Is this the end?

[jamisonace]

I appreciate your concern and I think we should all share that concern. The Columbia has a salmon return that is 4% of what it once was. I see that as reason to be concerned.

Do I think that our salmon and steelhead runs are done for because we aren't seeing off the charts numbers? No, but we shouldn't be complacent about it because we filled a tag with hatchery fish either.

We are all stewards of the rivers. An honest and productive discussion like the one madasahab has started here shouldn't be met with condescending remarks.

We can all disagree on point without being disagreeable........and before anyone pulls up the archives to use my own words against me, I'll be the first to admit that I've been ornary once or twice on here myself so this isn't a condemnation of anyone out here

 

[madasahab]

I appreciate your concern and I think we should all share that concern. The Columbia has a salmon return that is 4% of what it once was. I see that as reason to be concerned.

Do I think that our salmon and steelhead runs are done for because we aren't seeing off the charts numbers? No, but we shouldn't be complacent about it because we filled a tag with hatchery fish either.

We are all stewards of the rivers. An honest and productive discussion like the one madasahab has started here shouldn't be met with condescending remarks.

We can all disagree on point without being disagreeable........and before anyone pulls up the archives to use my own words against me, I'll be the first to admit that I've been ornary once or twice on here myself so this isn't a condemnation of anyone out here

Well said and thank you

 

[joem]

It's obvious that you don't read well or retain much. I said I was concerned, have done ok catching and that the general consensus from boats, bankies and guides was that things were slow.

Do us a favor over here and stay in the valley with that attitude...

I have had a fair season going 5 & 2 from the bank, but for the amount of time put in I should have had much higher numbers....

no i do retain a lot you just dont remember what you said thats obvious. you say that because people arnt catching fish the numbers are down? they planted alton baker me and my friend went to have some fun there and catch fish. the fish were every where and a lot of people fishing but we were the only people to catch fish, does that mean the fish werent there? no it means we were the only ones serching for fish not doing the same thing. you can not catch aything and the guy next to you can catch a bunch. a guide can not catch anything but the guy down in a secret hole can catch a bunch. you say the fish numbers are down because the people you have talked to havent caught that many? yes thats what you said i understood it the first time you said it no need for 3 times but you keep repeating it then tell me its obvious i dont pay attention when really i am the one payingf attention to what you right more than you do.

and for your comment about me staying over here, how bout no they dont want them hatchery fish spawning so some one has to catch them and well since your so dead set on the numbers being down looks like im going to have to come over there and do it for you.

oh and for my attitude? i dont have one just simply repeating what you said and giving my opinion, thats not an attitude that called "some one disagrees with me itis" and you're the one who has it. oh and your in salem thats the valley smart one. but im in the mckenzie valley your in the willimette valley, and yes i know its the same drainige but different valleys so dont try to act like im dumb. haha and dont you dare tell me again that guides and you aren't catching as many because i already know that. i aint a butt hurt fisherman that has to make up excuses as to why im not catching fish.

 

[Roolinghills]

It definitely doesn't seem to be getting easier to catch salmon/steelhead.. but when I finally get one I feel pretty freakin' proud of myself.

I know the fish passage at Willamette is showing a big difference from the 10 yr. average and a lot of people are having a heck of a time tying in to a fish, but I've noticed that the guys and gals with experience are still getting after it and landing some nice ones, consistently. I'm always reminded of these conversations when I head to places like Dibblee or North Fork and I see the amount of fish hanging from stringers in the water or being cleaned on the tables.. the fish are there. It just seems to be that they're less enticed by us newbies and our inexperienced techniques. One thing's for sure, it's not gonna stop me from dialing this in.

It could be the tsunami, I've heard stuff about the vibrations from off-shore earthquakes and sulfur emissions, and then there's always us. We as a species have been pretty successful at trashing this place and it's waters.

However! I was watching a show on OPB about volcanoes.. an entire episode was dedicated to a wild run of coho (I think it was coho) who had been pushed out of the rivers they were born in and were then forced to migrate and find another place to spawn. Fascinating stuff. But I guess my point is that they, themselves, are constantly trying to find the best way to survive. If they're not coming back to the metro area, through the Columbia, where are they going???

 

[madasahab]

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/STEP/index.asp


I did some research on my own and I am going to get active.

 

[18406ej]

Roolinghills brings up several interesting points there...

I absolutely suck at fishing, but as I have said many times I think actually catching a fish is just a bonus on top of the rest of the adventure and solitude. Or this could just be my excuse for sucking at fishing... Anyway, I did land two really nice fish Tuesday, but I was also driftboat fishing with a friend who is a professional guide. He is one of those jerks that says, "Cast over there, right in front of that third rock", and you do and there is a friggin fish on the line. So I agree that skill and experience have a busload of relevance to who will get fish and who won't. PS- I suck. I won't.

Roolinghills also provides a point to consider when he mentions tsunamis, vibrations, sulfur-based chemical changes and other environmentally related factors that might cause the stupid fish to go astray. There have been some new reports that fish movements, such as finding the exact river that they came from, are based more on magnetic fields than on chemical tracers, and that these fields are gradually shifting as the positive/negative poles are slowly reversing themselves.

I have a court-ordered injunction against me that states I cannot watch OPB until I pay them the money from that pledge I made when I was really, really drunk. I did see a similar program on a different channel that talked about Coho and other species being forced to find new places to migrate and to spawn. The fish will travel incredible distances to find new waters to their liking. One Tribe (or whatever) of Coho actually traveled thousands of miles from the San Juan Islands to the sunny shores of East Guam after being forced from the Washington area by that one jerky kid with the bb gun. The scientists don't know if the Coho had once used East Guam as a primordial spawning ground and were forced away (when the US Government wisely decided to store like a billion gallons of DDT, Agent Orange and who knows what else in thin-walled steel drums, exposed 24/7/365 for 40 years to the salty tropical air), or if the Coho are just like a lot of other Washington residents, sick of the rain and the government and the whole goddamned deal with Boeing, and wanted to go to someplace sunny and warm and bright and without a ****ing Starbucks on every mother****ing corner.

Whatever the reason for the odd migration, the TV show said there is no scientific answer for why a bunch of stupid fish would desire to spawn on an island without any freshwater rivers. They did interview Julie from "The Loveboat" and she said most people just come to East Guam for the cheap well drinks and are then just too wasted to want to ****.

 

[eugene1]

Not sure what you do ej, but if politics don't work out for ya there should be a place in writing or humor related industries. As usual it's LOL.

Thanks,

 

[eugene1]

I saw that program about the alaskan fish and the volcano too. Pretty entertaining, but it was about half science and half fiction. I don't think they know that the entire run was forced to go back to the ocean that one year due to a volcano blowing up. Fish do stray tho, so the fact that SOME fish from one river colonized a different river isn't that novel.

Best,