temps are more often than not, lethally-warm by June, it is rare that offspring of these fish survive long enough to emerge as sac fry.

    Whether these fish are actually somehow related to the original, native central valley strain of steelhead is unknown but their life cycles are certainly parallel as the pre-dam fish prior to the mid 1950's were summer-run steelhead which could not possibly survive in the Lower AR as we know it today.

    Perhaps these spring fish are descended from the summer run CV fish and have divergently evolved to occupy a niche somewhere between the summer run lifestyle they cannot access and an approximation of it which they can accomplish as 'spring steelhead' under optimal conditions.

    I say under optimal conditions because the blue backs are so elusive and generally only come up in significant numbers when AR conditions are highly favorable to the viability of their offspring.

    This year, we are at only 53% of our Sierra snow pack and the river is at a paltry flow of 1500 cfs compared to the between 5,000 and 16,000 cfs it was in March of last year.

    However... the incredible snow-pack of 2019 and subsequent, higher and colder flows of 2019 were EXACTLY what these spring steelhead needed to successfully spawn and provide nursery habitat for their emergent fry to thrive, eat, avoid predation, and make it to the salt so they could return THIS year as 9-10 month old firecrackers.

    Nimbus Hatchery closes its fish ladder on March 1st before the majority of these fish arrive so its no surprise that you never catch one with a V-notched tail. This would also be the reason why the fish never have a clipped adipose fin. The parents come up too late to be hatchery-spawned all offspring are of natural origin.

    For the record, I know a little because I fish a lot, I think a lot, and I care a lot. I do have a wildlife/science degree but I am not specifically a fisheries biologist. I would love to speak to someone who knows more about and could enlighten me further on this subject.

    And for the record... I don't believe that hatchery and wild or even natural-origin fish are genetically the same. I do however, believe it is a moot point specifically, on the American River because it is a dam-controlled, put-and-take fishery with absolutely zero pure-strain, native salmon or steelhead residing in it...
    Last edited by STEELIES/26c3; 03-29-2020 at 07:36 AM.

  9. #9
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    Petaluma Ca
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    Steelies,
    I LOVE reading your informative and grandly educational posts.
    .....lee s.

  10. #10
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    Jan 2005
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    Sutter Co and the KMP
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by STEELIES/26c3 View Post
    The parents come up too late to be hatchery-spawned all offspring are of natural origin.

    Mark,

    I'm just an angler like you that's totally obsessed with Mykiss that inhabit rivers that run unobstructed to the Pacific. I have had too many discussions to count with well over a dozen fisheries professionals about late run fish and here's my thoughts.

    First, I've heard about local anglers catching these late run fish in the single salt range on the A for decades, but have never seen any photos, so thanks for that.

    I'd go all in that you're right about the origin of these fish (they're likely the progeny of hatchery fish but benefit from some unintended temporal isolation from hatchery products and are forced to spawn in basin, hence a disproportionately large percentage of stream born fish.,.)

    I would guess that these fish would exhibit Eel river genetic markers if tested despite how physiologically different they may seem from the typical multisalt fish on the A. Virtually every where I've ever caught steelhead in the spring from the Feather, to the KMP to the northern coastals seems to feature a late run of predominately 1 salt sized fish. Wendy Jones told me that this is the case with the Eel as well, and I'd guess that's what you're seeing here.

    None of the ecology pros I've ever had this discussion with (even Gerstung who had some fairly divergent opinions of CV steelhead) felt that these fish were some kind of vestige of the original AR fish, and that they were likely simply the preservation of the late run Eel fish.

    I would also guess that those first two fish were from the 2017 year class not 2019, simply because I can't see any fish from 2019 being mature enough to undergo smoltification. They would have to hit a pretty amazing growth curve inland in the first months of life for that to happen and I'm guessing that these fish would exhibit a predominant 2-1 LH.

    I'd also attribute the intermittent nature (you're only seeing lots of these fish every few years) like you to inland conditions on the A. To have abundant amounts of these fish, they're not only going to need to be able to survive emergence, but also at least a season of development if not two seasons inland.

    The things I find totally bizarre about these fish is that everywhere I've encountered them ( the Feather, the KMP, Mad, Redwood -huge sample sizes, and the Smith a single fish), they're all fairly strange looking- deep bodied, well developed fish for their respective length, but somehow have smaller, less developed caudals than you'd expect for fish that are so thickly shouldered. And by my experience an insanely huge percentage of the fish are females, way more than 50%. They definitely get extremely violent when you stick 'em.


    Just my take.

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