In a study using 14 paired‐release groups over 10 release years, we compared the performance of hatchery summer steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss that were acclimated as smolts (AC) for 16–57 d before release into ponds supplied with ambient stream water with that of fish trucked from the hatchery and directly released (DR) into Spring, Deer, and Little Sheep creeks in northeastern Oregon. After releasing the fish into streams, we monitored out‐migration travel times and survival to Lower Granite Dam (LGD) on the Snake River using freeze brand marks or implanted passive integrated transponder tags in a subsample of each release group. Across all release groups, travel time was significantly slower for AC fish (34.7 d) than for DR fish (31.8 d), though there was no significant difference in survival probability to LGD. We used recoveries of coded wire tags to estimate smolt‐to‐adult survival (SAS) and a stray rate index (SRI) for the AC and DR strategies. Across all release groups, SAS was 33% higher and SRI 42% lower for AC steelhead. At each release site acclimation increased average SAS by at least 11% and decreased SRI by at least 16.5%. We found a significant, negative linear relationship between travel time to LGD and SAS; however, there was no significant relationship between survival to LGD and SAS, which implies that judgments about the success or failure of a novel rearing or release strategy should not be made based on out‐migration survival. Acclimating juvenile steelhead produced significantly higher SAS and lower SRI in the hatchery program we evaluated; however, our results are not consistent with those of other steelhead acclimation studies.

We describe a new method to collect adult Pacific Lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus in wadable streams using a backpack electrofisher with pulsed, direct current at 300 V, 50 Hz, and 4 milliseconds pulse width in a 150 m2 reach of Eel Creek, a small dunal stream in Oregon (USA). The 150 m2 collection reach was predominately coarse substrate (20% boulders, 60% cobble, 15% pebbles, and 5% sand), whereas the substrate in the remainder of the 4.2 kilometer long Eel Creek is predominately sand and silt. The specific conductivity of the stream was 83.7 μS X cm‐1 and water temperatures ranged from 8.9 to 17.2oC, with water depth ≤1.2 m. One person electrofished while gradually moving downstream, and up to 6 netters stationed up to 6 m away covered most of the channel width and caught the lamprey as they emerged from the substrate and floated or swam downstream. We collected 118 adult lamprey (mean: 29.5 lamprey X hr‐1; range: 4 – 80 lamprey X hr‐1) measuring 504 ±54 mm TL over eight collection events during 2018 – 2021. A total of 117 of 118 of these fish were subsequently anesthetized, handled, tagged, and released within a few hours with no mortalities, external injuries, or abnormal behavior. One lamprey (0.8% of all collected lamprey) that was collected and tagged, died during a second collection 35 d later. The estimated peak power output was 267.7 μW X cm‐1 and the estimated mean body volume of the lamprey was 378 ±68 cm3. The results suggest that backpack electrofishing I a useful method for collecting adult lamprey in streams with favorable habitat that concentrates them.