Metolius Redd Survey

Hope this link works.

The fishing there is getting better and better.

Resident population .... catch and release only .... and you are surprised??? Apply those rules to anadromous fish and we won't be eating any --- ever.

There is a Wild Chrome on Westfly.com - is this you too?

The reason I ask is I just met Scott Richmond this past weekend (nice guy!) and was checking out his site. Noticed a "Wild Chrome" over there as well.

I don't want to get into the hatchery vs wild fish right now. Maybe a future post. However, you may want to check out the Upper Molalla River for wild fish (above the Forks). They aren't planting it anymore, it's a beautiful canyon and has some nice fish (for a west side stream).

Thumper no offence but catch and release works!!!! I am not sure there is much a future for sport harvest. Maybe there always will be on certain rivers such as the Cowlitz but the fact is wildlife budgets are gonna continue to decrease and hatcheries are going to continue to close. Not saying thats what I want just saying that is reality. Sooner or later there will be so few hatchery fish that only a few wild fish will be left. We need to get used to the idea of not killing what we catch! Every other sector of the sportfishing community has done that Salmon and steelhead is next.. Don't have to like it but that is how it's gonna be

Thumper,
I like to eat fish as much as anybody (freezer full of hatchery fish right now), but I'd rather see more wild fish than be able to keep a freezer full 24/7/365. I think in the future, we're going to have some planted rivers and some unplanted. That opinion has been expressed by more than one fisheries biologist I've met too. My point in posting this is that this is a great example of how well wild fish can recover after hatchery plantings are removed. Before discontinuing the hatchery plantings, ODFW documented decreased genetic disease resistance in wild Metolius trout by comparing wild fish from above and below an impassable falls. The only difference between the 2 wild populations was that the fish below the falls hadn't been impacted by hatchery fish. The success on the Metolius is also completely separable from ocean conditions, which complicate similar results seen in steelhead and salmon.

Killer Dave,
Yeah, it's me. Thanks for the tip. I'm hearing the same about the upper Clackamas.

WildChrome - Thanks. Here's some more details:

I'm surprised the bio even mentioned C&R as a possible factor. The Metolius went C&R on wild fish back about 1984. It wasn't enough to bring back the population, the stockers were having too big an impact through all the documented ways - spatial competition, disease, and introgression.

Ceasing stocking was a 17 year fight. ODFW fought it at every turn. The local ODFW bio and some business owners said to cease stocking would be the end of the economic world. (Hmmm, do I hear echoes of Tillamook - you betcha). Every possible argument was launched against making the Metolius a wild fish river.

Advocates of wild fish were demonized locally and accused of wanting to 'ruin the fishing', (Tillamook again?)

In the end, I'm glad we fought, and for the river, that we won.

Again, if you want to see the pretty wild fishies swimming around with none kept for the table, then stop hatchery plantings. If you want to catch and eat, don't let the hatcheries close. Your choice. Just watch what happens on the Tillamook streams. Catch and keep will be but a distant memory if the hatcheries close. Too bad.

If that is a "success" (as Wild Chrome puts it), then you have a different definition of success than I do.

Thumper,
I can appreciate that you have different priorities and preferences. We're all different in some ways and that's ok. I personally would never advocate ceasing all stocking just as I would hope you wouldn't demand every stream be stocked. In terms of success, I see on the Metolius and in Camp Sherman a lot of happy fishermen, several thriving businesses and lots of big, wild trout. Yes, I consider that a success!

Gary K,
The bio's were from Mt Hood NF and PGE, not ODFW.

Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

So far this spring the Columbia has produced some 145,000 angler days...... would C and R net us the same result?

If there were 200,000 wild fish coming over the dams, than U BET!

Most people are just happy to catch fish, a big fish at that.

I would rather CNR 3 or 4 wild fish in a day than bonk one brat and go home.

Therein lies the difference. I guess I have less desire to hassle 3 or 4 wild fish just to let them go. But I love catching hatchery fish and eating them. Yum. Viva la difference!