Salmon / Steelhead Overview

Salmon / Steelhead Overview

In Washington State as many others, you need to fish for your target specie when & where the are present. Salmon in unconfined waters are no different.

I guess first we need to identify the different types of salmon found in this state.   For a picture page CLICK HERE
     (1) Chinook, otherwise known as King salmon.   In Canada as Springs, & if over 30# as Tyee
     (2) Coho, also known as Silver salmon
     (3) Sockeye, in Alaska known as "Reds", and if landlocked in certain lakes as Kokanee
     (4) Pink, also known as Humpie
     (5) Chum, many times referred to as Dog salmon

Life Cycles : Under natural conditions, salmon have life cycles of hatching from eggs laid the mature female & fertilized by a male in the gravel bars of rivers in the fall/winter of the year. From here they, (depending on the specie) either stay in the tributaries for from a week to a year before they migrate downriver & into saltwater. This saltwater could be Puget Sound or the Pacific Ocean.

Once in saltwater, they tend to follow the food source, but ultimately have a built in guidance system that turns them right handed & sends them into Canadian & Alaskan waters to spend from 2 to 5 years before they get the mature & the urge to return to the original stream they were born in. They can find this stream by a very developed sense of smell, where they were imprinted with the smell of this water during the time they spent there before migrating to the sea.

When they return to their home streams, the normal returns are in the fall from August thru December. There is a spring return of Chinook to some river systems starting in April, with the Columbia River being the best known. These fish will then remain in the deeper holes during the summer & spawn in late September or early October.

Fishing Seasons Set : Most of our fishing seasons are geared toward the returning fall fish because they are more in abundance. Since these fish are migrating from the northern waters down to waters off Washington State they are also targeted by both sports & commercial fishing interests from both Alaska & Canada. Here is where treaties with other entities have to be honored, otherwise we Washingtonians get only what is left over.

Or ocean & straits seasons are set by estimated returns. With the actual season coming about by all interested parties, WDFW, sports, & commercial negotiating an agreement as to how the pie is to be split in April.

Fish : Each breed of fish spawn in different areas of a river or stream. Some prefer a larger river, while others prefer a smaller stream possibly no wider than 5'. Also some spawn at different times of the year, however mostly in the fall, but spread out from say September to February.

Each specie also spend different times in the spawning stream after they hatch. Some from only 2 weeks, to others of a year.

Again each fish may spend a different number of years in the ocean before they return to spawn themselves.

All pacific coast salmon die after they sqawn.

Hatchery Fish : There have been salmon hatcheries around for many years, trying to supplement or augment a declining run. There are also hatcheries that are used as a mitigation tool to supplement the damage a dam may have caused to a existing salmon run in a particular river.

Wild / Hatchery Fish : Most of us understand the term "WILD", but under these circumstances, it can get convoluted. The term "Natural" sneaks in here at times. The problem seems that we have had hatcheries around for so long, that there may not really be any wild stocks there anymore, since the possibility of returning wild fish mating with returning excess hatchery fish. So it would be about impossible to be able to distinguish one fish from the other, especially after 15 or 20 generations.

Now you get different groups toting their agendas, & sometimes it seems to be the squeaky wheel is the one that gets the grease, even though no scientific data can be presented.

Endangered Fish : Here the Federal Government steps in & determines whether the wild run in a particular river or watershed may have become depleted to where they dictate that this run need to be protected until such time that it has recovered. When this happens, a time frame for rebuilding is established. A large river system may have many separate runs & possibly not all are endangered. With the hatchery fish also in the system, this complicates a viable fishery on one stock while protecting an endangered stock.

Here is where the fin-clipped hatchery fish enter the situation. With the hatchery clipped fish, fishermen can differentiate between the unclipped wild & the clipped hatchery fish. These fish can be all mixed in the river at any given time. In order to provide a fishery, the fishermen will have to return the wild (unclipped) fish back into the water unharmed. In many instances these fish can not be removed from the water, but have to be released while still in the water & in a timely manner as to reduce any possible mortality resulting from being caught.

Now in the mix there is a percentage factored into the catch rate whereby a percentage of the catch & release will result in a mortality of those fish. So the number of fish available may be considerable, but if the catch/release mortality reaches the estimated ceiling, then the season will be closed.

Steelhead : These fish are in reality a sea-run Rainbow trout. They have the ability to survive after a spawn & can return a few years later to do it again. However depending on the distance traveled from the ocean, the stress involved in getting to the spawning area, the majority of them do not survive for a return trip.

Stakeholders : This in the present day situations may well include the tribal commercials, non-tribal commercials & the sports segment. However the sharing is not equal among them, as under the Bolt ruling, the tribes get 50% & the non-tribal get the other 50%, which means the con-tribal commercials may get 50% of the 50% or 25% of the totals, & the sports will get the remaining 25%.

Here the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) is charged with the task of overseeing & establishing guidelines or seasons to ensure this process takes place. The tribes & WDFW are supposed to be co-managers of the resource.

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Originated 10-25-06 Last Updated 10-25-2006
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