Knife River
Knife River
Knife River, MN
The Knife River has the North Shore’s only naturalized wild steelhead trout population and is the only tributary with no natural barriers preventing fish migration. The water clarity does vary from the many tributaries, but much of the bank has been open to access for fly fishing near Old Hwy 61. Pacific Natives Steelhead.
Steelhead are a variety of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Native to the Pacific Northwest, they spawn in rivers from northern California to Alaska. Although in their native range they can exceed 20 pounds, Lake Superior’s steelhead rarely surpass 10 pounds.
Minnesota’s steelhead have existed as a largely self-sustaining population in Lake Superior since first being stocked in 1895. The U.S. Fish Commission brought steelhead here from the McCloud River in northern California. Steelhead were raised to fry stage at the federal fish hatchery, which still stands at the mouth of the Lester River in Duluth, and about 100,000 fry were stocked in Isle Royale’s Washington Harbor. This was the first stocking anywhere of steelhead outside of their native range, and it was a success. Steelhead managed to thrive in Lake Superior.
Much like salmon, steelhead spawn in rivers. In Minnesota their offspring normally spend two years in rivers before exiting at a stage called smolt. Minnesota tributaries to Lake Superior provide marginal steelhead habitat, because the rivers are prone to dramatic fluctuations in temperature and water levels, and because so many of the streams have natural barrier falls that block upstream migration to the best spawning and nursery habitat. Of Minnesota’s tributaries, only the Knife and Blackhoof rivers offer miles of spawning habitat. Still, for many years the species prospered, and a popular steelhead fishery peaked in the 1960s and ’70s before experiencing a deep decline.
Trout Stream Maps Steelhead Initiation Article
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