Great steelhead returns!

[patches]

we had a great coho year this season, and back when we where into dubble header chrom ho's
we said "hope this is a trend that goes well into steelie season." Well that was just hope back then , now its a reality! we are having the best run i have seen in 10 years! .....now,,,,just wait a moment and put down your rod. I said the best in ten years, not that its killer. just thought i would ask if anyone else sees this trend? we had a good coho year a few seasons ago and then the steelie runs were also quite good. 2 years ago sucked and there were no steelies ether. anyone? your creek?

[flyfishforfun]

This could be related to their life histories and the fact they depend generally on small stream habitat. I'm going to throw out a few generalizations now, that I know there are exceptions to these rules, but in SW BC they are generally the dominant rule.

Coho and steelies have similar life histories:
they both spend a long time in fresh water as juveniles (2 years)
generally they rear in small rivers down to tiny creeks
they go to sea for a few years before returning

Chum and pink fry go straight out to the ocean after emerging from gravel
chinook rear in larger rivers

Coho:
in SW BC, they spawn in fall. Fry emerge in spring and spend 2 years in fresh water. They go to sea in spring, jacks come back after 6 months in ocean, most come back after 18 months in ocean, and a few big uns come back after longer.

Steelhead:
In SW BC, winter fish spawn in spring, fry emerge in late spring/early summer (warmer water temps, different egg structure means faster development than coho) They stay in fresh water for 2 years (Skeena 3 years, suggested reason for their large size). They out migrate in spring and the majority spend 2-3 years in oceans.

So if steelhead spawned in spring of 2000 and coho spawned in late 2000, what happens? The life histories described above show that the majority of both species will return with coho in the fall, then steelhead immediately after in the winter.

Now, if the freshwater conditions that the fish of 2000 had to deal with in the first two years in fresh water small streams were good- lots of food, no pollution evets, consistent flows, etc then the number of juvenile coho and steelhead leaving the stream should be high for both. But, if it was a bad year then conditions may have been poor for both. Bad conditions like pollution event, logging of watershed, extreme low extended summer flows etc means that both species could be hurting and numbers of juveniles produced would be low. As a result, the returns should somewhat mirror each other, if there are no other major factors limiting one of their ocean life phases.

A little confusing... i will re read this in the morning and see if it makes sense!