Any interest in proposing that the East Fork of the Satsop be opened upstream of the state park?

YOU GOTTA BE CRAZY!!!!

those are prime spawning grounds. they can't control the snaging on the lower river much less opening up the spawning beds. I can't see any logic in doing that, if you can't catch one in the lower river then leave the spawing ones alone. they don't even smoke.

dcrzfitter

The majority of the spawing takes place 2-5 miles above the bridge. A real good reason to keep it closed.

East Fork of the Satsop:

Propose all you want........it'll never happen......The bridge at the park has been the "cut off" spot for 30+ yrs. There is no need to have that open above that!!!!.......

"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

skunkmaster,could you tell me more about why you would like the upper east fork opened?if you want to fish it join the broodstock program they fish it for natives, for there so called enhancement program.in my opinion,i cannot see any benefit to kill natives to make hatchery fish.theres not that much water between the hatchery and the park,it is real good spawning water and should be left alone.i have counted 3 reds so far in the east fork below the park.scott

remember;pack a camera not a club

Scotty,


As for the broodstock program you have it all wrong. I have fished with this program for a 3 years. The way this program works is very helpful to the system. We catch native fish spawn them at the hatchery and then release the smolts back into small tribs on the same river. This gives them a much better survival rate!!! Politicaly we are required to fin clip the smolt (thank the indians) when these fish return they are put up above the hatchery and allowed to continue and spawn as a native steelhead. so could you please explain to me how this program is just out to make more "hatchery fish" ?

it is away for us who fish this system to help put back into it. how often have you done something like that?

dcrzfitter

sorry dcrzfitter,i stand corrected.you take natives spawn and kill them, raise smolts in the hatchery,release fin clipped natives in the small tribs,they come back people catch and kill them.sounds like a great program.my only other question is can't natives spawn on their own?do the fin clipped natives go back to that little trib and spawn, or where they came from?maybe you could help me out.thanks. scott. p.s.next time you are going to the satsop shoot me a e-mail i would like to discuss this with you in person

[This message has been edited by scotty98541 (edited 03-04-2001).]

scotty,

As I pointed out in my last post. yes, they do return to the small tribs to spawn. Hatchery fish are no longer planted in the Satsop so when they get them in the trap at the hatchery they are put above and allowed to do their thing. It is to bad that we have to clip these guys. it has to do with the indians, they say that any steelhead that is in a hatchery after a certain size must be fin clipped. We would love to release them with all their fins. The small tribs that we put these fish in don't get runs. they did at one time but no long do. by hatching out the eggs in a hatchery we get a better survival then they do in the wild. now we put them back into the system and when they return to spawn we allow them to. now we have established runs where we had none for many years. when their young return they have all fins. yes, we do lose some to harvest because of the clipped fins but we still get a better return.

dcrzfitter

Scotty
THey dont kill the nates that they spawn in the hatchery they spawn they live and then place them back in the system
Just wanted to point that out thats all

------------------
work is for people who dont know how to fish

A couple of questions I have:

How do they strip the females and get all the eggs out? This is a no kill??

What fin get clipped? I would think they should clip one other than the adipost(sp) and put a no kill on that type of marked fish.

Why would the indians dictate on clipping?

thanks guys,i have a few more concerns.is it possible to spawn the eggs out of the females alive?and how to they do that? scott

yes you can strip the eggs without killing the fish. have caught many salmon that start spitting eggs as soon as they hit the bank. I would amagine they keep the fish in a holding tank until the mature.

I've witnessed 2 methods for taking eggs that keep the fish alive.

1) An air-injected needle is inserted into the belly. With minimal air pressure the eggs squirt out and are collected

2) A hatchery technician simply strokes the belly of a ripe fish, thus producing eggs.

In both instances, the fish often swims away if care is taken.

I have some questions about this program:

Who manages the Satsop program and what are it's detailed goals?

Why was it started? Is there a time line for the program? How is success defined by the broodstock program managers? Is success defined by it's augmented the run well enough too sustain itself?

What are the broodstock program's measures for success?

I thought there was a hatchery plant on the Satsop, if you look at the WDFW smolt releases it reads that it was planted. Were these smolts of the broodstock program or other stock?

First the hens are killed and stripped. This is required so they can be checked for desease. The buck are returned to the system. This is the first year of the return and the last time I talked to Herm the return was looking pretty good. Maybe as high as 3 or 4 percent. ( best guess ) Compare that to other systems hatchery fish. This is important because the hatchery stock use by the state is in sad shape. I like the Idea of clipping a fin other than adipose and requiring realease. Once fully seeded, then some harvestcould be allowed.

Before anyone goes wild on me I don't know everything about this program but there seems to be some good things happening.

Who is running this program? We need more of this.

We need to do somthin with our winter hatchery strain. Its pretty sad when you get more summer runs back when they plant less than half in most situations. It just goes to show ya that those skamania fish have good roots.