# Little Manistee Weir, Steelhead Egg Take 2022



## Erik (Jan 17, 2000)

M. Tonello said:


> Day three of the 2022 steelhead take now in the books! We took eggs from 181 females, and passed 334 fish, for a season total so far of 994. Fish supply is good, but right at the end we got into some hens that were noticeably less ripe. We'll give them a chance to ripen up and we'll be back at it next Tuesday. We need two more days of egg take, so hopefully we can get in a good day on Tuesday, finish up on Wednesday and lift the weir grates. Had some big fish come through today, including a 19.3 lb hen, and bucks of 17, 16, and 15 lbs.


So that 19lb hen, assume you weighed her before you took her eggs? Wonder how much weight she after?

Very cool to know that her genes are being passed on. Want to catch some her off spring in about 4 or 5 yrs. And hey, just thought of this. Come 4 more years I will be retired! I think this is an omen


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

Erik- Yes that weight was before we took her eggs. There had to be at least a couple pounds of eggs, but she was still pretty big afterward. And yes her genes will be passed on!


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

Day 4 of 2022 steelhead egg take was today, and it went well. We spawned 203 females, and passed 485 fish, including some green (not ripe) hens. We have passed a total of 1,479 steelhead so far this season. We didn't see anything bigger than about 14 lbs today.

We should be able to finish up the 2022 steelhead egg take tomorrow. If all goes well, we'll complete the egg take and pull the weir grates. Then any fish still on their way will have free fish passage upstream.


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## jmaddog8807 (Oct 6, 2009)

Think I may have to go do a little exploring over that way after the walleye opener this weekend. Those fish would be a riot in that little river.


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

Finished up the egg take today. Spawned 150 hens. Cleaned out the facility and pulled the grates, so fish passage is no longer blocked. Passed 1,208 steelies today for a season total of 2,687. Also passed a beautiful 15 lb hen Chinook! Good luck to anybody that hooks her this weekend lol. Quite a few of the fish we passed today were chrome and not ripe, including males and females. That'll be it for weir reports until Chinook egg take this fall!


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

M. Tonello said:


> Finished up the egg take today. Spawned 150 hens. Cleaned out the facility and pulled the grates, so fish passage is no longer blocked. Passed 1,208 steelies today for a season total of 2,687. Also passed a beautiful 15 lb hen Chinook! Good luck to anybody that hooks her this weekend lol. Quite a few of the fish we passed today were chrome and not ripe, including males and females. That'll be it for weir reports until Chinook egg take this fall!


Great news.


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## AdamBradley (Mar 13, 2008)

Thanks for all the updates, and all that you do mark!


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## seabass810 (Apr 2, 2010)

From past years that seems like a lot of fish passed in 1 day. I could be mistaken, should be a sign of good things to come


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## jmaddog8807 (Oct 6, 2009)

That's a hell of a day! Thanks Mark and thank you to the crew!


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## CaughtMoreCatfishOnTinder (Oct 2, 2019)

M. Tonello said:


> Finished up the egg take today. Spawned 150 hens. Cleaned out the facility and pulled the grates, so fish passage is no longer blocked. Passed 1,208 steelies today for a season total of 2,687. Also passed a beautiful 15 lb hen Chinook! Good luck to anybody that hooks her this weekend lol. Quite a few of the fish we passed today were chrome and not ripe, including males and females. That'll be it for weir reports until Chinook egg take this fall!


Out of curiosity, are the biological clock off on those Chinook hens (have fully developed eggs), or technically fish planning on holding over till fall season? I've heard of hen chinooks being caught in the rivers in spring but don't seem to know too much about them.


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

CMCOT,
I think so. There seems to be a small number of Chinooks that run in the spring for some reason. They are always hens, and occasionally ripe. My assumption is that they do eventually drop their eggs and die. The rivers where I've observed and heard about these fish the most are the Big Manistee and Little Manistee, although it certainly could happen on the Betsie, PM, White, etc. as well. We've seen them occasionally at the weir, and there's usually a few caught every spring at Tippy Dam.

These fish are different from the "summer run" Chinooks that often start showing up in the Little Manistee River in June. Those fish do hang out all summer in the river and then spawn in September.

One time in April a few years back I was fishing up in the coffer at Tippy. The steelies were biting pretty good that morning. Then one dude hooked up with something that was kicking his butt. The other anglers were getting annoyed at him because it was taking him so long to fight the fish. When he finally got it close, someone netted it for him and surprise! It was a chrome 20+lb hen Chinook!


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## Spin to Win (Dec 7, 2010)

As others have stated - Thanks for all of the updates, and everything that you and your team do Mark! We really appreciate all of the work and communication. 

Thanks!

Brett


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## tgafish (Jan 19, 2001)

Visited you guys on the second or third day of fish take. That weir facility is a heck of a set up. Only downside is I don't think I'll ever be able to drink milk out of a paper cup again


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## fishdip (Dec 29, 2010)

Thanks for everyones hard work and all your updates Mark.


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