Steelhead at Alton Baker

[grampa ron]

If you happen to catch a steelhead at Alton Baker, if you plan to keep it, you need to make sure that it is fin clipped and that you put it on your steelhead tag. The ticket for not tagging starts at $299. I saw someone get a ticket last week. They kept the fish and did not have a tag.

 

[Oregonchris]

Wow ..I would think that was a recycled steelie...I was under the impression..you didn't have to tag those.???

 

[Bassman233]

Alton SteelHead

Alton SteelHead

I caught one outta there last year that measured 27". It was skinny as hell, and I noticed as I was cleaning it, it had no scales and the meat was white. DONT EAT ANY STEELHEAD OUTTA THE WILLAMETTE AROUND HERE!!!!

 

[grampa ron]

Alton Baker Steelhead

Alton Baker Steelhead

Any steelhead caugth in AB is going to be a spawned out fish. It's bound to be skinny and used up. You should try to release it unharmed. It was trying to get back to the ocean for another season.

 

[JeannaJigs]

Wow ..I would think that was a recycled steelie...I was under the impression..you didn't have to tag those.???

NOPE not recycled fish. The schools started a program in conjuction with the hatchery when I was in elementry school actually, where we raised steelhead and salmon fry...and raised them to smolts at school...and released them. Several area schools did this (with the McKenzie Hatchery) over the years, and eventually some of the fish came back....they spawn up in the upper end of the canal I hear. So there are wild fish that return there. It's openly connected to the river. Junction City pond has the recycled fish.

 

[JeannaJigs]

I caught one outta there last year that measured 27". It was skinny as hell, and I noticed as I was cleaning it, it had no scales and the meat was white. DONT EAT ANY STEELHEAD OUTTA THE WILLAMETTE AROUND HERE!!!!

What Grampa Ron said...Shoulda released it, it wasn't that fish in the willamette aren't worth catching, it's that you caught a fish that had just spawned. No fish is worth a damn for eating after spawning. Let them go so they can come back next year.

 

[Oregonchris]

NOPE not recycled fish. The schools started a program in conjuction with the hatchery when I was in elementry school actually, where we raised steelhead and salmon fry...and raised them to smolts at school...and released them. Several area schools did this (with the McKenzie Hatchery) over the years, and eventually some of the fish came back....they spawn up in the upper end of the canal I hear. So there are wild fish that return there. It's openly connected to the river. Junction City pond has the recycled fish.

Ok so it isn't a recycled fish...but Im not so sure I would call it a wild fish either. Maybe a "introduced run" would be a better way of putting it.

 

[Gramps]

If you happen to catch a steelhead at Alton Baker, if you plan to keep it, you need to make sure that it is fin clipped and that you put it on your steelhead tag. The ticket for not tagging starts at $299. I saw someone get a ticket last week. They kept the fish and did not have a tag.

2009 Oregon SPORT FISHING Regulations

Alton Baker Park Canoe Canal:
Open for trout and adipose fin-clipped steelhead entire year.
Open to harvest of non-adipose fin-clipped steelhead greater than 24 inches in length entire year.

Yes you do need a tag and follow all the other rules but non fin-clipped steelhead greater than 24" are legal all year in Alton Baker Park Canoe Canal.