# 2019 MDNR St. Joe River Fish Ladder Updates



## slowpaya

nice report,bad 4 the skams,no respite


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## riverbob

Their back,,seen fish before bed, n see them again this morning


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## riverbob

seen some kind of yellow fish going up, what kind of color do u get mixing silver n green?


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## Magik

Carp or bright channel cats?


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## riverbob

Magik said:


> Carp or bright channel cats?


 or it could b a green slimy viewing window


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## Dreamchaser

riverbob said:


> or it could b a green slimy viewing window


That window looks quite interesting and slightly slimy!


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## GRUNDY

Looks like Sasquatch crapped against it


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## wilsonm

It's supposed to get cleaned Friday


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## riverbob

screen is clear, n the fish r moving through


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## downfloat

Just watched for less than a minute and saw a salmon about every three seconds. They are pushing hard. 

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## Fishndude

WOW


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## Mr Burgundy

Link to watch while I'm stuck at work?


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## wilsonm

Mr Burgundy said:


> Link to watch while I'm stuck at work?


Lots of nice silver coho going through last couple days. About 1 or 2 a minute going through every time I looked yesterday and today. Nice size fish. 

https://paddleandpole.com/berrien-springs-fish-cam/


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## flyrodder46

Watched the cam this morning for a little while, not as many going through as 2 days ago, but still at least 1 per min. Nice to see.


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## Baitfish

See fish swimming. How often do you think we see the same fish swim bye.


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## WannaCatchFish

Baitfish said:


> See fish swimming. How often do you think we see the same fish swim bye.


I've wondered the same thing........

After hearing about fish moving through the ladder every few seconds on camera, I stopped by the ladder
after striking out at the pier to watch. In one 6 minute span I did see 5 fish (small, probably Coho) moving through the ladder, can't say for sure if some of those dropped back but don't think so. Went down to the river to see if anybody was catching, only 3 guys fishing, one since Midnight, and only 1 fish on a stringer. Stopped at the ladder again on the way out and only saw 1 fish after a couple of minutes.


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## Fishndude

Moving fish (Salmon and Steelhead) usually don't bite real well. But Holding fish (Salmon and Steelhead) often bite really well. I'd head above the dam, and find out where all those fish are holding..............


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## WannaCatchFish

Fishndude said:


> Moving fish (Salmon and Steelhead) usually don't bite real well. But Holding fish (Salmon and Steelhead) often bite really well. I'd head above the dam, and find out where all those fish are holding..............


Agreed, I'd love to know where those fish are spawning but it's a wide, long River. This morning I went out in the yak on the lower river but no luck. Never saw another fisherman or even any vehicles at the boat ramp.


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## Fishndude

I did say look where they are spawning. You just need to find out where they are holding. 

They probably spawn on some of the gravel runs below dams that are upstream of Berrien, or in tribs. The Steelhead won't spawn for months, though.


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## wilsonm

Cleaned the ladders today. Good numbers of fish at Berrien. They aren't generating as they are doing some work at the powerhouse, but it didn't seem to keep fish from away from the ladder. Probably close to 40 fish in the ladder that we could see. Mostly coho and steelhead with a few kings mixed in. Buchanan had a decent number of coho's in the ladder. We didn't see anything going thru Niles.


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## GRUNDY

I watched someone clean the window today while I was watching it at work. 

I was figuring out how to set up a pivot table, when I noticed the water level drop. Next thing ya know someone is standing there scrubbing the window! LOL

Thanks for the cleaning!


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## wilsonm

GRUNDY said:


> I watched someone clean the window today while I was watching it at work.
> 
> I was figuring out how to set up a pivot table, when I noticed the water level drop. Next thing ya know someone is standing there scrubbing the window! LOL
> 
> Thanks for the cleaning!


That was me this time. Took the brunt end of a couple of those fish coming down when the water in the window was low.


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## GRUNDY

LOL I bet they smack ya pretty good.

