American River steelhead count from the past

[winxp_man]

This is a screen shot from a 1977-1978 annual salmon/steelhead report.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks winxp_man




Notice the adult Steelhead numbers in the 1970s.

I opened "The Fly Hutch - Sacramento" with partner Neil Bohannon in 1975.

Winter Steelheading up near the hatchery was very good with lots of conventional and fly fishers.



Ted Wilson was the top conventional angler of that era.

He use a fly rod that he converted to spinning.


All the old timers who fly fished and founded the CFFU are gone now but where up there by the "grate" doing well.


________________________________________

You all need to buy a copy of the movie: "Rivers of a Lost Coast" and watch it several times a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmo_q6fh2gw



I am in the movie in several old Super 8 movie sequences that Joe Shirshac donated to the young movie makers.

Several are on the Trinity River in the Fall and some are on the American river near the hatchery in the Winter.

I wore a hooded camo sweatshirt and Seal-Dri waders back then.

[STEELIES/26c3]

Thanks winxp_man




Notice the adult Steelhead numbers in the 1970s.

I opened "The Fly Hutch - Sacramento" with partner Neil Bohannon in 1975.

Winter Steelheading up near the hatchery was very good with lots of conventional and fly fishers.



Ted Wilson was the top conventional angler of that era.

He use a fly rod that he converted to spinning.


All the old timers who fly fished and founded the CFFU are gone now but where up there by the "grate" doing well.




You all need to buy a copy of the movie: "Rivers of a Lost Coast" and watch it several times a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmo_q6fh2gw



I am in it in several old Super 8 movie sequences that Joe Shirshac donated to the young movie makers.

Several are on the Trinity River and some are on the American river near the hatchery.

Ted was my steelhead and striper fishing buddy until he died. We spent thousands of hours fishing the American.
Sadly, he died a few years ago while fishing out of a boat at Stampede Reservoir.
I have a photo from 1949 of Ted's first steelhead he caught at Rainbow Bridge (PRE Nimbus Dam).
I'll try and locate it and post it here.

I seem to vaguely remember him telling me everyone back then had a Montague and he had a flyrod he'd gotten from some old timer and since he didn't have a lot of money or an aptitude or desire to fly fish, that he paired a Mitchell Garcia with it or something. He swore by an ACME 1/2 oz. GOLD WOB-L-Rrite for the summer steelhead which ran from April to the end of June if I'm not mistaken... DAMS SUCK! Took away our spring salmon and summer steelhead...

I always wanted to sit down with Ted and have him tell me all the stories of the local steelhead fishing so I could write a book. Unfortunately, his untimely death negated that possibility. I will still write a book telling my story someday about fishing the American River for the last 35 years but I can't now because I'm too busy fishing

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

STEELIES/26c3

I really appreciate you being a member of this Form, thanks.

You must be an older guy too.

__________________________________

Ted was tall with lots of curly Blond hair back then in the 1970s.


One day some of us fly fishers were fishing at the "Grate" and about 10am the sun came out and we kind of took a coffee break.

Ted was a class act, he came over and asked if he could try "our spot" for a little bit. We had not done much there.

He had a 9' 2pc Fenwick fiberglass fly rod converted to spinning. I think he was using a large white/pale single egg?

He waded out in front of us in 15-20 minutes hooked and landed 3 big win run Steelhead.

One Steelhead was big, wild and really put on a show which many applauded.

He was highly respected by all and was "the man."

____________________________________


Back then we were using 9' #9 line 2 pc mostly Fenwick fiberglass fly rods with a Pflueger or Hardy fly reel.

We filled our large reels with some braided Dacron/Micron line for backing.

Everyone was trying about 100' of different 20-30# monos for shooting line.

Cortland 'Cobra', Sunset 707, yellow Stren, orange "bow serving", etc.

Most used factory SA or Cortland 30' shooting heads with a loop on the rear.

"Heads" came in 4-5 sink-rates back then. No indicators or sink-tips existed yet.

Most used simple hand tied mono leaders with Maxima "Chameleon" but Maxima "UltraGreen" was just starting.

Flies were mostly "Comet" style like the Boss (black), Flame (hot orange), Gold Comet (gold tinsel).

[DPLee]

For those interested, here is a more complete graph of Nimbus Fish Hatchery steelhead trap numbers.



Unfortunately, the average number of winter steelhead returning to the American River has declined in recent years. This is in spite of the fact that hatchery personnel continue to release over 400,000 juvenile fish annually. If the releases met a typical 2% return rate for a west coast fish hatchery, the annual run would be over 8,000 adult fish. However, returns are most often less than a quarter of this number. One of the most significant reasons is the early release of juvenile fish that results in significant mortality and predation.

You can learn more about our winter steelhead resources including American River steelhead in my book, California Winter Steelhead, Life History and Fly Fishing.

Dennis

[STEELIES/26c3]

For those interested, here is a more complete graph of Nimbus Fish Hatchery steelhead trap numbers.



