(Oroville) The numbers of steelhead returning to the Feather River Fish Hatchery continue to be well below normal.
The hatchery has trapped a total of 114 adult fish, including 56 males and 58 females, to date. That compares to 750 steelhead total last season to date.
“We’ve spawned a total of 74 steelhead so far this season,” said Penny Crawshaw of the Feather River Fish Hatchery. “We’ve taken 101,546 eggs to date.”
The hatchery’s production goal for steelhead yearlings is 430,000, so the hatchery has a lot of catching up to do.
“It’s looking pretty break,” she noted. Hopefully, the big Niño storms moving through the region – now producing high and muddy water conditions on the Sacramento River and lower Feather River — will spur more steelhead to move upriver.
The steelhead average 3 to 4 pounds, with the largest fish reported so far this seasob weighing about 13 pounds.
The Feather River Fish Hatchery trapped approximately 16,349 adult Chinook salmon and 7,763 jacks and jills (two-year-olds), a total of 24,112 fish, in the fall of 2015. That compares to 24,893 adults and 6,620 jacks, a total of 31,513 fish, in 2014. That puts the run 7401 fish below last season.
The section of the low flow area from the Table Mountain bicycle bridge to the Highway 70 bridge opened to steelhead fishing on January 1 with good results for the anglers getting out, but fishing has slowed down since then.
Anglers are reminded that only barbless hooks may be used on the reopened stretch of river. The bag limit is 2 hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead.