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Casting
Club Presents Steelhead Tribute in the Arroyo
Eric Callow, president of the Pasadena Casting Club, greeted an enthusiastic crowd of eighty supporters who were treated to brief presentations and a hardy lunch. Will Trefry, a member of the club and a board member of Cal Trout, also spoke and emphasized the role of that statewide organization in the protection and restoration of trout and steelhead throughout California. Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus), named for their steel-blue coloring, used to reside in the Arroyo Seco until 1920. They are similar to rainbow trout with a life cycle similar to that of a salmon. They are an anadromous species. Born and reared in freshwater streams, as juveniles they migrate to estuaries, adjust to saltwater and then migrate to the ocean to mature into adults. As they begin to sexually mature, they return to the streams of their birth to spawn and then attempt to return to the ocean to repeat the cycle. After spending one to three years foraging on the bountiful food sources of the Pacific, adult steelhead as large as twenty pounds, return to their home rivers, driven upstream to their headwaters by the urge to reproduce. The steelhead tribute is especially significant because the Arroyo Seco Watershed Restoration Feasibility Study, now being completed, designates the steelhead as a focus species for the restoration program. A focus species is a target for restoration that indicates the overall health of the watershed. Restoring stream and habitat conditions for the steelhead will be most productive in restoring the overall health of the Arroyo Seco ecosystem. For more information about:
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The Pasadena Casting
Club celebrated its 55th anniversary on Saturday, March 23 by
unveiling a spectacular tribute to the steelhead that used to run in the
Arroyo Seco stream near their pond.