03-22-2008, 03:49 PM
[cool][font "Poor Richard"][green]A large steelhead trout tries to swim up San Juan Creek – and one day, the species might succeed.[/green][/font]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]By PAT BRENNAN[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER[/green][/font][/size]
[url "http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fish-creek-steelhead-2003655-pools-upstream#slComments#slComments"][size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]Comments 0[/green][/font][/size][/url][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]| [/size][/green][/font][url "javascript:recommendReview('OCRArticle2003655')"][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]Recommend [/size][/green][/font][/url][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]0[/size][/green][/font]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]The fish was a whopper – and an endangered one at that.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]A 35-inch steelhead trout, the largest ever found in Orange County, was captured last weekend on lower San Juan Creek. The big male, in its oceangoing phase, was likely trying to make its way upstream to spawn, just as other steelhead have attempted to do over the past few years.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]But the fish was netted and taken to Doheny State Beach for release back into the ocean.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]"That is a monster fish for down here," said Michael Hazzard, stream team coordinator for the fishing group, Trout Unlimited. "That size is something we've seen in northern California and Oregon."[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]The fish could never have made it upstream because of structural barriers, though state wildlife officials and Hazzard's group are working to change that. They hope to redesign parts of the creek to include "fish ladders," chains of artificial pools that would allow steelhead to reach their upstream spawning grounds.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]San Juan Creek and its tributary, Trabuco Creek, appear to attract steelhead, which key in on the "smell" of fresh water flowing into the ocean after winter rains. Like salmon, they can return to the stream they were born in. But steelhead also are opportunists: part of their survival strategy has been to probe the coast for new places to spawn.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]"We've had better rain this year," said Mary Larson, a senior fisheries biologist at the state Department of Fish and Game. "The fish are trying to nose in and do their thing."[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]Because most rivers and creeks in Southern California include stretches of concrete or other barriers for flood control, however, the steelheads' quest is often a losing proposition.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]In their freshwater phase, when they live in rocky pools, steelhead are known as rainbow trout, and they look a bit different. The same flood-control structures keep many trapped in upstream pools, unable to change into their silvery oceangoing phase and swim out to sea.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]In our area, Hazzard said, only San Mateo Creek lacks barriers to steelhead migration. The southern steelhead population was declared endangered in 1997, but only in its oceangoing form.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]A much-delayed state Fish and Game project would include building a series of pools along a 200-foot stretch of Trabuco Creek that passes beneath I-5 in San Juan Capistrano. The fish could jump upstream, from one pool to the next, resting in calm water between leaps.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]The project was recently redesigned after engineers realized a natural gas line might cross the creek in the area, said project manager Wendy Katagi of the consulting firm, CDM Inc. To be safe, and to be sure the concrete spillway structure remains sound, they decided to create a side channel for the pools instead of building them along the center of the creek.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]And rains since 2005 have helped gouge a 30-foot drop lower on San Juan Creek, near a railroad bridge. More artificial pools will be needed there.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]Both changes will drive up the project's cost, although Katagi said just how much won't be known until designs for the lower series of pools are completed. The project is funded through the state Wildlife Conservation Board and the state Fish and Game, and has already received a $1.2 million grant.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]A third reconstruction could happen on Rancho Mission Viejo near a bridge at the ranch's "cow camp" – in this case, to allow steelhead to swim downstream. Structures near a bridge there also act as barriers.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]Rancho Mission Viejo officials have been talking to Trout Unlimited about the possibility, but no definite plan has been agreed upon yet.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]While good spawning habitat exists along the creek below cow camp, rainbow trout are trapped in pools upstream. Modifying the cow camp area would be ideal, allowing them to reach the ocean, Katagi said. But even without it, oceangoing fish will be able to swim upstream to spawn.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]As for the big fish, it appeared to swim away unharmed when it was released last Saturday, perhaps to seek another place to spawn.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]"The fish took off, swimming strongly out to sea," Hazzard said. "It was really exciting."[/green][/font][/size]
