Mad for Steelhead this March

The month of March marks a shift in seasons for our Lillwaup field staff. It’s a time of winter steelhead doing what they do…adults returning to the rivers of Hood Canal to spawn, out-migrating smolts leaving the rivers to head to the ocean, and Long Live the Kings staff monitoring and recording the action. All while remaining hopeful that each year fish will return to maintain the legacy of the species.

Like the natural timing of wild adults returning home to the river where they were born in order to spawn, the adults we raise in our conservation hatchery program also mature. These steelhead were removed as eyed embryos from the wild and raised in the hatchery for four years. Each week, our staff check the four-year-old adults and release any that are ready to spawn into the Skokomish River.

The first release occurred mid-March and spawning commenced overnight! The fish spawn with wild adults, as well as adults returning from smolts released from the hatchery two years ago.

So far this year, we haven’t seen any wild adults spawning in the rivers that we survey, but we are hopeful that the fish are close to home. Cheers to the happy spawning of our state fish to ensure future generations of steelhead!

Learn more about our work with steelhead on Hood Canal on our YouTube channel.