It looked like a less than desirable task. It’s probably fun the first time, but after that not so much


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## wilsonm

The ladders were cleaned today. About 30 fish in the upper wells of the Berrien ladder with about 2/3 being steelhead and the rest coho.


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## GRUNDY

Are the steelhead mostly skams that have holed up in the river and are now pushing up with the high water? Or are they fresh fish from the Big Lake?

Thanks,
~B


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## riverbob

GRUNDY said:


> Are the steelhead mostly skams that have holed up in the river and are now pushing up with the high water? Or are they fresh fish from the Big Lake?
> 
> Thanks,
> ~B


 I don't know about the joe, but the steel on the grand is about 2 stocky fish to every skinny one, n there all airborne, with a see ya later attitude


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## wilsonm

GRUNDY said:


> Are the steelhead mostly skams that have holed up in the river and are now pushing up with the high water? Or are they fresh fish from the Big Lake?
> 
> Thanks,
> ~B


From taking a peak at the camera, it looks like there are quite a few skamania that were probably holed up in some of the coldwater tributaries downstream, that are now moving upstream. Looks like some fresh fish mixed in also. There are adults in the system every month of the year. Just based on observation over the years, I would guess that along with the skamania and Michigan strain, there are some naturalized crosses and backcrosses in the system. Should higher numbers of fresh fish soon with the high water and lower temps thru the coming week.


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## Ballyhoo

I have been trying to check the camera on a daily basis. Yesterday, before 9 am there was a good push of steelhead with some chinook mixed in already displaying hooknose and what I thought was skamania (the dorsal fin). I had a duh moment from not knowing if you click at the bottom of the cam window you can see the time line and you can expand the window to full screen on whatever device you are using. Looking forward to everything cooling down after the rain and some north wind pushing cooler temps.


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## Mr Burgundy

wilsonm said:


> The ladders were cleaned today. About 30 fish in the upper wells of the Berrien ladder with about 2/3 being steelhead and the rest coho.


Any idea when u will check out ladders on the grand?


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## Mr Burgundy

wilsonm said:


> The ladders were cleaned today. About 30 fish in the upper wells of the Berrien ladder with about 2/3 being steelhead and the rest coho.


Any idea when u will check out ladders on the grand?


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## wilsonm

Mr Burgundy said:


> Any idea when u will check out ladders on the grand?


Most likely on Tuesday as long as the water comes down. We can't put the scaffolding in to stand on at Portland and Grand Ledge during high water and we are also in the middle of fall fingerling walleye harvest.


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## Mr Burgundy

Got ya.. tnks again for all your hard work!


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## slowpaya

a severely maimed sh went thru at 8:43:13 am


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## Porch Dog

riverbob said:


> I don't know about the joe, but the steel on the grand is about 2 stocky fish to every skinny one, n there all airborne, with a see ya later attitude


Riverbob, guess I'm showing my ignorance but what do you mean by this? Stocky, skinny, airborne and see ya later? Thanks! Porch Dog


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## slowpaya

gonna chip in a lil PD.airborne-out of the water as much as in......see ya later-headed downriver on a lake bound train,no stops


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## riverbob

Porch Dog said:


> Riverbob, guess I'm showing my ignorance but what do you mean by this? Stocky, skinny, airborne and see ya later? Thanks! Porch Dog


 By skinny I mean skams, when I say stocky I mean all the other multi mixed steelheadsi,,, it's just a bob thing


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## slowpaya

quite a few kings have been passing the camera the last few days,a few steel,a few johos,one all ballooned up


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## slowpaya

fair amount of activity to report today.


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## wilsonm

Cleaned the ladders today. Only about 6 steelhead in the upper wells of the ladder at Berrien.


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## wilsonm

The ladders were cleaned yesterday and the cameras were shut down at Berrien until early March when the fish will start moving thru the ladder in numbers.


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## hypox

Getting close?


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## wilsonm

Close. I believe the webcam sponser is supposed to meet our guys down there tommorow.


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