steelheading

[arvey 154]

Yesterday I decided to go down to the Mcvic and try my luck. There was father there with his daughter fishing , we got to talking and he had mentioned that he use to fish steelhead when he was kid and decided to give it a try again. While we were talking one made a splash and headed up stream right were she was standing , she was quite excited over that . I offered some advice ( not that I know a lot)  and a couple of the pink worms I have had good luck with. As I was walking away I thought of the comment made by tailout and his elite group , and you know what fishing is for everybody no matter what the species is, including steelhead.

    Instead of making another post I thought i'd put this up too .

A friend of mine offered me a book to read it called Black Bay & Black Sturgeon River Native Fisheries Rehabilitation .  I found this part interesting because it mentions the rainbow trout.

Coaster Brook Trout are a large - bodied potadromous phenotype of brook trout ( Salveinus fontinalis ). Once thought to be a sub - species , recent genetic studies suggest that some ( as yet unidentified ) environmental trigger causes stream - resident brook trout to migrate into Lake Superior ( D'Amelio and Wilson 2008 ) . Coasters were once widespread throughout Lake Superior , and were known to reproduce in at least 118 tributaries , including the Black Sturgeon River ( Newman and Dubois 1997 ) . Exploitation and habitat degradation , possibly exacerbated by completion from NON - NATIVE RAINBOW TROUT ( Onchorhynchus mykiss ) ( Fausch 2008), RAPIDLY LED TO THE DECLINE IN COASTER NUMBERS . By the 1920's only a handful of streams were contributing coasters to Lake Superior . The LSC fish community objective for brook trout is to maintain widely distributed , self -sustaining populations in as many of the historical habitats as is practical. (Horns et al.2003) . I learned a couple of things from this , and the one that stands out is no matter the size of the body of water when you introduce a non native species into a specific area it could and will affect one or more of the other species in that area.

[RatherBeFishin 86]

so the introduction of rainbows is weakining the number of coasters ? If i read this correct ? You never think of all theese impacts that different species create. Well i tell you what. I caught a 20" coaster on saturday and boy was it beutifull !! 

[arvey 154]

17 minutes ago, RatherBeFishin said:

so the introduction of rainbows is weakining the number of coasters ? If i read this correct ? You never think of all theese impacts that different species create. Well i tell you what. I caught a 20" coaster on saturday and boy was it beutifull !! 

Good for you. I only typed in what was in the book word for word.

[RatherBeFishin 86]

24 minutes ago, arvey said:

Good for you. I only typed in what was in the book word for word.

Just re read my post. Didnt mean for it to be rude. Hope it didnt come off that way. My bad if it did. Whoops !! Was a good read  

[arvey 154]

no harm no foul .

[Thefishleclair 175]

Oh yeah, Rainbows VS Brookies one of them will loose. Food is the main reason, By the time brook trout fry hatch the young Rainbows from the spring hatch will gobble them up and so on. Goes both way I guess but with everything the strongest numbers of predetors VS prey will always win! its whom ever gets to the top first!

[Beeman 1]

I have a question about McVicks, how far up do they go before spawning, I know there is a gravel bed near the top end of Ferrand do they go up past that? I ask because I've seen some as far as briarwood but had no luck up closer to brent park and am wondering if they get up to there ever.

[arvey 154]

yes they do.

[fisherdude 69]

They go waaaaaaaaaaaaaay past that. 

[Beeman 1]

I assumed so considering how far the get up the other rivers.  Good to know I'll keep trying, even with no hits on the line it's always relaxing.

 

[arvey 154]

7 hours ago, Beeman said:

I assumed so considering how far the get up the other rivers.  Good to know I'll keep trying, even with no hits on the line it's always relaxing.

 

I love that creek fished it since I was a kid. In the 60's they used to put specks in there and that was your summer chasing them around. There's nothing better than fishing or just sitting listening to the water to calm any tension you may have .

[mad scientist 140]

On 5/2/2017 at 8:35 AM, Thefishleclair said:

Oh yeah, Rainbows VS Brookies one of them will loose. Food is the main reason, By the time brook trout fry hatch the young Rainbows from the spring hatch will gobble them up and so on. Goes both way I guess but with everything the strongest numbers of predetors VS prey will always win! its whom ever gets to the top first!

 

The relationship between brook trout and rainbow trout is complex and not entirely understood.  In some places, introduced rainbow trout displace native brook trout.  In other places, it's the other way around (brook trout are considered an invasive species out west).  And in some other places, they co-habitate reasonably well.

 

The latest theory that I've heard on the topic deals with the environmental conditions of the stream in question.  In pristine, healthy streams with an abundance of prey and spawning habitat, brook trout and rainbow trout will tend to co-exist without much impact to the native brook trout populations.  However, in systems where the brook trout are already stressed by environmental conditions, the introduction of rainbow trout tends to displace the brook trout.  It's the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.