N & S Santiam and McKenzie Reports 6-23

[Gun Rod Bow]

What is the deal with the unmarked springers in the Middle Fk Willamette. I caught one and friends have too. I have never been aware of any native spawning in that river.

Are there just a lot of unmarked fish getting out of the hatchery?

Last few years it seemed rare to find and unmarked fish there.

Comments?

[oregonwrestler]

GRB-

From what I understand, they take the native chinook that make it into the trap and haul them up above the lake where they return them to the river. Supposedly the fry/smolts are able to pass through the dams at some point. That is how the native springers get into the river. However, the biologist informed me last year that they do not treat unmarked steelhead any different than marked steelhead. :shrug: So, they just get recycled right back into the river with the rest of the hatchery steelhead.

ow

[LilSteelie]

~North Santiam creel encountered 388 anglers. There were 15 summer steelhead caught and kept, 64 spring chinook caught and kept, and 10 chinook released. Many chinook have been caught above Mehema this week.

~South Santiam creel encountered 433 anglers. There were 83 summer steelhead caught and kept, 2 summer steelhead released, 18 spring chinook were kept, and 10 chinook were released. There were 9 rainbow with mark unknown, 2 cutthroat, 5 trout species unknown, and 1 smolt released. Fishing pressure is mainly at Lebanon Dam, Waterloo, Church Camp Hole, and the Wiley Creek area. The chinook catch dropped off this week, but the steelhead catch increased.

~Foster Lake creel encountered 250 anglers. There was 358 rainbows kept, 53 rainbows released, 5 steelhead smolt released, 2 smallmouth bass kept, 21 smallmouth bass released, 20 bluegill kept, and 20 bluegill released. Boats did well on Foster and most bank angling was concentrated near the dam. There was an unscheduled stocking of 5000 trout last week and there is another unscheduled stocking of 4500-5000 trout for Friday morning of this week.

~Green Peter-I saw a lot of fish coming out of Green Peter this week. I talked to 34 boat anglers who were cleaning their fish at Sunnyside Park. I saw 482 kokanee, 5 rainbows, and 2 largemouth bass this week. The water is still real low. Thistle Creek is the only boat ramp that is still safe to launch a boat.

~McKenzie River creel encountered 139 anglers. There were 12 summer steelhead caught and kept, 1 summer steelhead released, 17 spring chinook caught and kept, and 6 chinook released. In addition, there were 6 hatchery rainbows kept, and 27 hatchery trout released. Stomach contents of 550 hatchery trout recovered from releases in the McKenzie River have been examined this season. Most trout had ingested only aquatic insects, however, 8 chinook fry and two unidentified salmonids have been found. It appears that hatchery trout do feed on chinook fry, but at a very low rate (less than 2%).

~Middle Fork Willamette creel encountered 468 anglers. There were 43 summer steelhead caught and kept, 1 steelhead released, 18 spring chinook kept, and 21 chinook released.

~Adult traps on the North Santiam (Stayton Island) captured 116 marked summer steelhead, 1 unmarked summer steelhead, 462 marked spring chinook, and 61 unmarked spring chinook in the traps. To date, there have been 1186 marked summer steelhead, 20 unmarked summers, 679 winter steelhead, 4104 marked spring chinook, and 494 unmarked chinook caught in the traps. We have already handled 4,598 chinook this season in the North Santiam. Last year, a record year for sping chinook in the North Santiam, we handled a total of 4,212 fish over the course of the entire season. The number of chinook captured this week dropped off, possibly in response to cool weather. However, many chinook remain below the North Santiam traps.

~In the bypass screw trap at Leaburg Dam, there were 10 adult summer steelhead, 7 unmarked steelhead smolt, 463 unmarked spring chinook smolt, 3 rainbows, 6 cutthroat, and 6 lamprey captured. To date, there have been 73 adult summers, 510 unmarked steelhead smolt, 24367 unmarked chinook smolt, 79 rainbows, 21 cutthroat, and 63 lamprey captured in the trap.

~The Foster Dam trap (South Santiam) captured 0 winter steelhead, 116 summer steelhead, and 330 spring chinook. There were 38 summer steelhead and 97 chinook recycled downstream (to Pleasant Valley Bridge or Waterloo Park). To date, there have been 857 winter steelhead, 2908 summer steelhead, and 1295 chinook captured in the trap.

[FishaholicAZ]

So, what are you saying?... That I should take a trip to the N. Santiam and do some fishing?... Maybe the South?
Well, alright then I will. :grin:
Thanks for the info.
Romeo

[Hey Man]

oregonwrestler is right; they have been transporting Spring Chinook up above the reservoirs for a couple years now. They initially began this hoping that the salmon would spawn and provide forage for the bull trout. Historically juvenile chinook would have been abundant prey for the bull trout. This is what the Corps of Engineer Biologist told me a couple winters ago when I helped monitor smolt survival downstream of Lookout.

GRB
When I asked him what the plan was for the returning fish that would be wild and unmarked, he said ODFW hadn't decided yet. This was two winters ago and I haven't talked to him since...so I don't know what their decision was.

[Gun Rod Bow]

Let me start with a disclaimer: I am not a biologist or pretend to be one. I have no more than laymans information about these runs, but like most of us have a keen interest.

I have been under the impression that water below Dexter was too warm for spring chinook to survive the summer. Every one I've ever seen past mid July has been dead or dieing. I've never seen salmon spawning in the middle fork in August/September.

I have seen springers alive and well and doing their thing including spawning in the Clack, Santiams and McKenzie. So my assumption has been, no live springers in the middle fork past July.

I guess my point was,they killed the natives by placing the dams with no fish passage when Dexter, N Fk Res, and Dorena (?) were built. So any non clipped fish are just non clipped hatchery origin fish. Right?

Why try to save them? They bonk and sell the excess from the hatcheries anyway. If there is no chance of native stock past the McKenzie, why not let us keep 'em? :shrug:

BTW, If someone with more facts would like to correct me, please do.

Thanks for the info you provided guys