Feynner says this may be the most adult steelhead trout he has seen in the creek in all his 24 years of living at Big Creek Reserve.
We started seeing large adults around mid March with lots of evidence of redd-digging activity in the gravel areas. The week of March 26th we saw 10 steelhead on the same day. I can honestly say that we are now seeing at least one every day and often we see a male, female pair. The size range seems to be between 20 and 30 inches, maybe more. The females are showing signs of being very active, with the skin worn away from their tails and caudal peduncles.
It is really exciting to consistently be seeing spawning steelhead. On an average year, we might see half a dozen in a month. 2009 and 2010 were remarkable by how few fish we did see. So this year feels like a boom.
MDR