# 6 suckers today on the Chag



## dipthekid (Sep 17, 2012)

5 that I caught and 1 fishing the beds that looked like chocolate milk with a spinning rod catching nothing but suckers. The holes were producing nothing. What gives?

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## Carpman (May 18, 2005)

no rain....that's what gives....


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## dipthekid (Sep 17, 2012)

Oh they were there. Just didn't want anything I was throwing.

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## thephildo0916 (Mar 4, 2009)

Those fish are there to spawn, not to eat.


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## dipthekid (Sep 17, 2012)

thephildo0916 said:


> Those fish are there to spawn, not to eat.


I know there is a lot of opinions about fishing the beds and whether it should be done phildo. I can respect your view. To be clear, I started with all the holes above and below to target the bucks waiting their turn with zero luck. When I moved to the beds, I targeted the fringes where the hens were not. I don't want to disrupt them. I was targeting the bucks who were fighting for spots on the outside edges. The last thing I want to do is pull a hen out of there because it not only disrupts spawning but all the bucks will leave if the hens are gone.

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## jiggin'fool (Dec 18, 2005)

I thought they didn't successfully reproduce in ohio or pa streams anyway... so really all their efforts of trying to spawn are just here for our enjoyment, I am going to enjoy them! you can pull those bucks off those females! Just might not be every day!


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## dipthekid (Sep 17, 2012)

jiggin'fool said:


> I thought they didn't successfully reproduce in ohio or pa streams anyway... so really all their efforts of trying to spawn are just here for our enjoyment, I am going to enjoy them! you can pull those bucks off those females! Just might not be every day!


It's my understanding that they reproduce just fine but the fry cannot stay in the rivers for a full season which means they become fish bait in the big lake. That means they can sustain some natural reproduction, just not in numbers enough to sustain the population without stocking. In my mind, the more we interrupt the spawning, the more they have to stock. I am no expert mind you. Here is an exerpt from a blog co-written by a local marine biologist:

"_The largest steelhead population in the world today is in the Great Lakes and connecting tributaries. These steelhead are naturalized,  stocked from the eggs of wild fish from the west coast. The first stocking program was in 1876 in the Au Sable River in Michigan, with eggs from the wild trout of Californias McCloud River. Today, eggs are annually harvested from wild trout that live in the lakes and rivers, breeding wild aggressive fish, rather than tamed hatchery trout. So what does this mean for fishing spawning beds in the Great Lakes? The general feeling in most southern Lake Erie tributaries is that fishing beds is not harmful to the reproduction of steelhead, since they are annually stocked and almost all are not able to reproduce successfully. In the eastern regions of the Great Lakes however, biologists estimate up to 25 percent of the steelhead found there are reproducing naturally, and in New Yorks Cattaraugus, researchers believe that almost all steelhead are spawning successfully and argue if bedding fish are left alone, the river will become a self-replenishing system. In western tributaries conservationists report 50 to 100 percent success rates for natural reproduction. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources finds that 90 percent reproduce in the wild, and have made it a punishable crime to fish spawning steelhead. Great Lakes tributaries in Ontario are closed during the peak season.


Where it isnt illegal, the decision to fish spawning trout is up to the personal feelings of the angler. When a steelhead on a bed is hooked, do not fight the fish to exhaustion, and release it quickly. Keep it in the water, and if it must be handled, use wet hands and a gentle hold. Dont drag the fish on the shore or hold it over ground or rocks and be sure the fish is revived before sending it off into the current. See our catch and release article for more information on handling a fish that is being released_."


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## salmon king (Aug 20, 2008)

jiggin'fool said:


> I thought they didn't successfully reproduce in ohio or pa streams anyway... so really all their efforts of trying to spawn are just here for our enjoyment, I am going to enjoy them! you can pull those bucks off those females! Just might not be every day!


Exactly ...


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

Yeah, there is some natural reproduction here in OH, there's proof every year both from biologists and fisherman catching tiny wild steelhead, but there's nowhere near enough to increase the quality of the fishery even the slightest. The fish that do successfully hatch then have to spend a year in the streams braving hot summer temps, and then make their journey to the big lake. 

IMO, I personally don't have a problem with people fishing for spawning steelhead, and although I have never done it(just don't fish for steel a lot in the spring, usually targeting other stuff) if I come across spawning fish I'll admit it that I might make a few casts towards them. Now if I were fishing somewhere that does produce a substantial amount of wild fish, then of course I wouldn't mess with them and wouldn't wade near the redds.


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## oarfish (May 12, 2004)

+1 on the natural born Steeleies in the Rocky. back when fished the river alot, about 12 years ago we were catching a few parr in the 3" deep gravely riffles in early summer. Drifting tiny beadhead nymphs and ripping them across the current. These little trout were only a few inches long. I guess that the stocking program only dumps in more advanced sized fish, 6 inches or bigger. Few of us believed in to see successful spawning even back then, in the R.R.


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