Unfortunately, the average number of winter steelhead returning to the American River has declined in recent years. This is in spite of the fact that hatchery personnel continue to release over 400,000 juvenile fish annually. If the releases met a typical 2% return rate for a west coast fish hatchery, the annual run would be over 8,000 adult fish. However, returns are most often less than a quarter of this number. One of the most significant reasons is the early release of juvenile fish that results in significant mortality and predation.

You can learn more about our winter steelhead resources including American River steelhead in my book, California Winter Steelhead, Life History and Fly Fishing.

Dennis

Agreed... It would be nice if they released 2-yr or at least 1.5 yr steelhead smolt. The salmon suffer even more from being released in May at 6". I would think that another problem the steelhead face is the cross breeding of Eel R. strain with Valley, Coleman, Feather and any other adult that comes up the ladder. As far as I know, they don't segregate and spawn only like strains together. Over the years, not only have the numbers of returning Eel R. steelhead diminished but they have also lost their behavioral instincts to aggressively feed. I'm sure environmental factors (lack of; rain, water, tributaries, spawning habitat, and a much longer migration route, etc) play a huge role in this but since we can't do much to change that, I would hope CDFW would at least try to maintain the lineage of these fish by selectively spawning.

[STEELIES/26c3]

STEELIES/26c3

I really appreciate you being a member of this Form, thanks.

You must be an older guy too.

__________________________________

Ted was tall with lots of curly Blond hair back then in the 1970s.


One day some of us fly fishers were fishing at the "Grate" and about 10am the sun came out and we kind of took a coffee break.

Ted was a class act, he came over and asked if he could try "our spot" for a little bit. We had not done much there.

He had a 9' 2pc Fenwick fiberglass fly rod converted to spinning. I think he was using a large white/pale single egg?

He waded out in front of us in 15-20 minutes hooked and landed 3 big win run Steelhead.

One Steelhead was big, wild and really put on a show which many applauded.

He was highly respected by all and was "the man."

____________________________________


Back then we were using 9' #9 line 2 pc mostly Fenwick fiberglass fly rods with a Pflueger or Hardy fly reel.

We filled our large reels with some braided Dacron/Micron line for backing.

Everyone was trying about 100' of different 20-30# monos for shooting line.

Cortland 'Cobra', Sunset 707, yellow Stren, orange "bow serving", etc.

Most used factory SA or Cortland 30' shooting heads with a loop on the rear.

"Heads" came in 4-5 sink-rates back then. No indicators or sink-tips existed yet.

Most used simple hand tied mono leaders with Maxima "Chameleon" but Maxima "UltraGreen" was just starting.

Flies were mostly "Comet" style like the Boss (black), Flame (hot orange), Gold Comet (gold tinsel).

I'm relatively young at 59 but have spent thousands of hours on the AR in the last 30+ years and so know most of the regulars. Ted was the only guy crazy enough and physically fit enough to keep up with me and hike, climb, wade, and sometimes swim miles and miles after steelhead in the winter and stripers in the summer. He was 20 years my senior but in amazing shape.

He would pay a Native American Guide to drop him off way up in the headwaters of the Quinault River and camp/sleep/fish for monster native steelhead in the snow. Then, after a week, he would hike 10-15 miles, with his fish, back out to meet the guide and get picked up.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I'm relatively young at 59 but have spent thousands of hours on the AR in the last 30+ years and so know most of the regulars. Ted was the only guy crazy enough and physically fit enough to keep up with me and hike, climb, wade, and sometimes swim miles and miles after steelhead in the winter and stripers in the summer. He was 20 years my senior but in amazing shape.

He would pay a Native American Guide to drop him off way up in the headwaters of the Quinault River and camp/sleep/fish for monster native steelhead in the snow. Then, after a week, he would hike 10-15 miles, with his fish, back out to meet the guide and get picked up.

You were lucky to be able to spend time with him.

I will sometimes refer to extremely serious anglers like You and Ted as true "Commandos" of our sport of fishing.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

While I was going to college in the 1960s studying fisheries I worked nights at the Hunts cannery in Davis, California.

There I met a chunky, balding old man who wore overalls and was actually a real "British Commando" in World War II.

During our lunch hours and breaks with his heavy British accent he told me stories about the war that only he could have known about.

From my time spent with this great man I started using the word "Commando" for all extremely serious and driven people.



I am not a "Commando" but just a historian of sorts who has spent his life gathering info on fly fishing to share with others.




After 50 years in fishing tackle retail in Sacramento I have thousands of stories about the people I met and fished with.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

For those interested, here is a more complete graph of Nimbus Fish Hatchery steelhead trap numbers.



Unfortunately, the average number of winter steelhead returning to the American River has declined in recent years. This is in spite of the fact that hatchery personnel continue to release over 400,000 juvenile fish annually. If the releases met a typical 2% return rate for a west coast fish hatchery, the annual run would be over 8,000 adult fish. However, returns are most often less than a quarter of this number. One of the most significant reasons is the early release of juvenile fish that results in significant mortality and predation.

You can learn more about our winter steelhead resources including American River steelhead in my book, California Winter Steelhead, Life History and Fly Fishing.

Dennis

Thanks Dennis

A couple of my LAR guide friends told me that they felt that the birds, today, were one of the largest predator groups?