I see from Plunkers post the Skagit system recieves almost as many winter fish as the Snohomish system. For at least the last 5 years the Skagit plants have been close or exceeded the Snohomish plants. Where are these fish? Yes,some are caught on the Cascade and the main stem, but not the number that should be considering the plant numbers.

multiply the number planted by .03 and that is what the return should be.. Thats right expect 3% of the plant to return in a good year

The Skagit doesn't get as much fishing pressure as the Snohomish system. Do the Skagit hatcheries get more fish back than the Sky/Snoqualmie hatcheries?
Or maybe dem tarheals is catchin' 'em an' jus' ain't punchin' dey cards? :p

skydriftin,

That is an interesting question to which I have no answer.
Perhaps smalma or another more informed member might be able to help.

For the Snohomish System:
1996 plants = 414,000
'97-98' harvest:
total tribal = 58
recreational = 2067
plants/harvest = 194.82
Percent of plants harvested = 0.513%
Hatchery Escapement = 536

1997 plants = 196,200
'98-99' harvest:
total tribal = 377
recreational = 4416
plants/harvest = 40.94
Percent of plants harvested = 2.44%
Hatchery Escapement = 816


For the Skagit System:
1996 plants = 289,000
'97-98' harvest:
total tribal = 67
recreational = 347
plants/harvest = 698.07
Percent of plants harvested = 0.143%
Hatchery Escapement = 449

1997 plants = 328,400
'98-99' harvest:
total tribal = 185
recreational = 1055
plants/harvest = 264.84
Percent of plants harvested = 0.378%
Hatchery Escapement = 364

It seems clear that 41 to 195 smolts planted per fish harvested on
the Snohomish System is a whole lot better than the Skagit System
where the rate was 265 to 698 smolts planted per fish harvested.

I counted the total tribal as hatchery although some might be wild.
The two years were the only years where complete data was available online.

There is an explanation for the apparent discrepance in relative return rates on hatchery steelhead between the Skagit and Snohomish River systems. The Skagit Tribes mostly fish steelhead in the Skagit River and a little bit in Skagit Bay. The Tulalip Tribe fishes steelhead exclusively, or almost exclusively, in saltwater. There are 3 ways for a steelhead to return to the Skagit River via Skagit Bay. They are: the Swinomish Channel, Deception Pass, and around the south end of Whidbey Island.

The Tulalip Tribe fishes in an area that includes the pathway of a lot of Skagit steelhead. It is true that some Snohomish steelhead may come through Deception Pass and Skagit Bay on their way to the Snohomish River, but it isn't nearly as likely as having Skagit steelhead coming around Whidbey Island and getting caught by Tulalip nets.

A tagging study on this was done in the late 70s, but there were problems with the study, and the parties (WDFW, Skagit Tribes, Tulalip Tribe) disagreed about the results, so no final report was ever issued. It was clear that Tulalip nets intercept Skagit bound steelhead, however. How likely is it that Skagit and Snohomish systems would exhibit such marked differences in smolt to adult return rates for hatchery steelhead of the same (Chambers Creek) stock?

There may be other explanations for differences in return rate, but this is the most credible one I can think of.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Skydriftin-

There are several factors in the different returns between the Skagit.

Salmo was correct in that when the Tulalips fished heavy in the marine waters their catch included some Skagit fish. At the time of the catch composition study in early 1980s the Tulalips typically had 40 to 60 active steelhead fishers with many fish from drift nets throughout 8-2. Today there are only a couple of fishermen each week and they general fish from set nets near the mouth of the river. As you can see their recent catches have fallen considerably from 40% of the run they caught in the 1980s. As a result it is likely only a few Skagit fish are being caught by the Tulalip fishermen.

Cupo is correct in that there is less fishing on the Skagit than the Snohomish. When both systems were closely monitored with creel surveys it was estimated the total exploitation rate on hatchery fish was typically 70% on the Skagit and approaching 90% on the Snohomish system. Likely this difference in catch rates is due in part to the differences in the fisheries. The Snohomish is much closer to many fishermen. Plunkers are a much higher portion of the Skagit fishermen (on even given day about 60% of the Skagit anglers were plunkers). For some reason the hatchery fish are not caught very well by the plunkers - they do quite well on the wild. There is less bank access for the non-boating shore angler on the Skagit. Finally on the Skagit the flows often are higher than normal and fluctuate daily due to operation of the power dams.

However the most important difference is due to the fact that for some reason the Snohomish just has better smolt to adult survival than other rivers in Puget Sound. The further to the north or south one moves from the Snohomish the poor the return rates. The Skagit's rate may be only 2/3 of that of the Snohomish. This same pattern is seen with coho salmon. While it would be nice if things like survival rates would be constant over time and wide geographic areas it is clear that Mother Nature does not operate that way.

Tight lines
Smalma