How do steelhead spawn

Lake Michigan serves as a substitute for the ocean and they return to spawn in tributary streams. Scientific Name : Oncorhynchus mykiss. Members of the Salmonidae family include salmon, trout and char. Also called rainbow trout. Identifying Characteristics : Two dorsal fins, including an adipose fin, light-colored mouth and gums, small spots on tail. Average Size: Growth varies greatly, even within the same population.

Mature fish are typically 16 inches in length and about pounds, but may reach 36 inches and up to 20 pounds 40 centimeters and kilograms, up to 91 centimeters and 9 kilograms. Habitat: During the lake-dwelling portion of their lives, steelhead are often found in waters less than 35 feet 11 meters deep with temperatures of degrees Fahrenheit F or degrees Celsius C.

In the spring and summer, steelhead are often found near stream outlets prior to moving upstream to spawn. Life Cycle: Steelhead mature in years.

Most steelhead return to their home stream — the stream in which they were born or planted — to spawn. Unlike Pacific salmon, steelhead in the Great Lakes do not necessarily die after spawning and are able to spawn more than once. A steelhead may spawn several times during its life, although most only spawn once or twice.

Steelhead in the Great Lakes enter spawning streams between late October and early May. Most spawning occurs in the spring, with the peak of spawning occurring in mid-April. Eggs hatch in weeks.

Young steelhead, called parr, typically remain in their home stream for years before migrating to the lake. Diet: Young steelhead feed on zooplankton and aquatic insects. During the lake-dwelling portion of their life cycle, steelhead eat small fish and insects. Steelhead feed primarily at mid-depths the middle of the water column , but will also feed on surface insects.

Feeding Strategy: Compared with salmon, steelhead have a slow attack speed. This makes them less-than-efficient predators of quick fish such as alewives and smelt. While most salmon are quick and efficient predators and can successfully hunt schools of small fish closer to shore, steelhead move to deeper waters to feed on an accumulation of bugs and slower fish, such as sticklebacks. Predators: In the Great Lakes, sea lamprey are the most common predator of all salmonid species.

Other predators include: larger fish, fish-eating birds such as great blue heron and kingfisher, and mammals such as mink and raccoon. Aquatic habitats are defined by environmental factors. If you know what to look for, these factors can provide clues to help find the best fishing spots.

Due to interactions of abiotic factors such as temperature, oxygen, pH level, light, nutrients, pressure, substrate and circulation, aquatic life is not evenly distributed, i. Anglers report better catches at thermal fronts than in nonfrontal regions — movement of steelhead in open water seems to be associated with thermal fronts.

Thermal fronts are where water masses with significantly different temperatures meet or interface. This interface is a region where water temperatures rapidly change and are often abundant with aquatic life. Thermal fronts can offer both optimal temperatures and access to food. The range of temperatures and abundant food at thermal fronts can be clues to help you find steelhead and other fish in the Salmonidae family.

During the winter-summer transition April to mid-June , temperature is an important thing to consider when looking for fish. Because at that time, a body of water with frozen or near-freezing surface water temperatures and underlying warmer waters, changes to a body of water with warmer surface water temperatures and cooler bottom waters. In the spring, a thermal bar 4 degrees C is formed when surface water temperatures rise and colder offshore waters mix with warmer nearshore waters.

Next, the spring thermocline forms degrees C , typically between the shore and the thermal bar. The spring thermocline is characterized by closely spaced isotherms from 43 — 46 degrees F degrees C. In May and June, the thermal bar and spring thermocline move offshore and thermal breaks greater than 9 degrees C form. As temperatures warm, all three of these thermal fronts continue to move offshore. Later in the season, fishing is influenced by thermal fronts and water temperatures associated with upwelling:Figure 3.

Upwelling occurs when strong winds push away surface waters allowing deeper, colder waters to rise to the surface. Upwelling occurs near the shore caused by strong winds from the east, northeast or northwest — any wind that moves the nearshore water offshore or any prolonged wind that causes a strong north to south current.

Due to habitat loss, the Central California Coast steelhead population which includes San Francisco Bay is considered threatened under federal law.

Every story from Bay Nature magazine is the product of a team of people dedicated to connecting our readers to the world around them and increasing environmental literacy. Close Search. Share This:. In freshwater we steelhead usually have dark-olive backs, a silvery-white underside, and are heavily speckled with a pink to red stripe along our sides.

During our lives in the ocean we are torpedo-shaped, very silvery and even brassy in color on our upper bodies. As a sea-run trout, I have a truly unique lifecycle. We are born and spend the first part of our lives in freshwater, then migrate out to the ocean where we grow to adulthood. We then migrate back to freshwater, to the same river where we were born, to spawn a new generation of fish. Because our life cycles are so complex and dependent upon good habitat both in the ocean and in freshwater , some populations across our native range in North America are healthy, while others may be declining or of concern.

NOAA-Fisheries, the federal agency in charge of our species, has designated 12 Distinct Population Segments of steelhead on the west coast of the United States to help conserve our species. Steelhead trout are the same species as rainbow trout but have different lifestyles. Steelhead trout are anadromous, meaning they spend part of their lives migrating to, from, and within the ocean.

Unlike Pacific salmon, steelhead may spawn several times before they die.