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Where Are the Rezzies?

7K views 47 replies 24 participants last post by  kelvin 
#1 ·
I took my 16' jon boat out again today. I have been able to get out 7 times so far this month. I have caught at least 1 Cutty on each outing and as many as 6 on my best day. However I am not seeing any Coho working in all of the spots where I was seeing them last year. Finally today I saw one jump one time and three casts later I hooked up and landed my first resident Coho of the year, a nice 15" fish. I have only been doing this for a couple of years and wonder if this is normal. It seems like this time last year if I saw some working on the surface I could chase them around and pick up a half dozen before they disappeared.
 
#4 ·
They are few and far between at Narrows Park. Saw one jumper last week and caught one small two weeks ago. Skunked again this morning as were two other FF but it is close and I never have more than two hours... I often see sea lions passing by to the south heading to their "secret spot". Maybe Fox Island?
 
#8 ·
Don,

How do you know that there was a good release? I posted this (below) a couple of weeks ago, and of 200 views, no one had an answer...

2009 Rezzie release info ?
I've been trying to find out information on the 2009 Squaxin Island net pen releases. Each June or so, the Squaxin tribe has been releasing 1.5 - 1.8 million juvenile coho salmon into Peale Passage. I have property directly across from the net pens, and I have always seen the young salmon dimpling the surface everywhere you look for a couple of weeks after they are released, until they finally scatter.

But not this year - didn't see any at all. I can find lots of info about prior years, and on the 2009 movement of the smolts to the net pens, but not their release. Anyone have the actual 2009 release numbers, date, etc. ?

Rich
 
#11 ·
Above is just a snap shot of the 1.5 million coho that will be released in June 2009. On average only 3 % of these released coho will return as adults in Fall of 2010. That is approximately 45,000 adult coho available for harvest by Sport and Commercial fisheries in South Puget Sound.

from the site

you are correct Rich
it doesn't say they actually released them
it says" to be released"

maybe they kept them all
or dryfly Larry got them
and is taking pictures of them all lined up on the beach
before releasing them

beats me all I know is I aint catching them up here in th north sound
 
#12 ·
For ever the resident salmon (blackmouth, resident coho) have been nomadic following food sources. Because the abundance and distribution of the coho's forage ( baitfish. euphausids, etc) has always been highly variable where they spend their time foraging is also highly variable. Yes delaying the release timing increases the likely hood the at the fish will become residentals however if there is little forage they tend to seek out" greener pastures". I think by now it is pretty clear they did not stay in the South Sound; in the past when that has been the cases it seems there are more small coho in the straits. When the summer salmon fisheries start in July I would not be surprised that anglers fishing the straits and maybe MA 9 find some of your missing coho.

While it is a bummer that the south sound fisher's are not find the winter bonaza of last year the silver lining in that cloud may be that as those fish move back inside the summer fishery in central sound may be better than recent years. But as always been the case once anadromous salmonid reach the salt it is if they enter some sort of black box where th surviving fish went and how many will return are unknowns. If we are fortunate as their "cycle" comes to its end we will have addtional insights on what happened. One think for sure we can expect next year to different from both this and last year.

Tight lines
Curt
 
#15 ·
It is a bummer Curt.

The information in this thread is pretty spot on for release and where they've gone. Since this is such a nebulous program, with little way of tracking the results, there is a new effort under way. In future releases, the fish have been marked by removing a ventral fin. When a coho is caught, either off Squaxin Island, or up in Seattle, it will be possible to tell where it came from. I can get more detailed information as it comes available. I believe there is also a plan to implant some of the fish with electronic transponders like we've done with cutthroat in a couple of areas down here. It won't necessarily put fish where I want them, when I want them, but it is a start in understanding the movements.
 
#14 ·
I haven't seen much in the way of resident fish but I have noticed a large increase in the numbers of predators around southworth both seabirds and seals, the high numbers of loons I've seen this year combined with other predatory seabirds must be having some effect, I've also seen alot more sealions than usual working right up on the beach that even if they aren't feeding on them must be having some effect perhaps scaring them out and away.
tony
 
#16 ·
Karl -
While El Nino events are thought of as being oceanic such events can certainly have impacts on Puget Sound; sometimes in surprising ways. There was some research a number of years ago the linked the productivity of Puget Sound (especially central Sound) to the amount of freshwater discharge into the Sound. Simply on years with large snow melts the increased amount of freshwater from the rivers increased the flow out the straits. Since that outflow was largely freshwater it was mostly a surface outflow. That in turn caused a deep water retrun flow of nutrient rich marine waters along the floor of the straits and as it high areas like Possession Bar there would be upwellings of nutrient rich water that would drive increased production.

So yes El Nino can have an impact with at least one measure of the potential impacts would the snow pack in relation to "normal".

Tight lines
Curt
 
#17 ·
Curt, thanks for the response. I'm afraid my marine biology background is southeast U.S. not locally. I was wondering about snow melt, increased freshwater runoff. I was also wondering about flushing, sediment loads, upwelling, and current alteration. Neat stuff, eh?

So where are the rezzies? Exactly...
 
#18 ·
Last week I talked to the person who manages the delayed resident coho program for WDFW. He said that 1.8 million fish were released from the Squaxin Island net pens last summer. There were two release dates. The first was near the end of May while the second was the first part of June. Normally the later that the fish are released the more likely that many of these fish will remain within Puget Sound. As Curt Kramer mentioned, where the delayed released coho end up being found each year is highly dependent on food availability in Puget Sound. The delayed release coho from last summer appear to have headed north maybe into the Strait of Juan De Fuca looking for available food sources.

The past summer and fall I fished from my boat in many parts of Marine Areas 11 and 13 and never saw any small resident coho(7-9") except in June. It was very unusual since most summers/falls these fish are usually seen jumping along numerous shoreline areas. There is one area every winter where schools of resident coho and Bonoparte gulls could always be found feeding on amphipods. Amphipods are small scud-like critter(3/16" reddish/brown) and are often an important winter food scoure for resident coho. This in the first winter in 20 years that no/very few amphipods were seen in the area.

The last two months I have looked in numerous areas for resident coho and have had a tough time finding any fish. However, there were 4 areas which have been holding a few resident coho. If I got luckly, I was able to land a few fish(13-15") each outing at these locations last month. Since there were so few resident coho at these locations rarely was a fish seen jumping/swirling. The resident coho were just there. We all got spoiled last winter by the large number of resident coho available!

This years delayed release coho(1.8 million) have been or are in the process of being moved to the Squaxin net pens. The plan is to do 3 releases of these fish. Most of the fish will be released in early June and mid-June with another release of 60,000 fish in early July. Also, WDFW plans to release 200,000 to 300,000 delayed release coho from the Minter Creek hatchery probably in early July. In past years, the fish have often been released before the planned dates due to feeding and water quality issues. It sound like the feeding issue has been resolved. However, the water temperature and water quality issue is depend on weather conditions from year to year.

The WDFW regional fisheries biologist will be conducting a monitor program of these delayed release coho from the Squaxin Island net pens and Minter Creek hatchery. Since I am retired, I will be helping out with some of the monitoring. It should be interesting and may help to understand the time of release of these fish and the likelihood of these fish remaining within Puget Sound.

Roger
 
#21 ·
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...
 
#24 ·
"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
 
#25 ·
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...
 
#27 ·
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
 
#34 ·
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.
 
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