I am kind of surprised that nobody has considered the impact of a 5 million + pink run on the resident coho fishery this year. It seems to me that every other year we go through this same song and dance. The only common factor that I can think of is the pinks. With over 5 million returning to the sound they have a major impact on the competition for food resources right when the little rezzies heading out of the net pens. With that much competition for food around that leaves little incentive to stay in the Sound. It seems to me that every winter following a pink run is typically slow for resident coho and the winters before are good. I have kept a journal for the past few years an it is easy to look back on notice a trend. Winter 2005, 2007 and 2009 were all amazing for ressies. The winters of 2006, 2008, and 2010 were all piss poor... I would be willing to wager that next winter will be much better...
"It wouldn't surprise me if the humpies were actually eating the rezzies "???? Don't see how. Gigharbor - Interesting obsrevations; however I would have thought that any potential impacts from pink fry would have been seen in the even years - the years that the massive numbers of fry would be leaving the rivers and be in a position to compete with the resident coho for food resources. Just another example of how dynamic things in Puget Sound can be and what little we know about what really influences the survvial of our various salmonids. BTW - It looks like the managers missed the target a bit with that 5.4 million pink forecast in 2009. In talking with some WDFW folks it looks like just the escapement of pinks in Puget Sound rivers in 2009 was approx. 8 million. Tight lines Curt
Curt, I would think that it is probably the adult pink and not the fry that are having an impact on the resident coho. The life history over lap on pink fry and juvenile coho salmon wouldn't be expected to be very extreme as they are both very different. Pink fry would likely provide food for the coho, plus they are known to be very quick at exiting the Puget Sound after dropping out of the rivers; unlike chum fry which hang around as late as July. So I wouldn't expect the impact to be overly extreme. The adult pinks however eat many of the same things as the resident coho would be expected to eat during that time of the year (i.e. krill, smaller baitfish, etc). I have looked back to find other things to indicate what the factors could be and pinks are the only common suspect. It seems like there would be little reason to stay in the Sound with 8 million pinks to compete with for food...
Gigharbor - It is hard for me to see where returning adult pinks would be able to successfully out compete the smaller resident coho. For one the pinks were virtually all north of the Tacoma narrows. Two the small coho would be able to feed on smaller/younger krill etc before the adults would have a chance at them. And finally and most importantly until like in 2008 where there were juvenile coho everywhere in Central/South Sound during the summer in 2009 the juvenile coho in the same areas were virtually missing in action before the adult pinks had entered the sound. Did they somehow know that the massive horde of pinks were coming? Your theory may well be correct; I just have a hard time putting my finger on the mechanism. Searun Franatic - I agree that keeping journal can be very helpful; both in your fishing and providing potential insights to long term trends. Tight lines Curt
Don, How do you know this ?? I would like to start a program up here in the north sound to release fish
There are some resident coho released in the North Sound, but it isn't as massive as the South Sound releases to my knowledge.
A DFW biologist I know mentioned this to me several times lately. I volunteer in his cutthroat tagging programs, and we cooperate on some other volunteer projects, so he has a lot of credibility with me. I believe that the program will be expanded north of here, but they will monitor this effort to see how it works, and of course the funds may have dried up I'll post more info as it comes available.
Hear that, it was pretty bad, wentout the other day and only saw 1 all evening instead of a group going by every 5 minutes. blackmouth and resident coho fishing pretty much sucks so far this year. maybe next year
A couple of years ago I caught a rezzie with a coded-wire tag in its head that WDFW told me was raised at Bernie Gobin hatchery and released at Tulalip Creek (tribal). I've also seen a couple of net pens at the Edmonds fishing pier, but don't know their release schedule. I suspect there are other rezzie release sites in the north sound that others know about.
i think he's mistaken this forum as an aquarium enthusiast forum...all of his posts seem to be a bit off topic or something
Judging from this and a couple of postings on other threads, I suspect maxcreigs is a sophisticated bot. Anyone know how to flag "him" to Chris?
