Since the St. Joseph River is a tributary to Lake Michigan, big-lake biologists like Brian Breidert also manage the steelhead populations that use the river during the course of their lives. They stock the different strains of steelhead in the river and monitor their populations.

"In the spring of 2008, we stocked right around 160,000 Skamania steelhead in the St. Joe, and about another 35,000 Michigan-strain steelhead," reported Breidert. "We also stocked more fall-release Skamanias in October. We stocked about 80,000 Skamanias then (no Michigan-strain fish).

"The fish coming back this winter will be from the year-class of 2006," continued Breidert. "We should see a good run this year, as long as they grow. Otherwise, we'll see a very large run next year."

In 2006, the DNR stocked a total of 194,210 Skamania-strain steelhead in the St. Joe, along with 40,000 Michigan-strain steelhead. So, there should be plenty of fish waiting to return to the river for the 2009 spawn.

Although the usual scenario for spawning steelhead is for the Skamanias to return in the summer and Michigan fish to return in the winter, it didn't happen that way during the 2007-2008 spawning run.

"The Skamanias did not want to come into the hot water of the river during the summer of 2007," Breidert said. "They just decided to stay out in the lake and continue eating. They did not come in until March of 2008!"

Although the height of the steelhead run is usually in March, last year the height of the run was in April. A number of factors were likely to blame for the late-arriving steelhead last year. One of those reasons was the cold spring.

"We didn't even start seeing fish in 2008 until we got to the third week in March," exclaimed Breidert. "Normally, the bulk of the fish show up by the end of March, but in 2008, the bulk of the fish didn't show up until the third week in April. We were still counting fish in May!"

Once the fish arrive and begin to prepare for the spawn, there are several places where anglers traditionally fish for them. The Twin Branch dam in Mishawaka is definitely one of the most popular spots, if not the No. 1 spot. Since the dam has no fish ladders around it, the steelhead can go no farther. Many fish will mill around the area for quite some time before giving up and finding a suitable spawning area downstream.

Both boaters and shore-fishermen concentrate their efforts around the dam. Shore-fishermen must fish where there are no obstructions like trees, logjams and other obstacles, and the riverbank adjacent to the dam on the south shore is fairly clear. "There is a lot of shoreline accessibility there," agreed Breidert. Anglers on shore stake out their fishing areas, and boaters out in the main river flow anchor their boats and do the same.

Other good spots include the Frank Zappia access site located just downstream of the Twin Branch dam, and other favorites in South Bend like Leeper Park and Keller Park. "Leeper Park is right downtown," explained Breidert, "and Keller is located toward the waste treatment plant, where I-80/90 crosses the river."