Ive been told that the early native steelhead spawn further upstream than say a fish that enters a river in march. Does anybody have any information on this?

I bet it depends on the specific river your thinking of. I know on the Clackamas, the late winter wild steelhead, which actually spawn in spring, go high up into the upper river. Read a scientific paper on the subject which used radiotracking to find wild spawners.

thats exactly it, the early natives return earlier because they have farther to travel upstream, than those that return late

They travel further upstream because of the large river fluctionations in the lower drainage, This could be why the hatchery fish that spawn in the systems have poor success as there redds are continually washed away, Maybe this is why you don't see large amounts of Nates in Dec and Early Jan as mother nature has taken care of them with the high waters as well.. Hmmmmm

Steelymatt,

There is still quite a bit of river fluctuation in march and april.
I wonder if these early natives are alot of your creek spawners who utilize the high flows to navigate there way up there home creeks.

river fluctuations in March and April are typically not anything like Dec or Jan you can see this by looking at the rivers gauge history, Maybe occasionaly but not typically.

Hey steeliematt if you could let me know how to find the history of stream flow I would much appreciate it.

Thanks.

Smalma, you need to answer this one....

FYI, From the Wild Steelhead Coalition's Research Paper "Bilogical & Economic Benefits of Wild Steelhead Release" Chapter titled "Genetic Diversity of Wild Steelhead"-

"Many of the Pacific salmon species are also separated into discrete races depending upon their adult migration time. Generally, salmon that return earlier spawn higher up in river systems than later returning salmon (Groot and Margolis 1991). Winter steelhead spawning migrations effectively occur over a seven month period (November - May). It is unknown if earlier returning winter steelhead spawn higher up in river systems than later returning steelhead, although anecdotal evidence from steelhead guides from Forks, WA, indicate that later returning steelhead in the Sol Duc River spawn in the lower reaches of that river. Since there is nearly a seven month adult migration period for winter steelhead, it is conceivable that temporal and spatial spawning hierarchies can exist, and that spawning clines within river systems occur that represent the span of winter steelhead return time. In other words, the earliest returning winter steelhead spawn furthest upstream and as adult return time continues through winter and spring, the adults progressively spawn further down the river system. This may be an evolved steelhead behavior since the evolutionary success of a species is reflected by how well it exploits all available habitat."