Thursday January 11, 2024
Stockton Record —
A robust steelhead run has followed a record fall-run Chinook run on the Mokelumne River.
The hatchery staff has counted 1,430 steelhead to date, including 769 adults and 661 fish under the hatchery’s adult size of 18 inches.
“The steelhead run is a good, healthy run, with a lot of fish compared to other years,” said Michelle Workman, Supervising Biologist for EBMUD Fisheries and Wildlife. “The size of the fish is similar to previous years.
“The hatchery is now spawning steelhead and they have about 250,000 eggs so far, probably from about 125 females if you assume that there are about 2000 eggs per female.”
The steelhead smolts coming from fish spawned last year will be released in 3 releases in February, March and April, Workman said.