Today we are re-publishing an excellent article by Dan Bottom on the remarkable against all odds recovery of Salmon River Coho. This article was originally written for and published by the Reflections program at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology near Otis on Oregon’s Salmon River. This article was submitted by Dan Bottom, a current Howard L. McKee …
Science Friday: The latest from the longest running steelhead monitoring project in British Columbia
Thank goodness it’s Friday. Fall is in the air and it’s time to get on the river! But first, let’s give our steelhead IQs another booster shot with a new Science Friday post. This week we have a guest writer and scientist, Colin Bailey, a PhD student studying fisheries science at Simon Fraser University under Jonathan Moore (Moore …
Science Friday: Some come early, some come late: Genetics of Dean River steelhead
There are a handful of rivers that every steelheader wants to fish. Among these is the Dean River in British Columbia, perhaps the most revered wild steelhead river on the planet. Not only is this river remote and beautiful, it is also home to some of the hardest fighting steelhead anywhere. The Dean’s fame as a wild steelhead fishery …
Science Friday: Sand bars, lagoons and moving steelhead
Back to back Science Friday posts focusing on California and the unique challenges that steelhead face in the state. This week we pivot from juvenile steelhead coping with ponded pools to a look at juveniles that enter and live seasonally in lagoons at the mouths of creeks and rivers — a phenomenon fairly common in smaller coastal watersheds in California …
Science Friday: Surviving heat, drought and ponded streams
It is that time of year again. Heat wave after heat wave. As summer progresses stream flows will continue to decline all across steelhead country, and in some cases, smaller tributaries will go dry. In other cases, streams won’t be completely dewatered; instead, they will become ponded. This occurs when flows diminish so much that the only remaining surface …
Science Friday: How does catch and release affect steelhead?
Today we review a study on the impacts of catch and release angling on wild steelhead in the Bulkley River, the largest tributary to British Columbia’s legendary Skeena system. Conducted by Will Twardek and several others, this study looked into the effects of catch and release, air exposure and fight time on behavior and survival to spawning. The study …
Science Friday: Big fish, big streams; little fish, little streams
A holiday weekend deserves a new Science Friday post. So here we go. This week we focus on summer steelhead in the John Day River, a large tributary that drains into the middle Columbia River on the Oregon side. The John Day is a big watershed, covering 8,000 square miles, although the river itself is not that large. To …
Science Friday: Do these lipids make me look fat?
For most anglers who have encountered both winter and summer steelhead, it’s abundantly clear there are differences between the two races of fish. For one, they enter freshwater at different times of the year, although there is some overlap. In addition, there are physical differences. Summer steelhead tend to be more fusiform — sleeker and more firm bodied …
Science Friday: Certain genetic families survive better in hatcheries and might help explain why hatchery steelhead do poorly in nature
Spring is here and we’ve got a real shot of warm weather on the West Coast. Certainly, spawning steelhead appreciate the ecological effects of this boost in thermal energy. Last week we reviewed a recent paper on repeat spawning in steelhead in the Hood River, Oregon. This week, we return to the Hood to look at another paper out …
Science Friday: Do it once, do it twice. The tradeoffs of repeat spawning in steelhead
We are back after a short break, after coming through a heavy dose of conservation work. That work, in part, helped convince the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Service to re-open the iconic Skagit River for a catch-and-release season for wild steelhead. It feels like a new day has dawned for steelheaders in Puget …