We're under physical distance rules in BC but ramps are still open so I went with buddy boat instead of in buddy's boat. Not quite FF but I was looking at Port Angeles while I was fishing. Since fresh fish porn is so hard to find for you guys and it's probably one of your 29" hatchery fish I thought I'd post. Match the hatch and single action reel were in play also.
Also double sculpin header for @Irafly . Cabezon was in the live well / execution chamber until chinook showed up so it got off death row. On the deck the cabezon was puking needle fish and one was very alive so that needle fish got out of the cabezon digestion pit with its life too. Some sort of near death karma thing that didn't work out for the salmon.
We're under physical distance rules in BC but ramps are still open so I went with buddy boat instead of in buddy's boat. Not quite FF but I was looking at Port Angeles while I was fishing. Since fresh fish porn is so hard to find for you guys and it's probably one of your 29" hatchery fish I thought I'd post. Match the hatch and single action reel were in play also. View attachment 231697View attachment 231696
Also double sculpin header for @Irafly . Cabezon was in the live well / execution chamber until chinook showed up so it got off death row. On the deck the cabezon was puking needle fish and one was very alive so that needle fish got out of the cabezon digestion pit with its life too. Some sort of near death karma thing that didn't work out for the salmon. View attachment 231703
We're under physical distance rules in BC but ramps are still open so I went with buddy boat instead of in buddy's boat. Not quite FF but I was looking at Port Angeles while I was fishing. Since fresh fish porn is so hard to find for you guys and it's probably one of your 29" hatchery fish I thought I'd post. Match the hatch and single action reel were in play also. View attachment 231697View attachment 231696
Also double sculpin header for @Irafly . Cabezon was in the live well / execution chamber until chinook showed up so it got off death row. On the deck the cabezon was puking needle fish and one was very alive so that needle fish got out of the cabezon digestion pit with its life too. Some sort of near death karma thing that didn't work out for the salmon. View attachment 231703
Also double sculpin header for @Irafly . Cabezon was in the live well / execution chamber until chinook showed up so it got off death row. On the deck the cabezon was puking needle fish and one was very alive so that needle fish got out of the cabezon digestion pit with its life too. Some sort of near death karma thing that didn't work out for the salmon. View attachment 231703
The lower sculpin is the great sculpin, Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus. They are generally found in lower current areas. They are fond of fish, shrimp and crabs.
Steve
Yep. That hatchery stilly chinook you caught and bonked is one of the very fish that is constraining Washington recreational fisheries. Our impacts are less than 30 of those fish in a whole year and the reason why we have virtually no fishing seasons anymore. But I am glad we are still funding the BC salmon welfare program. Enjoy.
If I could tell that bonking that fish was hurting WA fishing I would have gladly released it but all I could see was that it was marked.
Canada has cut public chinook retention back to a fraction of what it was. Closed from Apr 1 to Aug 1. Not much welfare for the public fishery now. But the commercial chum fishery is booming and Thompson steelhead are practically extinct thanks to more chinook available for bycatch.
That is the million dollar question that has been posed to the stilly tribe, WDFW and NOAA. It has been suggested that they do not clip them or uniquely mark them so they must be released in most recreational fisheries. It is also worth noting that the stilly tribe is only running this hatchery at 25% of capacity. Private citizens and to a lesser extent the WDFW have offered to perform the unique marking of the fish and raise the other 75% of fish at the hatchery but to this date the stilly tribe has refused. They have not been able to provide a good answer as to why they are doing this. However, it has successfully shut down black mouth fishing in almost all of Washington and greatly reduced summer salmon fisheries, especially in Puget Sound. The only motivation for these actions appears to be to keep non tribal fisherman off of the water.
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