(Sacramento) More steelhead are finally showing at Nimbus Fish Hatchery on the American River, although the fish reported to date are just a fraction of what would normally be trapped by hatchery staff to date.
The hatchery trapped 18 new fish on Tuesday, January 20, bringing the total to date since December to 38 adult steelhead. “About half of the fish were under 5 pounds and half were over 5 pounds,” said Gary Novak, hatchery manager.
In contrast, the hatchery had trapped 377 adults to date last year, a severe drought year. In a banner year, the hatchery would have already trapped thousands of fish by this time.
Hatchery staff spawned 7 pairs of steehead on January 20, obtaining a total of 76,000 eggs to date. “We need to take around one million eggs to be able to release 430,000 yearlings into the river,” said Novak.
“I’m pleasantly optimistic that we will see more fish,” he said. “The outlook is better than two weeks ago, when we had no fish in the hatchery to spawn.”
Novak added that he has requested the Bureau of Reclamation to release pulse flows from Nimbus Dam to prod more steelhead to move up the river, but he hasn’t heard back from the federal agency yet.
Few anglers have been fishing on the American River lately, due to the low numbers of steelhead.
Releases to the lower American below Nimbus Dam continue to be 900 cfs, low for this time of year.