Fishing Report 4-16-10

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This Monster Steelhead was caught Thursday 4/15/10. This beauty, submitted by a MS.com follower, came in at 33" long - a true North shore trophy.

Report: From 4/12 through 4/15, water temperatures ranged from 42-44 in the morning on the Lower Shore, 42-43 on the Middle Shore, and 38-40 on the Upper Shore. In the afternoon water temperatures ranged from 49-54 on the Lower Shore, 45-49 degrees on the Middle Shore, and 41-45degrees on the Upper Shore.

From 4/12 through 4/15, interviewed anglers caught 2 Steelhead on the Lower Shore, 19 Steelhead, 2 Kamloops, and 2 Brook Trout on the Middle Shore, and 6 Steelhead and 7 Brook Trout on the Upper Shore. Most fish were caught in the section of the shore from the Stewart to the Baptism. No significant amount of rain fell anywhere on the shore this past week, and water levels and clarity are low and clear everywhere. Smaller tributaries are blocked off already by gravel bars.

Totals for the Knife Trap are thus far are 327 unclipped steelhead, 257 maxillary clipped steelhead, and 20 Kamloops. Totals for the French River are 82 unclipped steelhead, 3 maxillary clipped steelhead and 345 Kamloops.

report provided by the MN DNR

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey: Are those eggs dropping out of that fish? I can't tell exactly from the photo, but it kind of looks like it...

Slint
8:42 PM
steelhd said…
Well now that is a nice fish!
8:47 PM
Anonymous said…
Looks like he needs a lesson on not sticking your fingers out a fish's mouth from through the gills.

Yes, those are eggs, which would mean the fish is quite stressed from having fingers in it's gills.
1:04 PM
Minnesota Steelheader said…
Not having been there myself I can't say if this angler needs any lessons at all.

To set the record straight:
I can say that the eggs being released are not an indication of a stresses Steelhead. In fact I just spoke with Matt Ward at the French River hatchery regarding the Knife River Trap. He stated that they had about a 1/2 dozen or so fish enter the trap this morning. One of the females started releasing eggs upon being removed from the water. I was reassured by the DNR that a female steelhead will release her eggs when ready and not simple because she was caught by an angler.

In our guestimate a Female Steelhead of that size has anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 eggs.
2:20 PM
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