great distance, usually spawning 

 very close to salt water. Upon 

 emergence from the gravel, the fry 

 migrate to salt w^ater. 



The chum is the least valuable of 

 the Pacific salmon. The flesh de- 

 teriorates rapidly after the fish en- 

 ter fresh water. 



Salmo gairdneri: Steelhead trout. 



Range: Southern California to 

 Avestern Alaska. 



Weight: Average is about 12 

 pounds, but individuals may exceed 

 35 pounds. 



Steelhead are included in this ac- 

 count because of their close associa- 

 tion to salmon in habits, their en- 

 trance into commercial and sport 

 fisheries, and their inclusion in 

 hatchery operations along with the 

 salmon. 



The steelhead trout is a rainbow 

 trout that has spent part of its life 

 in the ocean and ascends the coastal 

 streams to spawn. It does not stop 

 feeding upon entrance into fresh 

 water, nor does it necessarily die 

 after the first spawning. 



Steelhead trout apparently range 

 widely in the ocean along the coasts, 

 and it is believed that they return to 

 their native streams to spawn. The 

 steelhead may enter fresh water in 

 almost any month, although they do 

 not spawn until late winter or 

 s]jring 



Steelhead adults may enter prac- 

 tically all streams. They may as- 

 cend to the extreme headwaters or 

 sj)awn very close to salt water. In 

 this respect they are similar to silver 

 salmon. 



The young steelhead trout spend 

 1 or 2 years in fresh water and 2 or 

 more summers in salt water. Adults 



may enter the rivers in their third, 

 fourth, or fifth years. Like the At- 

 lantic salmon, they may spawn more 

 than once, returning to the sea after 

 each spawning, but it is reported 

 that less than 15 percent survive to 

 spawn a second time. 



Steelhead enter into the commer- 

 cial fishery for salmon to a consider- 

 able extent and are much sought 

 [ifter by sport fishermen. 



The Homing Instinct 



Jordan (1925), discussing the 

 theory that Pacific salmon return to 

 their home streams to spawn, reit- 

 erated his 1880 statement that "we 

 fail to find any evidence of this 

 [homing] in the case of the Pacific- 

 coast salmon, and we do not believe 

 it to be true. It seems more prob- 

 able that the young salmon hatched 

 in any river mostly remain in the 

 ocean within a radius of 20, 30 or 

 40 miles of its mouth." He believed 

 that the salmon return to their 

 home stream by chance rather than 

 through instinct. Nevertheless, 

 there is little doubt that salmon do 

 possess an instinct that leads them 

 from the ocean to their home stream 

 and hundreds of miles upstream to 

 the particular tributary of their 

 birth. 



iVn interesting experiment was 

 undertaken at the Spring Creek 

 hatchery of the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service at Underwood, Wash., some 

 200 miles upstream from the mouth 

 of the Columbia Eiver. At this 

 hatchery a run of 10,000 to 18,000 

 fall Chinook salmon has been estab- 

 lished: the adults return to the 

 small stream where they were re- 



12 



