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ENLARGEFabian Carr, with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, makes his way down a fish ladder at Canyon Creek in Canyonville recently while checking for winter steelhead. Fabian Carr, below, pulls winter steelhead from the Canyon Creek fish ladder.
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Caulder Loonie, an experimental biology aide with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, transfers adult broods from an acclimation pond with the help of Umpqua Fisherman Association volunteer Tom Sutton. The two were at Canyon Creek in Canyonville, preparing to transfer winter steelhead to the Rock Creek Hatchery.
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Carr pulls winter steelhead from the Canyon Creek fish ladder in Canyonville.
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From a few dozen wild brethren nabbed during migration, hatchery steelhead keep the fishery on the South Umpqua River viable for fishermen during winter months.
Noted by its clipped-away adipose fin, a small nodule protruding between the back fin and tail, a hatchery steelhead represents one of thousands artificially spawned each year. But only a fraction of these will later return from the ocean to give a fisherman the opportunity to land one in his net.
“Our goal is to have a winter steelhead fishery that’s focused between Roseburg and Canyonville,” said Greg Huchko, Salmon Trout Enhancement Program biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Roseburg office. “It’s for people to enjoy, basically.”
Only adipose fin-clipped steelhead can be harvested from the South Umpqua River.
Huchko oversees three acclimation sites for steelhead smolt on the South Umpqua River. They are located on two different tributaries — on Deer Creek behind Eastwood Elementary School in Roseburg, and on Canyon Creek behind Seven Feathers Hotel & Casino Resort and a mile or so up that creek from Canyonville.
Tom Sutton, a member of the Umpqua Fishermen’s Association, has been host of the acclimation site just north of Canyonville for about three years now. From late January to early May, the John Day resident helps collect brood fish for spawning at Rock Creek Hatchery and feeds smolts at the acclimation site before releasing them three weeks later.
“It’s a good way to put fish in the stream for the sport fisherman,” he said.
Sutton receives smolts on the last Friday of February, March and April. He coordinates the brood collection in the raceway on Canyon Creek, an effort that doesn’t discriminate potential spawners based on size or color, he points out.
“The first ones we get are the first ones we take,” Sutton said.
Noted by its clipped-away adipose fin, a small nodule protruding between the back fin and tail, a hatchery steelhead represents one of thousands artificially spawned each year. But only a fraction of these will later return from the ocean to give a fisherman the opportunity to land one in his net.
“Our goal is to have a winter steelhead fishery that’s focused between Roseburg and Canyonville,” said Greg Huchko, Salmon Trout Enhancement Program biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Roseburg office. “It’s for people to enjoy, basically.”
Only adipose fin-clipped steelhead can be harvested from the South Umpqua River.
Huchko oversees three acclimation sites for steelhead smolt on the South Umpqua River. They are located on two different tributaries — on Deer Creek behind Eastwood Elementary School in Roseburg, and on Canyon Creek behind Seven Feathers Hotel & Casino Resort and a mile or so up that creek from Canyonville.
Tom Sutton, a member of the Umpqua Fishermen’s Association, has been host of the acclimation site just north of Canyonville for about three years now. From late January to early May, the John Day resident helps collect brood fish for spawning at Rock Creek Hatchery and feeds smolts at the acclimation site before releasing them three weeks later.
“It’s a good way to put fish in the stream for the sport fisherman,” he said.
Sutton receives smolts on the last Friday of February, March and April. He coordinates the brood collection in the raceway on Canyon Creek, an effort that doesn’t discriminate potential spawners based on size or color, he points out.
“The first ones we get are the first ones we take,” Sutton said.
To Sutton, the economics of spawning hatchery steelhead is simple: More fish in the river means more guides, from Eugene to Medford, chartering customers in pursuit of fish and putting more money in local coffers.
The hatchery program is coordinated through a partnership between the ODFW, the Umpqua Fishermen’s Association, the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and the city of Canyonville.
About a year after being hatched, steelhead smolts are released from acclimation sites.
Stray rates, the number of hatchery steelhead migrating up foreign streams, are minimal, Huchko said.
“We feel confident that our acclimations are 100 percent,” he said. “Steelhead have a very good homing sense.”
