Homing and straying patterns of fall chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) released from the Glenariffe Salmon Research Station on the Rakaia River, New Zealand, are reported, based on coded-wire tag recoveries from the 1978-84 brood years. Of 17 671 tagged adults recovered, 87.9% returned to the Rakaia, and the rest were recovered from 12 other catchments up to 500 km away. The number of strays entering a given river increased with discharge and with proximity to the Rakaia, but most strays were recorded in catchments north of the Rakaia. A higher proportion of salmon released in winter, when the downriver migration of naturally produced chinook is a minimum, strayed to other catchments (14.9-20.6%) than did those released at other times of the year (3.6-7.6%). However, straying within the Rakaia catchment was largely unaffected by release date, suggesting that imprinting by fry to the natal tributary is separate from imprinting by smolts to the mainstem river. There was a complex interaction between age at maturity, release date, and straying rates; straying of 4-yr-old fish was more strongly influenced by release date than straying of younger fish. Notwithstanding this interaction, straying was more prevalent among older fish.
