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Puget Sound
- Thread starter Stonedfish
- Start date
I have what is likely a silly question but can't seem to find any definitive answer online regarding resident coho. Are hatchery resident clipped adipose and native residents intact adipose? Are there native residents or are all native coho ocean bound? The handful I've netted to date have all been around 3 Lbs or so and all have had intact adipose. I'm assuming if I want to harvest one for a fresh meal it's clipped adipose only on these smaller fish.
Thanks
Thanks
Divad
Whitefish
At quick glance the app has various rulings for wild coho in marine areas. From it it looks like you can harvest wild coho in 10 but not 9(?)
Curious to see what others say about your resident native question.
Just my opinion.
There are both clipped and unclipped resident fish, though at times I wonder how many of the unclipped fish are truly wild.
SF
There are both clipped and unclipped resident fish, though at times I wonder how many of the unclipped fish are truly wild.
SF
Thanks for that Divad, it was confusing to me due to the discrepancy between areas 9 and 10 re Coho, just doesn't seem clear and I'm just not used to killing anything with an adipose. I've been fishing in Area 10 but plan to scope out 9 Thursday/Friday.
As mentioned it depends on the MA you're fishing in regards to retaining a fish. MA 9 is clipped only, MA10 you can harvest both clipped/unclipped coho. But as always if you're going to retain fish make sure you're good and familiar with identifying the various Salmon species and that you have a good understanding of the regs. With our ever changing regulations and different regs for different marine areas it can be easy to get things mixed up if you aren't careful.
Its my understanding that there are truly wild resident coho....how many of them these days I couldn't possibly say. Hopefully @Smalma will chime in as he could definitely give a better answer than me.
In regards to those unclipped fish they are most definitely not all "wild". I believe I've had 3, maybe 4 unclipped fish this year that the fish checker wanded and found a chip, so they were definitely of hatchery origin. For various reasons not all hatchery fish end up getting clipped.
Its my understanding that there are truly wild resident coho....how many of them these days I couldn't possibly say. Hopefully @Smalma will chime in as he could definitely give a better answer than me.
In regards to those unclipped fish they are most definitely not all "wild". I believe I've had 3, maybe 4 unclipped fish this year that the fish checker wanded and found a chip, so they were definitely of hatchery origin. For various reasons not all hatchery fish end up getting clipped.
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If I recall correctly, they don’t clip all the hatchery fish as they use them to study return rates etc.
I recall as @Nick Clayton mentioned catching unclipped coho as far as back in the 90’s and them having CWT when wanded by the checker. That was back when they actually had checkers on the beaches.
I also don’t know if the pandemic affected clipping rates. Lots of rumors out there that it did but I’m not positive if they are true or not.
SF
I recall as @Nick Clayton mentioned catching unclipped coho as far as back in the 90’s and them having CWT when wanded by the checker. That was back when they actually had checkers on the beaches.
I also don’t know if the pandemic affected clipping rates. Lots of rumors out there that it did but I’m not positive if they are true or not.
SF
Scudley Do Right
Legend
More for in the boat but if you keep an unclipped in 10 you can't then go fish 9.
Historically Puget Sound sub-populations of Chinook, coho, and pinks that opted to remain in Puget Sound for their marine rearing. It appears that both hatchery and wild salmon take advantage of that lifestyles. Indications are that those fish with delayed juvenile marine migration are more apt to adopt that resident life history though not iron clad, It is thought that wild Chinook with older juveniles and wild coho from larger lake system (extra time in freshwater rearing) were more prone to reside in the sound. The resident pinks were common into the mid-1950s, recently there have been a few seen in that resident coho fishery.
The resident coho in Puget Sound in a true mixed stock fishery attracting fish from throughout the region. Looking at the coho Code Wire Tag information for the most recent 3 years (2020-2022) collected in MA 10 during June and the first half of July highlights the mixed stock nature of that fishery. From that information1% were from BC hatcheries, 25% from North Sound hatcheries, 9% from Hood Canal hatcheries, 42% from central sound (Green and Puyallup), 16% from South Sound hatcheries and 8% from South Sound net pens.
Curt
The resident coho in Puget Sound in a true mixed stock fishery attracting fish from throughout the region. Looking at the coho Code Wire Tag information for the most recent 3 years (2020-2022) collected in MA 10 during June and the first half of July highlights the mixed stock nature of that fishery. From that information1% were from BC hatcheries, 25% from North Sound hatcheries, 9% from Hood Canal hatcheries, 42% from central sound (Green and Puyallup), 16% from South Sound hatcheries and 8% from South Sound net pens.
Curt
Interesting. I had sort of baselessly assumed that a much larger percentage were south sound net pen fish.
NRC-
Historically I think those south sound net pens were larger contributors to the fishery. But clearly that has changed and the numbers of resident coho in central sound during the early summer has increased significantly. In 2019 when for MA 10 June was open for the retention of those resident coho just the June catch in MA 10 that year was 11% of all the coho caught in Puget Sound (MA 5 through MA 13) for 2019.
Curt
Historically I think those south sound net pens were larger contributors to the fishery. But clearly that has changed and the numbers of resident coho in central sound during the early summer has increased significantly. In 2019 when for MA 10 June was open for the retention of those resident coho just the June catch in MA 10 that year was 11% of all the coho caught in Puget Sound (MA 5 through MA 13) for 2019.
Curt
Curt,
Thanks for the info. A couple questions.
Is there a reason they don’t differentiate north sound net pen fish from hatchery fish like they do with the south sound?
Just curious what programs like the ones in Edmonds contribute to the fishery.
Also, do they use coded wire tags for coho used in tribal net pen programs like Port Gamble etc?
Here is the 2023 brood report if anyone is interested in looking at the various programs that put out fish throughout the state. I like seeing all the school programs for kids.
SF
ThatGuyRyRy
Life of the Party
I've grown up fishing the Puyallup and there are a large amount of smaller coho that run up the river in August. There were a ton of these smaller fish in MA 11 this year and I've just thought of them as those fish that return up the river early
SF-
North sound net pens are much smaller in scale. I do see that some tags are released but they don't show up in the sampling. Do not know whether that is due to the small numbers released, a low sampling rate, or potential the CWTs are from the home hatchery and don't show up in the sampling as an unique group of coho.
In the 2022 a number of the Port Gamble CWTs showed up in the sampling so they are tagged, the same as the Elliot Bay pens.
Crut
North sound net pens are much smaller in scale. I do see that some tags are released but they don't show up in the sampling. Do not know whether that is due to the small numbers released, a low sampling rate, or potential the CWTs are from the home hatchery and don't show up in the sampling as an unique group of coho.
In the 2022 a number of the Port Gamble CWTs showed up in the sampling so they are tagged, the same as the Elliot Bay pens.
Crut
Nah. The chinook quota is always filled up pretty quickly in area 9 these days. Once it's done then the pressure will really thin out and the rest of us can play with the lowly pinks
I am much less sure.. WDFW closed MA11 to all salmon fishing at 19% of the quota (one of 3 quotas apparently needed to manage salmon), so I would definitely recommend preparing yourself for a mule kick to the groin when it comes to PS salmon fishing options.