Minnesota Steelheader

DNR to close energy-inefficient French River hatchery A DNR News Release: The Department of Natural Resources is closing a 1970s-era fish hatchery because of failing infrastructure and excessive energy consumption. The French River Hatchery, located on Lake Superior north of Duluth, needs $8 million in capital investment to address failing equipment. It also consumes 10 percent of the energy used by the entire agency statewide. Fisheries Chief Don Pereira said energy inefficiency and costly repairs make it necessary to close the hatchery, but the remaining fish production from French River will be continued elsewhere. “We remain strongly committed to providing great fishing opportunities in Lake Superior and along the North Shore,” Pereira said. “To provide the best fishing we can for anglers, we need to be strategic about how we use energy, and we’re confident we can adjust to meet angler needs with our remaining four hatcheries.” Pereira said production of Kamloo...

We are proudly celebrating 11 years as Minnesota Steelheader today. Over the years we have received wonderful support from many of you, meet a lot of great anglers, industry professionals, and terrific staff within government agencies. We also have received our fair share of criticism, some pretty feisty ones at that. We humbly admit when we are wrong, respectfully debate when appropriate, and smile when we get a pat on the back. Today, we encourage all of you to add a co nstructive comment below – good or bad. Just keep it constructive – no shots below the belt. Comments can be about Minnesota Steelheader in general, our programs, projects, website, social posts, direction, new ideas, community, or the fishery in general - your call. We welcome all respectful impute as we continue to grow as an organization (see website for mission statement). Tight lines to you all!

2016 Steelhead Genetics Project Update     The Steelhead Genetics Project (SGP) is a cooperative research project that seeks volunteer angler participation with scale sample collections. The SGP will provide critical information to advance rehabilitation efforts for Steelhead in the Minnesota waters of Lake Superior.        Anglers interested in participating in this project must be experienced steelhead anglers able to identify both the correct species (steelhead vs. kamloops), identify the correct sex, and qualify for a special scale collecting permit. You can contact the MN DNR if you would like to learn more about the requirements or discuss participation. The SGP project Goals are as follows: Evaluate hybridization between hatchery-raised Kamloops Rainbow Trout and naturalized (wild) Steelhead. Examine the utility of genetics to identify adult Steelhead that were stocked as fry and determine their contributions to the adult ca...

Do you have steelhead scales to turn in from steelhead fishing this spring?  If so, DNR  Migratory Fish Specialist  Nick Peterson needs your help! The Lake Superior Area Fisheries Office would appreciate it if you could return any remaining scale samples you have as soon as possible. They would like to get the data compiled and the scales sent to the genetics laboratory in St. Paul.  They are also asking for feedback from all who participated this spring. If you DID NOT collect any samples but have a collection permit, please let them know this as well, it will help with the analysis. In addition to letting them know regarding the above, they are asking for responses to the following questions to improve the program: Is there anything that DNR and/or MN Steelheader could do (or provide) to make it easier for anglers and help us to improve participation throughout the season?   Did you find it easy/hard to collect scales from steelhead? Do yo...

© Minnesota Steelheader A Quick Note About the Minnesota Steelheader Creel Project: Each year since 2010, Minnesota Steelheader has collected voluntarily submitted creel reports of Steelhead, Kamloops, and what are presumed to be Coaster Brook Trout caught in the tributaries during the Spring migration. These report dates and numbers, along with measurements of daily flow, temperature and other open-source data are then analyzed using a number of different tools. The results are subsequently plotted in Daily, Weekly and Historical formats in what we hope are intuitive and easy to use charts. This is not a scientific creel by definition, but we do use and present as much of the available scientific literature as we can with the goal of making you a more knowledgeable, and more importantly, successful North Shore steelheader.  This data was collected by you, we've re-assembled it along with all other submissions and we  hope you all find it useful. Creel Project Ba...

A reminder to all you anglers who participated in the 2016 Steelhead genetics project this past spring. The DNR Staff will be sending all angler collected scale samples for analysis in the next couple of weeks or so. Please mail any remaining samples that you have as soon as you can. You can email nick.peterson@state.mn.us with any questions.

In preparation for the release of the 2016 Creel Project data, we decided that a Q&A session with Minnesota Steelheader VP NMF was in order. We want to make sure people understand what it is, and how their creel report submissions are being used. Q: What is the Minnesota Steelheader Creel Project?  A: The creel project is a non-scientific survey of voluntarily submitted angler catch data. We are gathering information about North Shore steelhead fishing, analyzing it, then providing that information back to anglers; hopefully in a way that is useful and meaningful to steelhead fishing. The Project provides information both about how the current-year migration  went, as well as painting a historical picture of North Shore steelhead returns based on a set of research questions. Q: When you say, "Non-scientific", what does that mean? A: It only means that we don't employ the strictly rigid scientific controls which would be part of any study conducted say by th...