Speaking of walleyes.. I once saw a In Fisherman show with these two knuckel heads from Minnesota fishing for them in the columbia river " or lake" if you want to be realistic.. Anyway, they had a running commentary that pretty much said that if they could get the salmon issue out of the way then the columbia could become the greatest destination perch hole on the face of the earth... " With an agressive stocking program and elimination of politics" These fish would be stacked like "cordwood" yha??? oh YHA, your darn tootin they would be!!!! That would be gee golly great!!!! Oh YHA, YHA !!!

Steelyhorn,

First off, I was not trying to offend you. If I have I am truely sorry. Second off, as a matter of fact I do work in a field that would be little affected by the loss of agriculture, as does my wife. I have had two jobs in the area and both were technology jobs, there are more here than you might think. Obviously there could be severe impacts to the local economy, but frnakly the local grain farmers are not doing to well anyway.

I mentioned soft white because it and woodchips are about all that is barged down the Snake. Plain and simple. Fact is, though there has been significant dmamge to the watersheds, there is far more useable habitat in the snake river drainage than fish. The Minam, Grand Ronde and sever other streams have headwaters deep in no-mans land. The fish simply are not getting to and from. Between harvest (in the ocean and on the Columbia proper) and the dams, not much makes it through. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the voters of this state voted not to ban commercial fishing in WA (I know the fishing would have continued in AK and on the high seas). There is nothing a voter referendum can do about tribal fishing. But there is, through the elected officals, something that can be done about the Snake river dams. That's all. No offence intended.

backlash two, I never said that predation wouldn't exist, I said that predation below the dams wouldn't exist. Dams are like a feeding station for Squawfish, that is why the vast majority are caught right below them. The thing is, most of the smolts they are feeding on are already stunned or dead.
Have you seen a Squawfish? They have no teeth, and move relatively slow. they are scavengers. Do you really think that they would be paying so much money to get rid of them if the dams weren't there? Who do you think pays the checks for the Squawfish program? Bonneville Power of course!
As for Bass and Walleye, of course they would still exist if the dams were removed, but obviously not in the numbers they do now. How many Bass and Walleye were in the Columbia before the dams???

There weren't any walleye, and only a few bass before the dams. But, as everyone continually learns as time passes, once you introduce something to a new environment, quite often it thrives in its new digs(i.e. Columbia River shad). And once something is introduced and thrives, it is literally impossible to get rid of. Plus, it's not just us silver scale chasers out there anymore. It has become a BASSMasters and InFisherman kind of world. The number of bass and walleye would probably go down, but they would have a lot less acre feet of hunting grounds to patrol to find the same number of smolts(or more). Think back before the dams, there were no walleye, no shad, and a relatively small population of bass. Almost everything the river produced in the way of nutrition went to feeding anadramous fish. Now, there are millions of shad, and hundreds of thousands of walleye and bass in the system competing for the same food, and hence, the smolts have also become food.

I have to agree with ole backlash about the predator's effects. I am just dishearten because I don't get $4 for kickin butt on the walleye!! I think if the BPA sees it neccesary to pay people $4 for a squawfish than we should get the same for bonking a big 12# hen walleye!! They simply do not belong in the Columbia,unfortunately there is a bunch of those OTHER fisherman who think it is quite neat to fish for those scaly things.. If there is any of you OTHER fisherman reading this please do me a favor and give everyone of them the wood shampoo!! Thanks P.S. Dino, no offense taken, I just get alittle heated up on these subjects.

Speaking of Walleye , didn`t Oregon want to have a no limit fishery on the Columbia ?? but Washington said no way ... Hey horn hunter i`ve put the wood shampoo ( I like that ) to a few 10# hens , and heard about it from some of the OTHER fisherman .. The die hard Walleye guys release all FEMALES .. Not us we BONK em all....

So walleye are typically a slow water (ie. lake) species of fish. I bet if you remove the dams and return the river to natural flows I don't think these fish would do all that great. Just my view.
Also, Walleye are predominantly bottom dwelling fish, salmonid smolts are more surface oriented (upper 10-15 feet in open water), how much do walleyes really impact smolt survival? Anybody know of any studies on this or pulled any smolts out of a dead walleye?
And one more little tidbit. I was watching some fish go thorugh the fish ladder one day and I happened to see a fish pass through the fish viewing area. Yup, it was a walleye. I asked the lady there counting fish and she confirmed that every once in a while one will come through. You know which dam I was at?.......Lower Granite! Kinda makes you think don't it.

Duke

Yes, I have caught walleye that were puking up Salmon smolts, right below a hatchery.

Duke, Your right the walleyes and others wont do as well with dam removal the lower water temps will even reduce the numbers of squawfish.
Well if the clinton Gore administration is calling for a moritorium on Snake River dam removal then it is time to change focus to the Elwha and start writting calling emailing canidates (including Slade) about the need to remove both dams now.
The Park service owns and now operates the two dams Alldwell, (Lower) and Glines Canyon(Upper) Slade says yes to removal of lower but is foot dragging about upper. All partys to the rehabiltation are negotiating for a plan on stock rebuilding they all want to see both dams come out at the same time . This will minimize the negative impacts of removal by only having to deal with the sediment redistribution one time instead of twice. Makes sense to me if you think so to drop Slade a line it can make a difference in a election year.
Be sure an mention that Native Son called him a Jerk. Bob wont let me call him what I call him around the campfire on this BB. Just kidding