# Clinton River steelhead origin



## Steely-Head (Dec 2, 2001)

I was talking to Don about steel in the Clinton today, and it got me wondering. Where do those fish come from? I am assuming they dont summer in LSC, so do they come up from Erie?


----------



## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

That has always been my understanding.


----------



## ericz (Nov 25, 2002)

Erie or Huron.. although some could be from any of the great lakes. There are documented cases of fish swimming a long, long way to run a stream..

e


----------



## j_blocker (Feb 20, 2002)

If they came from erie, they'd have to come from way over nearer pensylvania. I'm not saying that they wouldn't or couldn't, but i think most would be from lake huron. 

The salmon that show up in the maumme in the fall, i allways thought came down from huron through LSC and to the river. I've seen some big salmon in the maumee, and i don't think erie has the potential to grow fish like that.

Jason


----------



## unregistered55 (Mar 12, 2000)

I asked a Steelhead once...he told me but it's a secret...


----------



## GONE FISHIN(LARRY) (Dec 28, 2002)

steelhead wonder,I cauhgt a fin clipped steelhead in oscoda,turned the head into the d.n.r. they sent me data on the fish, the fish was planted in ILLNOIS three years earlier.I 've herd many results on steelhead,huron fish cauhgt in michigan,michigan fish caught in huron,erie fish caught in huron and vice a versa.Lake ST. CLair is to warm and shallow in the summer,even the fish planted there hed elswhere,good question were they go?


----------



## j_blocker (Feb 20, 2002)

whats the max depth of LSC?

Jason


----------



## trout (Jan 17, 2000)

I asked a fish a question once also.
He made me promise to keep it a secret and tell no one, 
not even a sole.


----------



## stelmon (Sep 21, 2000)

Hey,
I asked a fish that also after I caught her and she told me if I release her, she would tell me. She swam off and I never saw her again. 

FTF


----------



## ZobZob (Oct 27, 2002)

Steelhead in the Clinton?

Coulda fooled me!

When I finally nab one I'll ask him/her where she came from.

Zob


----------



## huntermike (Mar 20, 2003)

lake st. clair gets around 20 feet maybe 25 in some spots on the canadian side and around 20 on the american side. although, the channels and the shipping lane reach depths to 40 and 50 feet deep. As for steelhead living in there im not sure... but i have caught both salmon and steelies occasionaly in the area of these channels and the shipping lanes on lake st clair and in the detroit river. i dont know where these fish come from, but i do know they are there and come from somewhere. ive noticed that in between the two ends of the lake, where the fish concentrate at the mouths of the rivers, that there are few to no fish. the northern streams and tribs off lake st clair get huron fish and the southern tribs and streams get the erie steelies... although i know a little secret about fishin the locals there are very few fish that do go through the middle of the lake, but some in minute numbers do... ive both seen a steelie caught off 9 mile pier (a horrible fishin hole) and hooked one out in the middle of the lake near the shipping lane. these fish are extremely occasional to the pattern. Also, the Anchor Bay part of lake st clair is very shallow from the Huron Point (metro beach) straight across the lake to the north channel (western). It is very unreasonable that the fish live in this warm 6-10 ft of water.
Following this pattern shows that the few fish in the clinton come most likely from lake huron, down the st clair river...where fish can be caught..., through the channels into the deep channel and they shoot across the deep edge off huron point and up into the mouth of the clinton... contrary to popular belief that those fish just shoot down into the detroit river. If lake st clair and its tributaries were to be cleaner and support better fish runs, it would have a nice migrant steelhead population and be a migrant mixing ground for both Erie and Huron fish. I doubt this will ever happen any time soon, although lake st clair is 10x clearer and cleaner than it was 30 years ago...also contrary to most beliefs of those who do not know. So for now, lake st clair is sortof an unconditional barier between huron and Erie fish...except on occasion.


----------



## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

I hardly believe that the "bath water" of the Pond will sustain any cold water species, during the heat of July and August.


----------



## ericz (Nov 25, 2002)

Here's a response I got yesterday from a friends co-worker..

" We don't really know for certain where the
steelhead stocked in southeast Michigan waters spend their summers. It
makes sense that the Huron River fish migrate eastward in Lake Erie as
the water temperatures warm in summer, to find cooler, deeper water in
the Central (and Eastern) Basins of the lake, where, incidentally, there
is a major offshore summer steelhead fishery on both the north and south
shores.

The Clinton, Belle, Mill Creek stocked fish are another story. We
don't really know if they head north into Lake Huron, or all the way
south into Lake Erie and follow a similar eastward migration as the
Huron River fish. As Mark suggests, it would make sense that the fish
would "go with the flow" as smolts, and end up in Lake Erie. The water
temperature situation in the St. Clair system is unique. Cold Lake
Huron water passes through the St. Clair River without warming up much,
then warms in the shallow basin of the Lake, and continues to warm as it
passes through the Detroit River. So I can imagine a scenario where
steelhead smolts from the Clinton, Belle, and Mill Creek might hang
around in Lake St. Clair until water temps in the lake begin to warm up,
then move upstream into the St. Clair River where temperatures remain
cooler, and continue to move north, finally out into Lake Huron as the
surface waters of the big lake begin to warm up. It is noteworthy that
temperatures in the St. Clair River are nearly always less than 75 F,
even during the warmest days of summer, and some steelhead/trout are
caught by anglers in the river during almost every month of the year,
many times by anglers targeting walleye or perch.

OK that's my $0.02. - Mike. 

Michael V. Thomas
Fisheries Research Biologist
Mount Clemens Fisheries Research Station
586-465-4771"

Interesting reading....
e


----------

