That adipose fin was fully intact and they don’t clip fins in Ohio. There is no way to tell a wild from a stocked fish. Some are very clearly stocked because they have messed up fins or weird marks though
Thank you for this, I’ve been waiting for this comment! I had a gut feeling there was no way to tell. I also don’t believe there are many, if any, natural reproduced steelhead in Ohio due to the warm water, is that right?
Correct, the few that actually hatch struggle to survive the summer because of the water temps, but some rivers are better than others. The substrate of our rivers is also an issue because most of it is just shale where somewhere like Michigan there is a lot more gravel ideal for laying eggs. I think some of the chagrin tribs are the best for producing wilds because they are spring fed cooler water and a few of them held native brook trout in the past so they can be a suitable trout habitat.
Epic
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Hey Shawn it's me Brayden
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I would love to catch some. Steelheads.. not sure where to go in ohio tho
Hey man, check the Ohio DNR Steelhead map on Google, they make it easy and show all the public access on all the Lake Erie tributaries!
Anywhere a river or creek runs into Lake Erie
That adipose fin was fully intact and they don’t clip fins in Ohio. There is no way to tell a wild from a stocked fish. Some are very clearly stocked because they have messed up fins or weird marks though
Thank you for this, I’ve been waiting for this comment! I had a gut feeling there was no way to tell. I also don’t believe there are many, if any, natural reproduced steelhead in Ohio due to the warm water, is that right?
Correct, the few that actually hatch struggle to survive the summer because of the water temps, but some rivers are better than others. The substrate of our rivers is also an issue because most of it is just shale where somewhere like Michigan there is a lot more gravel ideal for laying eggs. I think some of the chagrin tribs are the best for producing wilds because they are spring fed cooler water and a few of them held native brook trout in the past so they can be a suitable trout habitat.