So… a buddy of mine hooked a steelie on the Cowlitz above Blue Creek (the actual creek) on the main river…

It was a keeper, but the thing that was weird was that it had a “tag” attached to it's back just behind the dorsal fin… it looked like a piece of monofilament with what looked like plastic wire wrap… it also had WDFW 07### on the plastic tag and KALAMA RIVER…

So, he kept that tag (until the *&%$#@ cat licked/ate the tag off the kitchen counter), now the question is… if you get a tag like that are you suppose to send it in? Also, it appears that that steelie was following the wrong crowd home… Is that kind of a common thing?

Tight Lines

Must have made a wrong turn at Albequerque!

I have heard fish can stray quite aways from their home waters, but that is quite a straying!

Well, that'll certainly teach him to stop and ask directions. Must have been a buck.

I have no proof but I keep hearing ing the news and in magazines how tagged fish keep ending up in the wrong rivers, or do they? maby the idea that salmon go only to thier home rivers is wrong or at least not a set in stone happening as we have always beleived. I mean that most fish do go back to wence they came but not all. Maybe thats how natures keeps the gena pool mixed up a littel. I mean we all know what happens when a human gene pool gets a little to shallow. You get red necks. me Iam only half red neck so i figure I have half a chance.

I do know that sockeye on lake washington that can not get up coal creek have spawned on the beach near there. so maybe your fish could not get up to his birth place for what ever reason so he did the next best thing and followed some sweet thing to her house instead. anyway you should report the tag to wdfg so they can track it . they live for that type of info.

Your description sounds similar to the tags they put onto adult steelhead after they returned to the Kalama River hatchery. I caught a few tagged fish on the Kalama in July. The Kalama had a great summer-run return, so the hatchery, not needing the eggs, re-released excess early returning fish at the mouth of the river I believe, allowing anglers additional opportunity to catch them. I turned the tags into the local shop at Mahaffeys. If you remember the number on the tag, you should give the hatchery a call and give it to them.

It looks like your fish dropped into the Columbia and ran up the Cowlitz instead of running back up the Kalama after it was re-released. Straying is natures way of expanding the range of the fish, so most populations have a few percent of its run hardwired to run up other streams. Wandering is also prevalent with summer-run steelhead. In a radio-tagging study in the Snohomish Basin, summer-run fish wandered throughout the Snoqualmie and Skykomish Rivers before returning to the hatchery. Summer-run fish have ample opportunity to wander since they return to streams during the summer, but don't actually spawn until winter or the following spring. Given the opportunity, the fish may have turned around and found its way back to the Kalama. It had plenty of time yet before spawning.

Steelhead have a high incidence of straying, both wild fish and hatchery fish. It's a survival mechanism, to spread the gene pool far and wide to colonize new habitat and/or prevent natural occurences (floods, volcanoes, blocking slides, etc.) from eliminating the genetic characteristics of that particular run. Good example was when St. Helens blew, most of the fish from the Toutle went up the Kalama instead. When you get a tag like tat, you're supposed to contact the nearest WDFW office.

Bowhuter

Most of the time if you send the tag back to WDFW, or to whatever state the fish came from, they will send you the information that they know about that specific fish. Make sure to ask for it!

On the Cowlitz, there are lots of strays! In fact, 25% of the entire natural spawning population of fall chinook that occurs below the Barrier Dam is from strays that are coming from the Lewis River.


Cowlitzfisherman

Hey,,, that may have been one of those $100 reward tags, Maybe you shoud perform an autopsy on that stinking cat..

I LOVE these threads!

LOL!

I bet AuntieM is gonna be ticked that you stole her post.

I have heard of 5 Kalama tagged Steelies in the Cowlitz since September, one guy that I know sent his tag in and recieved some $ for it. Also have seen 1 Humpie and had a friend of catch one, go figure.

many fish will actually spawn in several different rivers even durring the same season. especially in connected river systems or systems that are close to eachother

Lupo,

I understand that straying is common, but I haven't heard of individual fish spawing in more than one river in a season, considering that the spawning act is completed in a very few days. Are you refering specifically to male steelhead only?

Have you got a report or citation on that?

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

originaly posted by Riverliver;

"one guy that I know sent his tag in and recieved some $ for it"




Here kitty kitty kitty

KITTY!



herm

Try stepping on the cat, he might spit up the tag. If not, then you still got to step on the cat.

If that doesn't work. try throwing the cat. It may not get the tag but it's lots of fun.

"Honey, where did we put the kitty fecal strainer?"


"Cats" deserve thier own thread

You can always check the litter box. :p

salmo-
i believe that i read that in an sts article about radio tagged steelhead on the umpquah from this past year somtime. i think that the article said that it was bucks doing that. i will go back and re-read the article. have you heard of that or is it probably bull? thanks for the reply, it sounds like you are wealth of knowledge on the biological aspects and i would love to hear what you know on the subject cuz i had never heard of that before the article