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42 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, February 26, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend January 22, 2004 Start of the steelhead spawn Technicians at the Cole Rivers Hatchery follow a complex system of matching egg to sperm By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune This summer steelhead is in no mood for her destiny. She squirms and rattles beneath David Pease’s firm grip, trying in vain to escape. Eventually, her 2,400 eggs are stripped into a bucket where they meet the milt of a fellow fish to ensure future anglers can enjoy days of summer steelhead fishing in the Rogue River. Wednesday marked the start of the summer steelhead spawning season at Cole Rivers Hatchery, where technicians follow a complex system of matching egg to sperm. The protocols are designed to create a range of hatchery-bred summer steelhead that will continue to generate a fishery in the Rogue River that often starts as early as June and spreads well into January. Advertisement Technicians match four separate batches of fish in hopes of eventually keeping as many adult fish in the Rogue for the longest amount of time — all so anglers get their best and most chances at catching them. "The perception is that we spawn the eggs and put them in incubators and that’s that," hatchery manager Randy Robart says. "But it gets fairly complex in how it all comes together." That complex system started Wednesday, and will continue every two weeks for the next 10 weeks, Robart says. The progeny from these summer steelhead will hatch in four to six weeks, then remain at the hatchery until their release during the last week of April in 2005. The hatchery steelhead, which will sport clipped adipose fins, will first show up as immature half-pounders during the 2006 run, then as hefty adults during the 2007 and ‘08 runs. The Rogue’s storied summer steelhead run is an anglers’ dream, with plenty of aggressive fish that bite everything from bait to streamer flies and spend long months available to those who cast for them. Their name, however, is a misnomer. Though called summer steelhead, this unique run starts in the spring and fresh adult steelhead continue up-river and over Gold Ray Dam well into January. Wild summer steelhead must be released unharmed by anglers, who can keep the fin-clipped hatchery steelhead. The Rogue’s hatchery steelhead run is divided into four groups — early-run fish that enter the hatchery before Nov. 1; late-run fish that reach the hatchery after Nov. 1; early-spawning fish; and late-spawning fish. The different groups are divided and spawned together, ensuring that the various components of the run are all represented, says Pease, the hatchery’s assistant manager. "We certainly don’t want to mess that up by skewing the timing either way," Robart says. " About 50,000 early-run fish are born annually at the hatchery, where another 170,000 late-run fish are also released. More late-run fish are released because these fish tend to remain in the Rogue longer, have a greater opportunity to be caught and kept by anglers and have a greater chance to be edible later in the season, Robart says. The first dozen adults were spawned Wednesday, and all were wild summer steelhead that followed hatchery fish into the facility’s collection pond. After the eggs and milt are removed, the eggs are placed in the facility’s hatch house, Pease says. The spawned-out adults are trucked and released into the Rogue downstream of Shady Cove, Pease says. Unlike coho or chinook salmon, steelhead can survive after spawning and return to the ocean. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times