Discussion of summer run steelhead transplanted into the vedder

Just a little info to help some anglers. The Chilliwack system does indeed have a small and I mean small wild summer-run steelhead return... These fish return mostly in the end of May and into June to a tributary stream of this system. Which I will not name to prevent poaching... This historical steelhead is smaller in size and is built for the extreme climbing this fish has to do to get to the spawning grounds... This tributary also has a very prolific bulltrout return in the fall too spawn...

As for the brood for the summer-runs on the Chehalis. Yes some will come back to the hatchery not all. I have been contacted on numerous occasions too capture brood for them in late October, November and December. The summer-runs that enter the hatchery throughout the summer and early fall tend to just poke their head in and take off the next day. The hatchery does not like to hold on to brood fish in there tanks for a prolonged period of time. The survival rate of the fish is not very good as the water temperture in the river is much higher than in the fall and winter.

:cheers: sage

That is some very interesting stuff to say the least Sage.

I have never heard of this summer run in the Chilliwack system, I would be very surprised if this was correct, all the hatchery workers and bios I know, say that the odd fish found in the sysytem in june, july , august are winter fish that stay in the sysytem. Have you actually witnessed these fish holding in a trib??, do they come in chrome brite like real summer runs??. It would seem to defy conventional wisdom that the Chilliwack would have a a summerun based on the factors that make rivers a candidate for summer runs.

As for the Chehalis, the last few years all the broodstock have simply swam into the hatchery during fall hi water events, which is good because they are held in Abbottsford after capture and do not do well waiting 9 months(if captured in true summer) in captivity to ripen.

The Vedder is a very poor candidate for summer runs based on the fact that the system has a very healthy sort of Wild winter run and not much in the way of canyons for summers to hide out in, although they could bolt sraight for the lake and hang there. I would much rather see the existing summer run rivers returning good fishable numbers and perhaps then use some of these fish to produce a true terminal fishery in a river like the Stave. I am talking a mass stocked event to produce a sport fishery, being grand biters it would be a great way to create new anglers.