Washington Hatchery loses 250,000 steelhead

Sad... but even sadder is the fact that my steelhead gear most likely went even farther down in value.:(
 
Old406Kid said:
I too wonder about the size and chance of survivabiity.
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I'm thinking that in the hatchery they were somewhat protected from other predatory fish but in the wild that may be another story especially at the size they are. In the hatchery they were being fed I'm assuming but in the wild they may find it harder to survive on their own..? If they were intended to be released in a few months, say May that's not all that far off and hopefully it won't make much of a difference but still hard to say..
 
Just spitballing…typically hatchery steelhead are held until they reach a target size (or weight), a scheduled release date, and are starting to smolt. It’s not ideal to dump a 1/4 million fish 2-3 months early, obviously. Steelhead have a rough trip to the ocean regardless of release timing; the research on avian predation numbers are seriously daunting. But it’s not unprecedented. in recent years summer fires have forced releases like at Eagle Creek in the gorge. So overall, hatchery managers won’t know the details about how these fish faired until the adults come back in a few years. My guess is return rates will be significantly less for this group that escaped.
 
Who knows, maybe it will be better. They may escape the predation from the birds as the mass of releases are a few months off and they can sneak out ahead of them. Only time will tell.
 
I bet there are some really big smallmouth and pikeminnows where that drained to.
 
I was fishing the N\F of the Stilly one day in May(It used to be open damn near all year around). They had released an awful lot of 10" to 12" fish out of Whitehorse hatchery. We were into catching for a few weeks and then the fish all started to die. It was belly up and then it was back to just casting a fly around and hope for something to hit your fly.
 
Walleye are in heaven.
250,000 morsels.
 
Old406Kid said:
Sad... but even sadder is the fact that my steelhead gear most likely went even farther down in value.:(
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you shoulda sold high, like I did, several years ago....right when all those hipsters were getting into it.

Peyton00 said:
Walleye are in heaven.
250,000 morsels.
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and smallies!
 
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