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 The
enhancement project is based on a tributary to
the upper Sol Duc named Snider Creek. This
project has become an important part of the
rebuilding and continued maintenance of the
early-run native steelhead stocks on the Sol Duc
River.
 Run by the
Olympic Peninsula Guides' Association, we hope
to expand this program into other area rivers in
the next few years.
You can help us by letting the Washington
Department of Fish and Game know that you might
support such an idea!
 Many
of the area's guides and businesses, as well as
many of our customers have played a very
important role in making the program a success.
Similar to a standard hatchery
program, this project uses wild steelhead rather than returning hatchery fish for the
parent stock of the young. Somewhere between
50,000 and 100,000 smolt are planted into
the Sol Duc river each year as part of this program ... providing more opportunity for all
Sol Duc anglers.
A simple overview of
the program:
1) Wild steelhead are caught via hook and line
by local residents, guides, and their customers.
 2) These steelhead are tethered alive to the
boat and transported downstream to an area where
a transport truck can retrieve the live fish.
3) The steelhead are transported to
the hatchery facility where they are held until they are ripe enough to spawn. 4) Eggs are taken from the females and
fertilized from hand-stripped males.
5) The State of Washington Sol Duc
Salmon Hatchery incubates the eggs until they hatch.
6) Steelhead parr are transported back
to the Snider Creek facility to be reared until release age.
 7) Steelhead smolt are released into
the Sol Duc River
8) Smolt migrate to the sea to feed for a few years.
9) Adult steelhead return to the Sol Duc River to spawn in / near the Snider
Creek area!! Some others return to a trap facility on Snider Creek and these fish are also
artificially spawned.
Although technically hatchery fish
(they are marked by a clipped ventral fin), we look at these fish as natives and release
all that we can back into the river in hopes that they will spawn naturally in Snider
Creek ... many pairs have been doing so over the last few years.
Please help us by letting
Snider Creek fish go after they are caught ... each fish released helps preserve our
future angling opportunities!!
I f you would be interested in making a donation to
this program to help pay for food costs for the smolt, maintenance of transport truck,
salary of caretaker of the facility, and upkeep of the facility... please
contact us, we can make arrangements for a donation.
Our current plans
include expanding this project into the Calawah River as well, and
funding would be helpful in setting that program up!
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