The fish are acclimated for three weeks.
About a dozen guides, Huchko said, collect the fish they catch and bring them to Rock Creek Hatchery for spawning. The guides are certified and permitted by the Oregon State Police.
The hatchery program is coordinated through a partnership between the ODFW, the Umpqua Fishermen’s Association, the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and the city of Canyonville.
About a year after being hatched, steelhead smolts are released from acclimation sites.
Stray rates, the number of hatchery steelhead migrating up foreign streams, are minimal, Huchko said.
“We feel confident that our acclimations are 100 percent,” he said. “Steelhead have a very good homing sense.”
The fish are acclimated for three weeks.
About a dozen guides, Huchko said, collect the fish they catch and bring them to Rock Creek Hatchery for spawning. The guides are certified and permitted by the Oregon State Police.
For brood stock, about 150 fish for 75 pairs are preferred for spawning.
Brood fish are also collected at the South Umpqua Falls’ fish ladder and at a trap in Canyon Creek. “We like to even out when we collect those fish to get a good, even distribution of run timing,” collecting early-run and late-run fish, Huchko said. He noted that theoretically, if brood stock is collected in early March, offspring will return at the same time during its own migration.
Instead of driving to Rock Creek Hatchery, just east of Idleyld Park, with each brood fish, the guides deliver their catches to a holding tank on Canyon Creek. The tank is monitored by Sutton and the Umpqua Fishermen’s Association. The ODFW then picks up the fish for delivery to Rock Creek.
“This is all volunteer basis,” Huchko said, stressing the importance of workers’ donated time to the hatchery program.
The collection of brood fish will continue through March. All of the acclimation sites are operated under the ODFW’s policies.
On the South Umpqua River, 80,000 to 100,000 smolts are released each year. For a “good return,” hinging on ocean conditions, about 2 percent of the fish are expected to re-navigate the South Umpqua as adults.
At Rock Creek Hatchery, the fish are raised from the egg stage to the fry stage, and then to the smolt stage. They are about one year of age when they’re introduced to South Umpqua waters for acclimation.
At Sutton’s acclimation site, schoolchildren regularly visit to learn about the steelhead hatchery program. But the host also encourages anyone who’s interested to drop by and knock on his 32-foot recreational vehicle, parked at the south end of Main Street in Canyonville, for a tour of the facility.
“When you can’t go no farther, that’s where I’m at,” Sutton said of his early-year living arrangement.
Visiting hours are between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
• You can reach reporter Adam Pearson at 957-4213 or by e-mail at apearson@newsreview.info.
Brood fish are also collected at the South Umpqua Falls’ fish ladder and at a trap in Canyon Creek. “We like to even out when we collect those fish to get a good, even distribution of run timing,” collecting early-run and late-run fish, Huchko said. He noted that theoretically, if brood stock is collected in early March, offspring will return at the same time during its own migration.
Instead of driving to Rock Creek Hatchery, just east of Idleyld Park, with each brood fish, the guides deliver their catches to a holding tank on Canyon Creek. The tank is monitored by Sutton and the Umpqua Fishermen’s Association. The ODFW then picks up the fish for delivery to Rock Creek.
“This is all volunteer basis,” Huchko said, stressing the importance of workers’ donated time to the hatchery program.
The collection of brood fish will continue through March. All of the acclimation sites are operated under the ODFW’s policies.
On the South Umpqua River, 80,000 to 100,000 smolts are released each year. For a “good return,” hinging on ocean conditions, about 2 percent of the fish are expected to re-navigate the South Umpqua as adults.
At Rock Creek Hatchery, the fish are raised from the egg stage to the fry stage, and then to the smolt stage. They are about one year of age when they’re introduced to South Umpqua waters for acclimation.
At Sutton’s acclimation site, schoolchildren regularly visit to learn about the steelhead hatchery program. But the host also encourages anyone who’s interested to drop by and knock on his 32-foot recreational vehicle, parked at the south end of Main Street in Canyonville, for a tour of the facility.
“When you can’t go no farther, that’s where I’m at,” Sutton said of his early-year living arrangement.
Visiting hours are between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
• You can reach reporter Adam Pearson at 957-4213 or by e-mail at apearson@newsreview.info.
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