Bacher: Steelhead Numbers Soar at Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery

CLEMENTS –A robust steelhead run has followed a record fall-run Chinook run on the Mokelumne River.

The hatchery staff has counted 1,430 steelhead to date, including 769 adults and 661 fish under the hatchery's adult size of 18 inches.

"The steelhead run is a good, healthy run, with a lot of fish compared to other years," said Michelle Workman, Supervising Biologist for EBMUD Fisheries and Wildlife. "The size of the fish is similar to previous years.

“The hatchery is now spawning steelhead and they have about 250,000 eggs so far, probably from about 125 females if you assume that there are about 2000 eggs per female.”

The steelhead smolts coming from fish spawned last year will be released in 3 releases in February, March and April, Workman said.

Fishing for steelhead is open on the Mokelumne River from below Camanche Dam to Elliot Road from Jan. 1 through March 31 with a daily bag limit of one hatchery trout or one hatchery steelhead. Fishing then reopens from the fourth Saturday in May through July 15, with a daily bag limit of one hatchery trout or one hatchery steelhead.

A total of 28,614 fall-run Chinook salmon returned to the Mokelumne River in 2023, according to Workman; 5700 of those fish were grilse (two-year-olds) and the rest were adults.

Recreational and commercial salmon fishing was closed in the ocean waters of California and most of Oregon and recreational salmon fishing was closed in all California rivers in 2023.

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The counts of steelhead and fall-run Chinook salmon were not available from other Central Valley fish hatcheries. However, we do know that spawning of fall-run Chinook salmon at CDFW’s Central Valley salmon hatcheries has wrapped up for the season, according to a statement from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

“The total numbers of salmon returning to the Feather, American and Mokelumne rivers are still being tallied, but the Feather River, Nimbus and Mokelumne River hatcheries received sufficient returns to support their egg collection needs,” the agency said. “In addition to the eggs needed to support this year’s production goal of 25 million fish, CDFW collected excess eggs to share with the Coleman National Fish Hatchery above Redding where fall-run Chinook salmon returns to the upper reaches of the Sacramento River have been poor.”

Fishery advocates estimate the number of adult fall-run Chinook salmon returning to the Sacramento Valley will likely not be enough to allow a salmon fishing season in 2024. The Mokelumne River salmon are not included in the Sacramento River Index that is used by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) in its March and April meetings to develop the ocean abundance estimates for ocean recreational and commercial seasons.

“Returns of adult fall-run spawning fish to the upper Sacramento Valley are dismal so far in 2023 and are far below the target of 180,000 fish set for the 2022 fishing season,” wrote Ashley Garrett of the Golden State Salmon Association on the organization’s website. “Because of low anticipated returns, no target was set for 2023.”

“The low number of Sacramento River Basin fall-run spawners traces back to the most recent drought and water management decisions that killed most salmon eggs with overheated water and finished off the few surviving juvenile salmon with inadequate springtime flows needed to safely transport them to the ocean. Fall-run salmon are the fish that support California’s, and much of Oregon’s, salmon fishery,” she stated.

Delta Striped Bass: The fishing is “amazing” for stripers on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta this time of year, although that could change if the water temperature cools down after forecasted storms, said Jeff Soo Hoo of Soo Hoo Sportfishing.

“The surface water temperature has been 50 to 51 degrees,” noted Soo Hoo. “When it gets below 45 degrees, the fishing gets tough. These fish have been here for months.”

“On my last trip on Saturday, Jan. 6, the fishing was slow to start, but it busted loose as soon as the current backed down,” he said. “We were fishing Broad Slough on the edge of the channel while drifting mudsuckers and jumbo minnows starting at 50 feet deep.”

“We left the dock on the boat at 7 a.m. and by 8:30 a.m. we had just one fish. However, the bite started and we caught our five limits of stripers in the 4 to 10 lb. range quickly, hooking a total of 30 fish,” he reported.

On Sunday, the wind made the fishing challenging. “We ended up with four stripers for four people and left when we could no longer fish because of the wind,” he added.

Soo Hoo said he will keep fishing for Delta stripers until the water is blown out by winter storms.

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Monterey Sanddabs/Petrale Sole: Chris’ Fishing Trips made their first sanddab/petrale sole trip of the New Year on Tuesday, Jan. 9. The Checkmate checked in at the dock with “lots of sanddabs,” 50 mackerel and 30 petrale sole for 14 anglers, reported Chris Arcoleo of Chris’ Fishing Trips.

“We tried for bonito, but couldn’t find any out there,” said Arcoleo. “The anglers caught the sanddabs, sole and mackerel while fishing Tom’s jigs with squid strips in 280 feet of water both inside and outside of Monterey Bay.”

Berryessa Trout: On his latest trip trolling for trout at Lake Berryessa, Nate Kelsch of Big Nate’s Guide Service reported solid rainbow fishing.

“Sean, Ron, Willie, Raymond and Parjeet ended their day going 13-for-18 hook-ups and filled the bag up with some donkeys,” he said. “The fish are extremely scattered throughout the lake and at depths from just below the surface to 45 ft. and no certain depth was better than another.”

“You have to put your time in and change setups, depths, speeds and locations often if you want to be successful. Power trolling spoons at 3.1 to 3.7 mph caught us our bounty, and remember as I always say, 'Speed Kills!' This is not limit style fishing right now, but there are gorgeous fish to be had,” he concluded.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Steelhead Numbers Soar at Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery