I have seen a number of posts where folks say they caught a "summer" run today, but the fish was caught in a river in the season known as winter. The last time I checked, winter was from Dec 21 to March 20th, summer is generally June 21st to September 20th. How that possible? How can you tell the difference between the two? Are they misstating something because they actually caught a hatchery fish?

A summer fish usually is long and skinny, and they show alot of color. Some folks callem snakes. As for what it is doing in the river this time of year, it was most likely a late run fish and is taking its time getting back to the salt. Probably more to it than that, but thats how I tell.

Dogfish - not sure but from what I have read and heard from other fishermen, Steelhead can come to their nesting areas and stay in the rivers for several months before mating. Usually these fish are darker in color more resembling fresh water rainbows in coloring than the bright silver of 'fresh' fish. Anyone with different information???? Hope this helped.

In most rivers they use the skamania strain of summer run hatchery fish. These fish usually start entering the river systems in april-september and sometimes october depending on water conditions (drought). Once in the river they'll usually hang out in the upper reaches of the river where the water usually flows cooler during the summer and wait until nov-late january to spawn, then they head back downriver and back toward the ocean. At times people will mistake these downriver traveling summerruns as they will actually rechrome in the river system after spawing. A great way to identify these fish is by there snakelike appearance and they'll usually have lighter colored gills that have freshwater mites in their gills. A fresh steelhead whether it's winter or summer will have bright red gills and a full body as they haven't spawned yet.
Hope this helps.
Keith

Andy,

Steelhead are spring spawners like most other trout. Summer fish return in the summer, and stay in the river for several months before spawning. As was already posted, they revert to their trout coloring from extended time in the river, and from maturing sexually. Summer fish can be caught throughout the winter season as well. Look for a deep red stripe and cheek coloring.

Andy,

I'll try not to repeat too much, but this may help you understand. Steelhead are defined as summer runs or winter runs based on the time of year they enter fresh water from the ocean. Most summer runs enter fresh water from April through October, but I've seen one as early as February.

How did I know it was a summer run since February is decidedly winter? Well, as mentioned, trout, including steelhead, are predominately spring spawners. The February summer run had never spawned, had no mature or maturing eggs in it, but had the narrowest string of egg skeins, indicating that it would not spawn for a year or more from its date of river entry.

An extension of the definition of a winter run, in addition to entering fresh water during the winter, is that they spawn in or near the season that they enter fresh water. Most winter runs enter fresh water from October to April, sometimes as late as May in rivers further north in B.C. and Alaska.

So how would you tell an October winter run from an October summer run? An October summer run normally exhibits some color, from a little to a lot. That is, it will have pink or red on its gill plates and a rosy rainbow stripe down its side. Or it could be more sexually developed, with a deeper red rainbow stripe and olive colored back, looking much like a resident rainbow trout. The October winter run, however, should be absolutely chrome, blue back, silver sides, loss scales, and white belly. If it helps, consider that all the steelhead in the Snake and mid-Columbia Rivers and their tributaries are summer runs, even tho anglers will be catching them for months to come.

Conversely, the April entering winter and summer runs will be reversed from the above, with the winter runs often showing some color, and even if they are silver bright, they show some sexual maturation in the form of a thicker belly - full of maturing milt or eggs, compared to the slimmer summer run. An April summer run is mint bright, and typically as hot a fish as you will ever hook.

Add to all the above the spawn timing of the various runs. Hatchery winter runs spawn mostly from late December to the end of January, but can spawn from late November to sometime in April. Wild winter runs spawn mostly from late March through May, but can range from January to the end of June. Hatchery and wild summer runs spawn mainly in February and March, but range from January through April and possibly May for wild ones. Confusing, isn't it? It's all part of the fun of chasing these crazy fish.

(Disclaimer: someone will likely dispute some part of the above information. I try never to say never regarding a lot of things about fish. There seems to be at least one exception to every rule; that's why I mentioned the February summer run.)

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Thank you all for the education!

Andy

Look for the tag in its mouth that says either summer or winter. :p

Salmo g,
We to have caught early summer fish. The earliest we've ever seen them was about mid-feb. and it sort of freaked us out. A total chromer with immature guts, eggs, etc. But we haven't seen it since.
Keith

How do you distinguish a winterun from a summerun in December? Is it the coloring? Do winterun bucks exhibit a rainbow in December?

Andy, here's how I tell the difference. There are really only 4 options:

1) If I catch it from November thru March, then it's classified as "A nice Winter run. A real Chromer. A lot brighter than it looks in the pictures."

2) If I catch it From May thru August, then it's classified as "A beautiful Summer run. Chrome as the wheels on that Corvette over there, and a whole lot bigger than it looks in these pictures."

3) If my partner catches it from November thru March, then it's classified as "Oh, sorry, I thought you were bringing in an old Chum.... A real shame that poor old Summer run had to get caught. We've been trying to avoid him the last few months."

4) If my partner catches it from May through August, then it's classified as "Probably a really stupid Winter run based on how beat up it is."

It's as easy as that.

Oh, yeah, in the spirit of board etiquette: J/K

Oh, yeah, and J/K about the dig at board etiquette. I kind of like the kinder, gentler posts. Some really good discussion with anyone threatening to take someone else outside.

Every year I see lots of spawned out summer hens killed for Winter Fish.Summer hens & Winter hens will brighten up quickly if there is a food source in the river.
Easy rule of thumb for keeping steelhead.
If the tail fin rays (silver/blue ) are more than 1/4 " from the end of the tail you should plan on having poor table fare.1/4 " is at the far end of the range.

sorry see next post

[ 01-04-2002: Message edited by: young salt ]

In the Sandy River all returning winter fish are clipped both adipose and right maxillary (small bone protruding on the side of the mouth). All summer fish are marked adipose clip only. There are some summer fish in the system that are very hard to tell from winter fish.I will post a picture of six fish in the steelhead section of the picture gallery. One is a summer. If the summer fish have been in the system for any length of time, like those in the system now, they will have parasites inside the mouth. I can post pictures of that too, if anyone is interested.The third fish from the left is the only summer fish of this group of six fish.

[ 01-04-2002: Message edited by: young salt ]

According to the fish checker I've talked to the last several weeks on the Kalama, the winter fish that they recycle will have a white tag; the summer fish that they recycle are given a yellow tag.

Also, the fish have a brand, which I'd never heard of before. On the winter fish it appears on the fish's right "shoulder" area and the brand is an "it". The "i" doesn't have the dot, but she said it was an "it". The summer fish have a brand on their left "shoulder" and that brand appears as an "s". The brands are just foreward of the dorsal fin, in, for lack of a better term, the "shoulder" area. You kind of have to get the fish in the right light to see it, but it is there. I never knew this.

Summer fish enter the fresh water earlier because they have a long trek ahead of them. For EX. Above bonneville there are no native winterruns.

As far as I know the puget sound area rivers have no native summer fish and they are all from the skamania strain.

Feel free to correct me if im wrong.

I remember overhearing more than one fisherman saying that if there is no definite line between chrome and spots (on the back) it is for sure a summer run. Ya know, like if the spotting was broken up. Does anybody know what I'm saying (hard for me to describe) and if this is complete bs or not?

I catch wild summer runs all the time wish I had a scanner....
I have also caught spawning steelhead in the middle of june...

I'm with Young Salt on this issue. If I catch a well-colored December hatchery buck I quickly check to see if it's got the "bugs," or mites down its throat. If it does then most often I'll release it because it's probably a summer-run fish. If there are no bugs then it gets conked because it hasn't been in the river that long. The bugs jump on the summer-runs during their time spent in the river. Also, I heard that colder water inhibits the activity level of these parasites, thus steelhead that enter the river later in the year, while the temperature is rapidly dropping, will not get attacked by this parasite. By definition a winter-run enters the river from November onwards. So a "dark" December Buck could be a fish that has spent a month in the river or been there all summer. The bugs will tell you how long. Disclaimer: Like Salmo G. said there exceptions to everything, so don't quote me on any of this stuff! This is what I go by. My partner just clubs them all.

Native summer steelhead were found in a number of Puget Sound streams including: South Fork Nooksack, several Skagit/Sauk tribs, Deer Creek North Fork Stillaguamish, Canyon Creek South Fork Stillaguamish, North Fork Skykomish, and forks of the Tolt. Interestingly the summer fish appear to be genetically most closely related to the winter fish in their basin. For example the Deer Creek summers are genetically closer to the wild winters of the North Fork Stillaguamish than say the summers of the North Fork Skyomish.

Hohwaiian -
Those "bugs" are freshwater parasitic copepods that attach themselves to the fish during the summer (warm water). They look like small grains of rice (whitish or tan) and usually attach to the inside of the mouth, the gills or some times at the base of the paired fins. Never see them on winters

Tight lines
Smalma