Tucannon River Summer Steelhead

The Tucannon River summer steelhead returns consist of three major sub units including naturally produced Tucannon River steelhead, endemic stock hatchery steelhead, and Lyons Ferry origin (out-of-basin) hatchery fish. The natural or wild stock is the unmarked segment of the population which spawned and reared in the Tucannon before migrating to the ocean and return as adults. The endemic hatchery component is a segment of the population which originates from natural (unmarked) parents collected for the hatchery where the eggs hatched and reared. These fish are then released back into the Tucannon River as smolts where they migrate naturally to the ocean and return to the Tucannon as adults to spawn. Lyons Ferry stock are steelhead with out-of-basin lineage which are collected, spawned and reared at the Lyons Ferry hatchery and released into the lower Tucannon River as smolts. Once released these fish migrate to the ocean returning to the lower river where they are intended to be harvested in the Tucannon River Steelhead fishery.
Steelhead estimates provided do not represent the total population returning to the Tucannon River. The trap used to generate estimates of run composition and fish origin is positioned high in the watershed and includes only a portion of the total spawning area. Index redd counts are conducted in various portions of the mainstem Tucannon River and Cummings Creek, but steelhead spawning in the reach below the trap, or other tributaries, are generally not monitored due to the amount of area to cover and often poor counting conditions during spawning. In addition, steelhead that return to Deadman Creek, Pataha Creek, Alkali Flat Creek and Penawawa Creek are considered part of the Tucannon steelhead population. These other tributaries are generally not monitored. The result is an under estimate for total steelhead returning for the Tucannon population. Also it is important to note that the steelhead hatchery program fish are stocked in the lower river below Marengo where those fish are harvested in large numbers as part of the fishery, and these fish are also not included in the total return to the Tucannon River in the tables or graph presented.