Should we stock fall run trout?
By Mark Boyette, OCBS Member

During the mid 80's, I remember making the hour drive out to Conneaut Creek and making sure we left early enough to be on the water before first light. We casted spoons off the breakwall for several hours before picking up and heading to the next stop westward. My good buddy Jeff Teutsch and I would stop at any and every lakeshore fishing spot we could find. Probably 10 stops in all, by the time it was all said and done. By the time we were finished, the sun was sinking into the lake and we were very lucky if one of us had hooked a fish, never mind landing one. Just hooking into one or two was a productive day back then. Every so often you would be fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time and get into a good run of fish. Maybe 3 fish caught and a few hook ups in there, but again this was not the norm.

As the season wore on, we would work ourselves into the streams that were home to these elusive fish during the winter. Again we would spend hours upon hours fishing Conneaut, Chagrin, Grand, Arcola, Ashtabula, and any other feeder creek we could find. The results were still many hours of hard fishing and walking between strikes. Even though we lived 2 minutes from Rocky River we would make the trek eastward since that was our best shot a fish. During this time Rocky River was pretty much dead and most Steelheaders would chuckle at any reference to our home river. For whatever the reason Rocky saw the least number of fish out of the 4 stocked waters. I remember catching a 7 1/2 pound Steelhead during this time on a twister tail jig. This was on the large end of the spectrum as almost all the fish were under 6 lbs and rarely over 22 inches in length. I actually have a fish Ohio decal on one of my old tackle boxes which doubles as a measuring tape and Fish Ohio requirements. The date on it is 1986 and the Fish Ohio requirement for Steelhead is only 22 inches, which up to 28 inches today.

These were the London strain steelhead stocked by the ODNR during this time after giving up on the Salmon stocking program before it. (Image of a London Steelhead to the right.) The Salmon stocking program only yielded one half of one percent with Chinook and seven percent with Cohos. The ODNR put all its eggs into one basket and concentrated on Steelhead since they would return for 3-4 consecutive seasons and offered better return rates. The Londons were much shorter in length than the Manistees we are used to today. They had a shape much like a football, short and wide. This London strain was a fall running fish that didn't offer sufficient returns and were far fewer than the now Manistees. The Steelhead stocking program was in now in jeopardy just like the Salmon program was just a few years earlier. It is quite expensive to raise fish in hatcheries and stock them in our rivers. 50,000 smolts were released into Grand, Conneaut, Chagrin, and Rocky each year. Around the same time these four rivers were flooded with small stocked Brown Trout as an experiment. The return on Browns was extremely poor and was discontinued after just a few short seasons. For myself this was the biggest disappointment. Imagine those beautiful browns running our rivers this year.

With Salmon and Steelhead stocking being a modest success it was discussed weather it was worth the cost to anglers. Several different strains were also experimented with but none showed much increase in return rates. The Steelhead stocking was in jeopardy and the ODNR took one last shot at a different strain of fish. The Manistee strain found in Michigan were hatched and released in Ohio's streams in 1996. The (image to the right is a good example of a Manistee, while not the biggest fish it was the nicest looking that I caught in the 2001 season). It was soon apparent that these fish had far surpassed earlier efforts and return rates were well over 40 percent. With a new enthusiasm Ohio increased it's stocking numbers to 100,000 in 1999 on Rocky, Chagrin, Grand, and Conneaut since it was now becoming economical to do so. The number of fishermen began to increase and thus the amount of revenue from licenses rose to cover these costs.

From 1998-2001 there was a boom in the Steelhead population. We are now seeing plenty of fish and plenty of BIG fish as well. In the 2000 season, a 10 lb fish was somewhat rare and a very nice catch, as it should be. But in 2001 the 10 lb Steelhead was becoming more and more common, especially in the spring. For myself I caught many 10 lb fish and a few 12-13 lbs. Although the 14-15lb fish eluded me, there were over 8 caught that I heard about and one of which was 19lbs which I had the privilege of seeing. I did hook two in the 14-15 lb range but both times the fish won the battle and got off.

So here were are entering the 2001-2002 season and many anglers are suggesting that the ODNR should look into stocking a fall run strain again since our numbers are down during this period. For those who have been Steelheading over 10 years there are no complaints since we remember those tough early years. Even though the fall numbers are down they are still far greater than what we saw in the 80's. For others new to Steelhead fishing, you got in at a great time. Fishing is by far the best it's ever been and we need to remind ourselves that the fall run stain just doesn't produce the size or numbers we are seeing today. I'm sure if the very knowledgeable biologists at the ODNR would stock a fall run strain if the return rates were there, but they just aren't.

So next time your working hard to catch a fall steelhead, remember those smaller early runs are still better than we've ever seen, and I assure you none of us will be complaining once winter and better yet spring rolls around. Mark my words; the Ohio Steelhead state record will fall within two years. With the number of very large fish were are seeing it's only a matter of time before we see a true monster surpassing the 21 pound mark. PA saw a 20 pounder in the 2001 season that rewrote the record books and I think Ohio will be next.

Good fishing and enjoy yourselves on the water. 

Mark Boyette