Steelhead upstream of Lake Sonoma, CA

[El Pescador]

A buddy was mushroom hunting in the Dry Creek arm of Lake Sonoma only to view this!!!!  STEELHEAD!!!

He was equipped with a knife for digging out mushrooms and had NO FISHING Rod & Reel with him.

I'm salivating!!!!!

Lake Sonoma is 25 miles north of Santa Rosa, CA off Hwy. 101

Wayne

[David Hall]

Very nice.  Someth8ng you just done see everyday.

[Benni3]

Great photo and great place to fish

[theswimmer]

Wayne ,
You leave those poor fish alone.....
It's been a long time since steelhead were in the Sonoma!

[El Pescador]

Jonathan!

Ahhhh....  man.....

And just think.  We just missed the weekend long Lake Sonoma Sreelhead Festival on Feb. 10

What are we going fishing next???


      http://lakesonoma.org/support-lake-sonoma/lake-sonoma-steelhead-festival/

Wayne

[Gfish]

So how's that work? Most Army Corps operations have the hatchery below the dam and capture the anadromous fish and spawn 'em there. They never make it into the impoundment, unless they truck some of 'em around the dam. Or do they godda fish ladder to get 'em up into the reservoir? Can they spawn naturally in a place like Dry Creek? Would there be enough water of suitable temp. for the fry to survive the summer?
Can't find any info. on that web-site.

[El Pescador]

Gfish,

Yes there is a fish ladder which leads the fish to the hatchery.  Check it out.

      https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Hatcheries/Warm-Springs

Fish ON!

Wayne

[swill88]

Did he spot any Chardonnay? They say it grows on trees near Dry Creek.

[theswimmer]

Wayne ,Dude!

Summer trip!
I'll check with the Head Mistress on dates.
Otherwise fishing opening day on the Endeavor 😎

[El Pescador]

Jonathan!

Summer Fishing trip is now ON!!!!

Called my mushroom hunting buddy asked for more photos and he just sent this one.

Steelhead at the top of the fish ladder.

Wayne

[El Pescador]

Did he spot any Chardonnay? They say it grows on trees near Dry Creek.

Swillmeister (aka: Steve)!

Aren't you in the hospital and on heavy medications for your knee surgery?

Reelly???  Chardonnay on the trees?

Steve, REST and heal, buddy Boy!!!!!!

Wayne

[Keta]

  Chardonnay on the trees?
Wayne

Why not, pot appears to be growing on trees here in parts of Oregon, but not in my county.  I was teasing Alan and Bryan about pot shops on every corner and then ran into 2 in a 2 block stretch in Salem.  On the way home I saw 2 in the very small town of Monmouth and they do not have a liquor store.

[Jim Fujitani]

I wouldn't think that DFW hatchery personnel would transport spawners into the lake from the top of their fish ladder.  That takes time and money, and I would think that if they had those funds available, that hatchery would much rather spend it on their Coho work. 

If that first pic is a trib above the lake, those fish may be progeny from a hold over population from before the dam construction, probably crossed with some planters or other native rainbows. 

[humboldtdan]

I actually think this is below the hatchery.  Warms Springs Hatchery produces steelhead and coho salmon.  The first pic looks like a section of side channel that was constructed to mitigate the effects of the dam controlling flows and capturing sediment which tends to simplify stream channels (in terms of fish habitat) below dams-pretty common problem. 

[Gfish]

I's interested 'cause we have Alameda creek in Fremont, which had Steelhead & Salmon runs 'till the 50's or so.
They determined that the genetic remnants from these steelhead runs were trout-size fish in the Calaveras impoundment owned by the SF Water Co.(maybe "district"?). Damed-up circa 1916. To try and reestablish the runs, they were trapping the fish in a reservoir tributary and spawning 'em for planting in the creek.

More power to 'em, but couldn't see it workin in big metro. place like that(poaching), with the creek winding through miles of ranch land(toxic run-off, siltation, low summertime flows with high temps., etc.). Haven't heard anything about it for years, maybe they had some success!?