It’s shaping up to be a big steelhead run on the American River. Steelhead spawning at CDFW’s Nimbus Fish Hatchery outside of Sacramento is off to a rousing start. With four weeks of spawning completed, Nimbus already has counted more than 900 steelhead entering the hatchery – a mix of wild, hatchery-origin and juvenile fish. At this same time last year, Nimbus had counted just 300 fish.
“We are well ahead of what we collected last year,” says Nimbus Fish Hatchery Manger Gary Novak. Nimbus is on track to meet its annual production goal of 430,000 steelhead. The hatchery produces a unique Eel River strain of steelhead that grows significantly larger than the Central Valley stock produced at CDFW’s Feather River and Mokelumne River hatcheries.
While an adult Central Valley steelhead may reach a maximum size of 7 pounds, an Eel River strain fish can grow to 17 pounds after time in the ocean. In carefully selecting its breeders, Nimbus seeks to perpetuate the Eel River strain by only spawning returning, hatchery-origin fish.
Unlike salmon whose life cycle ends at spawning, steelhead potentially can spawn over multiple years and are returned to the American River almost immediately after spawning at Nimbus. Scientific data are collected before the fish are set free – measurements, scales and tissue samples – to better understand and inform the management of the American River’s steelhead.
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