i wasnt doing anything today so i thought id run up to the Hump to see how many fish at the Hatchery... when i got there there was a big semi being loaded with totes of fish going to the food banks..

i counted 41 totes sitting next to the semi and they were still counting and loadeding fish into other totes. wonder how many times they've done this so far this yr????

walked down to the fish intake and there was plenty fish still there and they had a bunch in the holding pins.

so why didnt they open it earlier? i know we had rain earlier than normal but they could have given a special opener..

i asked someone and they said they wanted to build up the front end of the run again..

thats fine but are they taking any EGGS??? no one answerd when i asked that question...

Oh well only three day to go till it opens.. It just burnd my A$$ is all to see them ship fish out when we cant fish...

I hear ya on that one.They should have opened it on September 15th for hatchery coho only with a one chinook retention from the 16th of October on.They have no problem having emergency closures but big problem with emergency openings.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

In fairness (difficult to do with the DFW) on the subject of early openings- they did open the Green, near Auburn, earlier then scheduled.

This seems to be a common conversation on this board. I just dont understand why they dont open the season a few weeks early. All that surplus, and anglers are just watching it get shipped away via truck.

well, I have a question concerning this topic. does anyone know if those fish which are removed from the system at the hatcheries and taken elsewhere for consumption count as part of the non-tribal take? I sure hope not.

I dont see how since the season isnt even open yet.

I'll try my question again because I would really like to know the answer.

I read in the paper yesterday that the Dungeness hatchery hauled out 247 chrome silvers to the food bank. That coupled with the observation of the totes being filled with fish at the Hump causes me to wonder if those fish are counted against the sportsmen take?

My guess would be that it does, but I have no idea. And what is upsetting is that if it does, don't you think that there should be more emphasis on making fish available to the fishermen when fish show up in the rivers before it opens to fishing?

Who can supply the answer?

im pretty sure they do...... try asking DFW

F5A,

Last I heard, hatchery rack returns don't count against either treaty or non-treaty harvest allocations. One might say those fish surplused are both sides "foregone opportunity."

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

I too was a little upset about the late opener. Should have been opened a month ago. I am really good freinds with all three Humptulips hatchery employees. I've helped them broodstock, I've helped them take eggs, I've helped them clip. I can honestly say I've voluntered 100's of hours helping out up there. A great majority off the fish in this system right now are "early fish" they only take X percentage of these fish for egg takes. When the "late fish" arrive, they take X percentage of these fish for egg takes. That is how there "quota" is reached. So yeah they are shipping lots and lots of fish to the food banks, but there is worse things. I don't know about you guys but I fished the hump today with my girlfriend. From what we saw there is plenty of fish to be had. I didn't even "float it" I fished the first two holes and was done and pulled back out. We had two buck kings, one 20 and the other 30 both sea lice. We got one clipped silver going 18. Not bad for a rainy day on the river. Ohh yeah and every freaking spot was filled, The stevens creek area looked like Walmart at the first of the month. Good luck finding a rock to fish from because the pickings slim. There were a few sleds running up and down, watch out for them. Hundreds of driftboats and pontooners. Hundreds if not throusands of people period. How did anyone else do? I seen lots of fish hooked, lots and lots of kings.

Harbor-Hog

hog you must have been up around the hatchery area?

thanks for the response Salmo....good to hear that the fish go to good use without counting as part of the talley.

The Dungeness put out some fish, but not exactly what I was hoping. I killed three silvers and they are in the smoker now. Fishing was tough in the mid section of river with not many fish being taken. I heard it was a Zoo down below (I can imagine) and don't know what was happening up above. The three I kept were not real fresh fish. Good shape, but definitely not right out of the salt.

The Elwha has been putting out some fine big silvers, but the nets have been hitting the river hard as well.

I've been hearing the Duc has been producing some nice kings, maybe I'll head out there. I need more days off with more hours in each day.

Fish returning to the hatchery are counted as "spawning escapement".... just as fish that spawn in the river are counted as spawning escapement. These surplus hatchery fish are counted as part of the run size but not as part of the harvest. Therefore, they do not "count" on anyone's share.

The vast majority of fish returning to a given hatchery are returns from releases at that same hatchery. However, the hatchery crews always do a fairly complete job of sampling the surplus return for marks and for coded wire tags. Why? Because there are known to be other fish that come in with the hatchery returns. Typically, there will be a few naturally produced fish that enter the hatchery along with all the surplus hatchery fish. Also, there might be a stray or three from a neighboring river. The WDFW and tribal hatchery staff do a good job of sorting all this out despite the often large numbers of surplus fish.

The average hatchery coho seems to be large this year. Marine survival might be a bit lower this past year but the feeding conditions must have been terrific.