steelhead science

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joebaker79
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2007/08/09 22:00:19 (permalink)

steelhead science

just for sh-ts and giggles, can anyone explain what year of fish would be primarily running this year?  7 years of steelhead fishing is no course in fishery science and biology...unless figuring out what color flatfish to use can earn me a credit.  hard to calculate considering the switch to yearlings in 2004 or so.  my guess is the 04 and 05 stocked fish, as even the 05 would have spent 3 summers in the lake by now.  i would think 03 would be really big fish with four summers.  not that it matters how old he/she is when it swallows my jig, just curious.  i'd appreciate any answers from someone who really would have educated answers on this. 
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    smoltguy
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    RE: steelhead science 2007/08/10 09:17:37 (permalink)
    I can explain it in terms of NY steelhead, which can be extrapolated to PA fish.  We stock them just as they are smolting at 1 yr of age around May (I believe PA stocks them a little earlier in the spring).  When these fish come back the next fall, after 1 summer in the lake, they are the 12 – 16 inchers you catch (roughly 2 yr olds).  The next year that same year class of steelhead come back as 20 – 24” (2 summers in the lake, almost 3 yr olds).  After that, those steelhead drop off to maybe 10 – 20% of the run.  Yes you will still run into a good number of big pigs that are older but most of the runs are made up of 2 – 3 yr olds. 
    post edited by smoltguy - 2007/08/10 09:18:45
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    casts_by_fly
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    RE: steelhead science 2007/08/15 10:10:14 (permalink)
    smoltguy,
     
    In the Nagy steelhead book, he quotes some (I think) harvest data which included some decent charts and graphs showing size and age distributions.  I don't remember the exact numbers, but most of the fish returning were 3 summer fish and in the 26" range.  There were about half as many fish that came back a year younger and half that again that came back a year older.  There were many fewer fish that were outside that 2-4 summer bracket.  I don't have the book in front of me at the moment so hopefully someone else can chime in with the actual numbers.
     
    Thanks,
    Rick
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    indsguiz
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    RE: steelhead science 2007/08/15 10:24:52 (permalink)
    joebaker79,
         When you catch one just check out the FIN* number  located on the left side of the base of the dorsal fin.  The first 2 digits indicate the hatchery the fish was raised in, the third digit indicates the pond and the 4th digit will tell you the year.  The rest of the numbers are just for optional equipment.  Actually this year we should be seeing mostly 04-05 fish.  Remember a fish from 03 would have come back in 04, 05, 06 and then now which would make it a 5 year old fish counting from hatching.  The Fish Comm has pretty good information on all this.  I wonder how many people will be wondering why they never noticed the numbers.

    Illegitimis Non carborundum
    #4
    fishmonger
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    RE: steelhead science 2007/08/15 19:05:47 (permalink)
    I just know that I'm going to look for a number on the first steelhead that I land this fall. I won't see one, but I gotta look!
    #5
    Bughawk
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    RE: steelhead science 2007/08/15 20:54:16 (permalink)
    indsguiz 

    That is what they used to do, but I have heard they have gone to using electronic chips.  Basically, if you have a hand scanner, you scan the fish and get all the information about where the fish was raised, when it was put into the stream, etc...  It is an easier system and more efficient.  I am not sure where you get a scanner, but I am would not be surprised if they will show up at the local tackle shops for $9.95, along with a Gensu fillet knife and home smoking kit....  
     
    Disclaimer: The information in this post is the creation of an overly active imagination of the poster and has no basis in fact. It is for entertainment purposes only.....

    pax vobiscum +
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    woodnickle
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    RE: steelhead science 2007/08/15 21:04:02 (permalink)

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    Skip16503
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    RE: steelhead science 2007/08/15 22:02:05 (permalink)
    I caught this one last year I believe it was the first ever registered
     

     



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