UFK, (make sure those letters are in the right order!),

The great majority of repeat spawners are female, and they don't get much bigger, if they get any bigger at all, than they were on their first trip to the spawning grounds. If they were ten pounders the first time, they'll be about ten pounders the second, or third, time.

With bucks, it's a bit different. First off, only a minute fraction of them survive for a repeat spawn. But those that do may continue to grow throughout their lives.

Here's a story from the Dec./Jan. 2001 STS, about the Coquille River broodstock program. A hatchery fish, buck, was caught that weighed 25.5 pounds. Scale studies showed that the fish had first returned as a 2-salt 7 pounder, then as a 15-17 pounder the next year, then in its fifth year returned as a 25.5 pounder.

I don't know if that's typical among bucks that do make the return trip or not, since it's really the only one I've ever heard of being studied.

I think the main factor controlling steelhead size is how many years they spend in the ocean before returning for their first spawn, 2, 3, 4, or even five years. That, of course, combined with the ocean conditions while they are out there.

Does anyone know if ocean conditions play a part in how long a fish stays out? If conditions are good, will they "mature" faster and come back in two years, or will they take advantage of the good conditions and stay out for three or four years, figuring that the bigger and stronger they are, the more successful they'll be spawning?

Fish on...

Todd