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[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]By PAT BRENNAN[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER[/green][/font][/size]
[url "http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fish-creek-steelhead-2003655-pools-upstream#slComments#slComments"][size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]Comments 0[/green][/font][/size][/url][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]| [/size][/green][/font][url "javascript:recommendReview('OCRArticle2003655')"][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]Recommend [/size][/green][/font][/url][font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]0[/size][/green][/font]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]The fish was a whopper – and an endangered one at that.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]A 35-inch steelhead trout, the largest ever found in Orange County, was captured last weekend on lower San Juan Creek. The big male, in its oceangoing phase, was likely trying to make its way upstream to spawn, just as other steelhead have attempted to do over the past few years.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]But the fish was netted and taken to Doheny State Beach for release back into the ocean.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]"That is a monster fish for down here," said Michael Hazzard, stream team coordinator for the fishing group, Trout Unlimited. "That size is something we've seen in northern California and Oregon."[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]The fish could never have made it upstream because of structural barriers, though state wildlife officials and Hazzard's group are working to change that. They hope to redesign parts of the creek to include "fish ladders," chains of artificial pools that would allow steelhead to reach their upstream spawning grounds.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]San Juan Creek and its tributary, Trabuco Creek, appear to attract steelhead, which key in on the "smell" of fresh water flowing into the ocean after winter rains. Like salmon, they can return to the stream they were born in. But steelhead also are opportunists: part of their survival strategy has been to probe the coast for new places to spawn.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]"We've had better rain this year," said Mary Larson, a senior fisheries biologist at the state Department of Fish and Game. "The fish are trying to nose in and do their thing."[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]Because most rivers and creeks in Southern California include stretches of concrete or other barriers for flood control, however, the steelheads' quest is often a losing proposition.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]In their freshwater phase, when they live in rocky pools, steelhead are known as rainbow trout, and they look a bit different. The same flood-control structures keep many trapped in upstream pools, unable to change into their silvery oceangoing phase and swim out to sea.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]In our area, Hazzard said, only San Mateo Creek lacks barriers to steelhead migration. The southern steelhead population was declared endangered in 1997, but only in its oceangoing form.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]A much-delayed state Fish and Game project would include building a series of pools along a 200-foot stretch of Trabuco Creek that passes beneath I-5 in San Juan Capistrano. The fish could jump upstream, from one pool to the next, resting in calm water between leaps.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]The project was recently redesigned after engineers realized a natural gas line might cross the creek in the area, said project manager Wendy Katagi of the consulting firm, CDM Inc. To be safe, and to be sure the concrete spillway structure remains sound, they decided to create a side channel for the pools instead of building them along the center of the creek.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]And rains since 2005 have helped gouge a 30-foot drop lower on San Juan Creek, near a railroad bridge. More artificial pools will be needed there.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]Both changes will drive up the project's cost, although Katagi said just how much won't be known until designs for the lower series of pools are completed. The project is funded through the state Wildlife Conservation Board and the state Fish and Game, and has already received a $1.2 million grant.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]A third reconstruction could happen on Rancho Mission Viejo near a bridge at the ranch's "cow camp" – in this case, to allow steelhead to swim downstream. Structures near a bridge there also act as barriers.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]Rancho Mission Viejo officials have been talking to Trout Unlimited about the possibility, but no definite plan has been agreed upon yet.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]While good spawning habitat exists along the creek below cow camp, rainbow trout are trapped in pools upstream. Modifying the cow camp area would be ideal, allowing them to reach the ocean, Katagi said. But even without it, oceangoing fish will be able to swim upstream to spawn.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]As for the big fish, it appeared to swim away unharmed when it was released last Saturday, perhaps to seek another place to spawn.[/green][/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Poor Richard"][green]"The fish took off, swimming strongly out to sea," Hazzard said. "It was really exciting."[/green][/font][/size]
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