Steelhead

[BothellBikeGuy]

I didn't catch why some of the rivers are closing early to steelhead fishing. Is it rain, low returns?

Brand new to sport and only made it out 3 times during my first season. I'm O for 3 but love it anyway - being out on the water is awesome - reminds me of my flyfishing days only wetter:)

[Robbo]

All of the rivers are forecast well under escapement for wild steelhead. I don't have the numbers in front of me...but I know that both the Green and Puyallup are forecast at well under a 1000 wild steelhead and more like 500 for the Puyallup. Pretty pathetic!

[cobble cruiser]

What is interesting to me is that there has been quite a few early wild fish caught literally all over the place from Oregon to Chilliwack. In fact on a recent trip out to the coast, A friend of mine hooked two really nice wild fish in two casts. Needless to say I wasn't able to make a cast due to assisting my friend. When I did get my gear in order, I hooked up on the very first cast! Three wild fish in three casts! The next hole right before dark and the takout we landed three hatchery fish as well.

I know this is not the Puget Sound area rivers in question but the Sky is seeing some nice early wilds as well as a small river in the puget sound vicinity is having a really good early season for wild steelhead as well! Are the numbers a bit off? Always better to be on the safe conservative side for the fish's sake but it does make me wonder.

[Smalma]

Robbo -
If what I'm hearing about the recent decisions by the Feds on allowable impacts on the ESA listed Puget Sound steelhead is true the management paradigm for those fish is changing significantly.

It appears in terms of potential seasons the forecast is not really relevant any longer. If I understood correctly seasons like the spring season on the Skagit is essentially history; even in those cases where the run forecasts are well above the escapement goal.

Tight lines
Curt

[Nelly]

First off, I thrilled to have you join our forum Smalma! Welcome and I sincerely look forward to your input!

It does hurt to see that spring opportunity on the Skagit go the way of the Snohomish and Stilly systems.
However, I do hold out hope that we can somehow get a grip on the estuarine mortality of our Puget Sound streams. Perhaps on the Skagit in particular the removal of dikes in the Fir Island area and the associated increase in habitat may make a difference.

In the mean time does anyone want to go cormorant hunting?

[Smalma]

Nelly -
I always enjoy sharing what little I know or for that matter what I think I might know -LOL!

While esturian habitat is a critical component of the habitat base for Chinook it is not nearly as critical for steelhead. They spend virtual no time in the estuary - typically just a few days as a smolt and another day or two as adults out of their 4 or 5 year life. The production bottle necks for our beloved steelhead is the freshwater habitat and marine survival. Typically the key freshwater habitat is either the amount of suitable habitat available during the low flows of summer or more typically in north Puget Sound rivers the amount and quality of over-winter habitat. As you know only 1 out of 1,000 of a spawning female's eggs are likely to survive to become a smolt under good conditions - it does not take much of a drop in that normal survival to really put steelhead in a bad position.

As folks now know the steelhead smolts that do make it pass the mouth of our rivers have pretty high initial mortalities. Recent studies indicate that 1/2 or more are likely to die before making out of the Straits to the ocean. As your comment about the cormorants indicates predation must play some role in that high immediate mortality. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that it is common to see high initial mortality of smolts as they leave one envirnoment (freshwater) for another (salt water). What is not know is how much higher (if at all) that mortality we are now seeing is from what it may have been historically. Because marine survivals are currently so low it seems reasonable to assume that the measured early marine mortality is higher than it was in the past but that at this point is nothing more than an assumption. It could be that is where that increased mortality is or it may be that the increased in mortaltiy takes place once the fish move further off shore or as is often the case it could be a combination of the two.

Regardless we would welcome an improvement in that marine survival and seeing increasing runs for a change. Whether that would lead to much in the way of increased fishing opportunities may not follow.

Tight lnes
Curt

[Robbo]

Where's are old friend Tommy Higgins when you need him? He was hell on cormorants and any other fish duck for that matter

Back when the North Puget Sound rivers saw 10% plus returns the marine survival had to be much greater than that. Is it pollution, habitat, predators, harvest...or what? Who knows. I'm not totally convinced it's habitat, since most of those watersheds had the living shiznit logged out of them during the time frame of the "good old days" and the dikes were already in place by then blocking off 95% of the associated wetlands. If only 10% of the smolts make it past the estuary, as is the case now, we're going to see adult returns a helluva lot less than that.

[BothellBikeGuy]

Facinating stuff guys. I'm as interested in learning about the biology of steelhead (and salmon) as I am in catching them.

What role does the production of hatchery fish play in all of this? They must compete with the wild fish for resources. Are the hatchery fish able to reproduce and if they do create offspring are those fish considered wild? I'm sure momma steelhead doesn't clip fins:)