Big steelhead day Knife River

[Lee Borgersen]

              Big steelhead day on Thursday at Knife River trap.
                                                 (view Video:)

Apr 17, 2016

  ......
 The North Shore steelhead run was in full swing on Thursday at the Knife River.
Fisheries biologists with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources found 171 steelhead — Lake Superior’s migratory rainbow trout — in the Knife River trap that morning. Not only is that the largest single-day number of fish in the trap this year, it’s the most the DNR has ever found in the trap in its 20 years of operation, according to Josh Blankenheim, DNR large lake specialist at French River. The previous high was 158, set last year.

  ...
So far this spring, a total of 316 steelhead have been captured at the trap. Thursday’s totals likely were high because the river was at an optimum flow level — not too high, not too low — and afternoon stream temperatures reached the mid-40s.

“When you get that moderate discharge with warm water, it really makes it easier for them to move upstream,” said the DNR’s Nick Peterson, migratory fish specialist at French River.

Biologists use the trap as a research tool in steelhead management. Steelhead bound upstream this time of year to spawn are captured, counted, aged and tagged. Then they’re released back to the river so they can continue upstream to spawn. The Knife River trap is just below the Minnesota Highway 61 expressway.

This year’s run comes on the heels of a historic run last year, when 963 adult steelhead were captured during the spring run at the Knife River trap, the most since the trap went into operation in 1996 and more than double the 20-year average of 423, according to the DNR. The fall run of steelhead in 2015 was five times historic rates.

Fisheries officials have cautioned, however, that the number of returning adult steelhead this year and next could be down somewhat. Biologists found few juvenile steelhead in the Knife in 2011 and 2012, and fish from those year classes are expected to begin returning this year and next as spawners, Peterson said.


VIDEO:
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/outdoors/fishing/4011474-big-steelhead-day-thursday-knife-river-trap


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[glenn57]

oh-oh.......don't tell reinhard! think he is headed that way today!

[snow1]

Interesting read,thanx for posting Lee.I fished every river back in the 70's from Duluth to grand marias when we had huge steelhead runs and a 5 fish daily limit with no restrictions,hence the down fall of the steelhead population,that and I read the steelhead didn't reproduce as they thought,its good to see after 20 odd years they are making a come back