2024 Skagit Steelhead

Pink Nighty said:
In the nets or hook and line?
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In the nets. Remember those fish have all ready spawn and it the best years only 15% will make back to spawn a second time. In the recent decades with the declining marine survival the survival rate is lower.

The wild Skagit/Sauk winter steelhead have an incredible wide run timing and with the presences of kelts it is possible to encounter one every month of the year. In fact during my years of chasing salmonids in the Skagit basin I have caught wild winters every month of the year. Fresh run fish from November into June and Kelts from late April into October.

Curt
 
_WW_ said:
If I remember correctly by catch of downstream steelhead in the June chinook fishery count as 1/6 of a fish.
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From page 22 of https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2023-03/FinalRMP-SkagitStlhedFisheries-ERD.pdf

3) Other tribal net fisheries encounter steelhead, both pre-spawn and kelt, incidental totarget species. However, steelhead are not targeted in these fisheries and some of thesefisheries may be conducted as a steelhead non-retention (steelhead must be released), as aconservation measure. In this case, a steelhead mortality rate of 18.5 percent is applied toall released steelhead.
 
Smalma said:
In the nets. Remember those fish have all ready spawn and it the best years only 15% will make back to spawn a second time. In the recent decades with the declining marine survival the survival rate is lower.

The wild Skagit/Sauk winter steelhead have an incredible wide run timing and with the presences of kelts it is possible to encounter one every month of the year. In fact during my years of chasing salmonids in the Skagit basin I have caught wild winters every month of the year. Fresh run fish from November into June and Kelts from late April into October.

Curt
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I know a human who caught an 18lber in Oct. in a test fishery. He said it was a winter fish. It ended up dead, so that's probably how he could tell?

Kelts, and their mortalities in other fisheries were covered in the plan. I don't know how much that effects the season.
 
Yes that test fishery catches a few winter fish during the later part of October. The earliest I personally caught a winter fish in the basin was the 3rd of November which would fit that run timing. Interestedly the winter kelt I caught in the mains stem Skagit while sea-run fishing was on the 24th of October. Possible that the previous year's kelts could cross paths. Almost without exception the salmonids have diverse life histories/behaviors and the more I poke around in the basin the more impressed I have become with its fishy residents.

Curt
 
Any bull trout get caught as bycatch in the tribal net fishery or is the mesh size large enough for that to rarely occur?
SF
 
Yes the bull trout are susceptible to the gill nets. There are reasonable numbers of bulls in that 5 to 10# fish in the Skagit which would prefect sized for the sockeye, coho and pink nets with lesser numbers that would be vulnerable to even Chinook nets. The sockeye gill net fishery has the potential to catch those repeat bull with anecdotal reports that those nets do catch numbers of those bulls.

Such bull trout would likely be 5 to 8 years old, all repeat spawners that represent a significant portion of the spawning population and as a result are important for population stability.

Curt
 
Smalma said:
Yes the bull trout are susceptible to the gill nets. There are reasonable numbers of bulls in that 5 to 10# fish in the Skagit which would prefect sized for the sockeye, coho and pink nets with lesser numbers that would be vulnerable to even Chinook nets. The sockeye gill net fishery has the potential to catch those repeat bull with anecdotal reports that those nets do catch numbers of those bulls.

Such bull trout would likely be 5 to 8 years old, all repeat spawners that represent a significant portion of the spawning population and as a result are important for population stability.

Curt
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Bummer
 
Stonedfish said:
Any bull trout get caught as bycatch in the tribal net fishery or is the mesh size large enough for that to rarely occur?
SF
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My recollection is that the hold up last year was due to a forest service review of he 10 yr. plan. The forest service had hired a consultant to do their review and they had issue with sport fishing impacts to bull trout populations during any C&R fishery. I don't believe the hold up at that point had anything to do with tribal impacts.
 
charles sullivan said:
My recollection is that the hold up last year was due to a forest service review of he 10 yr. plan.
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Not correct. NMFS completed its review and consultation on the 10-year plan renewal, but had to consult with USFWS on bull trout. USFWS raised a concern regarding incidental impacts to bull trout, the very same bull trout that are subject to a catch and kill fishery with a limit of 2 bull trout over 20" per day. And I know the biologist who raised that concern and was responsible for the ESA consultation, but I only learned that as it was finishing up, late.
 
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Salmo_g said:
Not correct. NMFS completed its review and consultation on the 10-year plan renewal, but had to consult with USFWS on bull trout. WSFWS raised a concern regarding incidental impacts to bull trout, the very same bull trout that are subject to a catch and kill fishery with a limit of 2 bull trout over 20" per day. And I know the biologist who raised that concern and was responsible for the ESA consultation, but I only learned that as it was finishing up, late.
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What part did I get wrong?
 
USFS (US Forest service) and USFWS (US Fish and Wildlife service) are two different federal agencies with very different responsibilities and priorities. It is the later that has oversight of bull trout and potential ESA take.

Curt
 
Smalma said:
Yes the bull trout are susceptible to the gill nets. There are reasonable numbers of bulls in that 5 to 10# fish in the Skagit which would prefect sized for the sockeye, coho and pink nets with lesser numbers that would be vulnerable to even Chinook nets. The sockeye gill net fishery has the potential to catch those repeat bull with anecdotal reports that those nets do catch numbers of those bulls.

Such bull trout would likely be 5 to 8 years old, all repeat spawners that represent a significant portion of the spawning population and as a result are important for population stability.

Curt
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Curt,
Thanks for the info. That is very disappointing.
SF
 
Smalma said:
Such bull trout would likely be 5 to 8 years old, all repeat spawners that represent a significant portion of the spawning population and as a result are important for population stability.
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Cool. Very cool.

Sigh.
 
Smalma said:
USFS (US Forest service) and USFWS (US Fish and Wildlife service) are two different federal agencies with very different responsibilities and priorities. It is the later that has oversight of bull trout and potential ESA take.

Curt
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Thanks.
 
Pink Nighty said:
Thank you for this, I'm not informed enough to know about how this sausage was made in terms of where and why they drew the boundaries. Fully agree that trading opportunity shouldnt be the goal. In fact if anything, they should open the lower river regardless of the sauk, as it allows fishing pressure to be spread out.

I want to fish the river below concrete because there is sweet water there conducive to long casts and slow swings.
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It's a lot closer to north Whatcom county too.
 
Pink Nighty said:
The sockeye/springer net fishery definitely involves take of steelhead, both in summer returns and downstream kelts. I've seen 2 kelts caught plunking sandshrimp in Burlington in july. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure kelts are the only bycatch I've seen on that bar.
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About 3 years ago I caught a wild 7lb summer run steelhead while plunking at Burlington during sockeye season.
 
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