DEC Salmon River Hatchery staff completed steelhead egg collection on April 4, 2019. The egg take resulted in 2.47 million eggs from 681 Washington strain steelhead, exceeding the target number od 2.15 million eggs. Fish hatched from this collection will be raised in the hatchery for approximately one year and then stocked as spring yearlings in 2020.
Staff collected an additional 194,72 eggs from 51 Skamania strain steelhead. Steehead are stocked every spring in Lake Ontario and Lake Erie tributaries where they contribute to both the tributary fishery and open lake fisheries. Current Lake Ontario steelhead/rainbow trout stocking include 497,700 Washington stain yearlings, 43,000 Skamania strain yearlings and 75,00 domestic strain rainbow trout yearlings. Lake Erie stockings include 225,000 Washington strain steelhead and 5000 domestic strain rainbow trout.
