Resident rainbow, steelhead, or Atlantic Salmon?

SilverFly

SilverFly

Legend
Always love a good fish ID debate.

Took a drive up the Gorge Saturday and stopped at the dam to check out the fish viewing.

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The windows were very empty, scary empty actually. Saw a few springers, shad, and this guy which was chilling in the ladder taste-testing anything drifting by. Guessing about 18", looks to be well fed, but not chrome as I would expect a summer-run this time of year.

What say ye?

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Divad said:
+1 Head and proportions look resident.
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That's what I saw, unclipped, and that it had taken up a feeding station.
Just to be annoying I could say less than 20" would not be a steelhead by rule, at least here.
 
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Resident redband fits with what I was thinking. Just seems weird that one would be hanging out in the main Columbia, and well downriver from any tribs with decent sized trout. The local cricks in the lower Gorge are typically populated with dink coastal cutts (very pretty ones though). This would be a respectable redband from the Deschutes.

So to be extra nit-picky and annoying:

1) Is there such as thing as a true resident Lower Columbia River redband?
2) Is this a Deschutes fish taking a road trip down the big river?
3) Is this possibly a kelt steelhead jack that is eating well and having second thoughts about migrating back to the ocean?

And yes, I'm bored and need to go fishing.
 
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1) and 2). I have read reports that larger Tuc and WW river fish drop to the lower reaches and into the main rivers to overwinter, then come back up later. The Bulls do it as well. That might be what's going on. Especially with a late spring.
3) It looks too full and the color is wrong for the kelts I'm familiar with. Maybe it's a steelhead just going as far as the main river to grow up, or just not quite mature enough for a full run up.
Hope you get out.:)
 
Can't help with your question Silver but that top pic is cool. It really gets me thinking about what it would've been like to fish that river before we started damming things up. That landscape looks sick.
 
Speaking of Bonneville (and I will not apologize for thread drift), I went on Google maps after this to see how far it was and saw a photo of lampreys with their suckers stacked up against the windows. Then I had to find some govt reports on tracking lampreys that said they should hit the Bonneville ladders around early June, but can anyone confirm this from experience? We've finally mostly settled in and are looking to get out of the Tri Cities over the next couple of weekends. Also, recommended day hikes in the area for this time of year?
 
I can recommend you some day hikes there. Eagle Creek trail is right there at Bonneville on the Oregon side. That is the top choice. Amazing botany in that canyon. It is basically sea level elevation in the heart of the Cascade Range temperate rain forest, so there is climate that allows for unusual plants. But there is any number of other trails in that section of the gorge.
 
SilverFly said:
So to be extra nit-picky and annoying:

1) Is there such as thing as a true resident Lower Columbia River redband?
2) Is this a Deschutes fish taking a road trip down the big river?
3) Is this possibly a kelt steelhead jack that is eating well and having second thoughts about migrating back to the ocean?
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It's important to remember that no fish has ever read the fisheries textbooks that describe the range and whereabouts of its species. While most fish do subscribe to the norms associated with each species, there are always outliers who don't conform to these rules. The exceptions are one of the most fascinating aspects of fish - "what is that fish doing where it isn't supposed to be?"

To your questions:
1. Historically, why wouldn't there have been true resident (fluvial), adfluvial (migrating between rivers and lakes), and anadromous (steelhead) lower Columbia River redband trout?
2. Fish migrate and or stray. If they didn't, the waterways would never get colonized in the first place.
3. It is possibly a kelt. Some steelhead kelts move downriver from natal spawning grounds, but make it only as far as the vast Columbia River estuary and forage there for a while before resuming their next upstream migration without having ever returned to the ocean.
 
SilverFly said:
Resident redband fits with what I was thinking. Just seems weird that one would be hanging out in the main Columbia, and well downriver from any tribs with decent sized trout. The local cricks in the lower Gorge are typically populated with dink coastal cutts (very pretty ones though). This would be a respectable redband from the Deschutes.

So to be extra nit-picky and annoying:

1) Is there such as thing as a true resident Lower Columbia River redband?
2) Is this a Deschutes fish taking a road trip down the big river?
3) Is this possibly a kelt steelhead jack that is eating well and having second thoughts about migrating back to the ocean?

And yes, I'm bored and need to go fishing.
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2. In the 60s westslope cutts of the upper Columbia basin were found to overwinter over 100km away.

“Bjornn (1971) suggested that movement downstream may be triggered by lower water temperatures and fish seeking suitable over-winter cover. Northcote (1997) refers to these types of migrations as refuge migrations to localized survival habitats.”

I’d debate if there are true residents on the Lower reaches as @Salmo_g stated. I never have hooked into the with consistency in Jul/Aug, but I’ll provide company & +2 rods on your boat for some tries if ya want 😎 go a few clicks up river and things change, residents are consistent.

Of the many 1/2lbers on the deschutes I’ve caught their proportions were different. Largely their mouth, head. To me that looks like a resident of an upper reach. Also timing/color.

Should of asked the fish only way to know.
 
cody- said:
Speaking of Bonneville (and I will not apologize for thread drift), I went on Google maps after this to see how far it was and saw a photo of lampreys with their suckers stacked up against the windows. Then I had to find some govt reports on tracking lampreys that said they should hit the Bonneville ladders around early June, but can anyone confirm this from experience?
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Yes. https://critfc.org/fish-and-watersheds/columbia-river-fish-species/lamprey/
And to really add to the thread drift, Pikeminnow love juvenile lamprey-
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