Steelhead galore at Rocky Beach Dam

WENATCHEE — The numbers say it all. Nearly 30,000 steelhead have passed by Rocky Reach Dam, and more than a third of them are wild. That's more steelhead than fish counters have ever logged, since the fish counts began there in 1962.

Only two other years in the past 47 have the numbers even surpassed 20,000 at Rocky Reach. And spawning season's not quite over yet for these threatened fish.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife's response to the numbers says even more.

Criticized in the past for waiting to open the upper Columbia River to steelhead fishing, steelhead season this year opened on most rivers here on Sept. 29. That's much earlier than usual, said Bob Leland, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's steelhead program manager.

And, he said, in an unprecedented move, the state requires fishermen to keep all hatchery steelhead they catch over 20 inches, up to the daily limit of four per day. That's an attempt to save more spawning grounds for the wild fish, whose adipose fins have not been clipped. Those fish, deemed genetically stronger, must be returned to the stream when caught.

Leland said he first learned this would be a record-breaking year earlier this fall, when he got a voice message from a technician at The Dalles Dam on the Lower Columbia saying that 500,000 steelhead just went upstream. "I thought, 'Come on, you've got to be joking,' " he said.

The large run was not predicted, he said.

Many of those steelhead continued up the Snake River, where this year's run is off the charts.

But the upper Columbia River is also reaping the benefits.

Some of the steelhead passing Rocky Reach Dam headed up the Wenatchee and Entiat rivers to spawn. But most of them continue up the Columbia River. More than 25,000 of the 29,547 that passed Rocky Reach have also gone over Wells Dam, near Pateros.

Pateros Mayor Gail Howe said she hasn't checked in with local businesses lately, but she knows the great steelhead numbers must be having a positive impact, despite the economic recession.

"I'm definitely noticing all the cars parked along Memorial Park," she said. "And last week, and the week before, there were quite a few people out on the docks, just right here in Pateros," she said.

That's on top of all the fishermen in waders, braving the cold waters of the Methow River, where many more of them go to fish.

Keith Truscott, natural-resource program manager for the Chelan County Public Utility District, said it's too early to try to figure out why so many steelhead returned this year.

"This is likely a result of combined efforts," he said, adding, "Mother Nature herself plays a pretty big role."

Truscott said the only other banner years for steelhead coming over Rocky Reach Dam were 1985, when more than 22,690 passed the facility, and 2001, when 22,027 were counted.

"It's great news from a standpoint of being able to see that kind of return," he said. "I'm hopeful that this is a trend that continues, as all managers for the resource are hoping for."

Leland, too, said it's not known for sure what's causing the banner year for steelhead.

He said he's heard discussions noting that this year's crop had a good outmigration.

"There were really high flows going out, so you get more of the little guys past the dams," he said.

But there's something in the ocean conditions that biologists haven't identified yet that likely gave them a high survival rate.

"In the ocean, we have a hard time figuring out where all these fish go," he said. And the fish in Puget Sound and on the Washington Coast don't seem to correlate to the Columbia River runs, he said.