Anything For A Buck?

Okay so let me see if I got this right. Anglers face the ever expanding crowds on their favorite steelhead streams.
There are not enough fish for the amount of people pursuing the. Boorish behavior by boaters, guides and bank fishermen is ever increasing. Illegal behavior among so called sports fishermen is also increasing with litter, vehicle break-ins and trespassing.
Simply put our fishing resource in the Pacific Northwest is dwindling while the fishing population is increasing.
So what do we do?  Hmmmmmm....what do we do ??????
I can tell you what Scott Pence of Central Oregon did!  Scott decided, like so many other opportunistic folks in the region, to cash in on fishing Tillamook county.
Mr.Pence claims his book is a highly detailed  http://www.oregonsteelheading.com/
"How To and Where To" Yes all of you Nestucca,Wilson and Trask river lovers! Scott has decided to invite a few thousand anglers to your favorite drift or run on the famous (too famous) Tillamook county steelhead streams.
Wonder if Scott Pence is going to give anything back to the resource he has decided to make a few bucks off of.

Seagull versus Mink

 Low water and bright sunshine made the fishing slow to non-existent on the third to last day of the coastal trout season.We fished all those "sure thing" holes but to no avail.  We decided to try one last place on the Trask river near Tillamook to see if we fared any better. When we parked and... got down to the river we immediately saw a seagull all tangled up in fishing line with a spinner in it's beak/mouth left by some uncaring fishing slob. The poor bird was in obvious distress and would not have survived much longer. I waded out to almost the top of my waders in hopes of some how freeing the gull. I could not get close enough to reach the bird so my fishing buddy Tom gave it a try. He managed to cast his fly line and snag the monofiliment the the bird was trapped with. Long story short he was successful in freeing the gull who went up on shore to gather it's strength I assume.
We were watching the gull in the brush when I noticed a mink was slinking along the shore making it's way towards the seagull. I figured that the large gull was too big for the mink to try to make a meal out of but I was wrong. The mink attacked the weakened gull and had it in a death grip! They thrashed around in the shallows until the gull escaped the teeth of the little predator and floated down river apparently unable to fly. The gull may have ended up as a meal for other coastal predators but through the adroit and skilled casting of Tom it at least didn't become the mink's dinner that night.
It is great seeing nature in action even if that action was brought about because of slobs who think nothing about leaving line all over the river bank. There certainly is no shortage of seagulls near the coast but to see one suffering like that is not pleasant. Just another reason to be good stewards and leave the river as we find it.
Great save by my pal Tom who now stands supreme in seagull lore.

 

Sports Fishermen Are Spoiled

Do I mean what I am saying in the title of this entry? Hell yes I do and here is why.
Sports anglers are the most greedy, ignorant,lazy ,spoiled and self serving group of people that there is in the outdoor pursuits ! Every day on internet these greedy assholes whine about the fish they are not getting. It's always something or someone else's fault. It's the gill nets,it's the tribes, it's the sea lions/cormorants, it's the Canadians/Alaskans/Japanese. It's just endless finger pointing and cop outs.
Remember how the CCA was going to ride in and save the day? Didn't happen did it? Sports fisherman thought that the CCA was going to get them a more fish and shut down the gill nets and now these selfish slobs are disenchanted. Same thing happened with Northwest Steelheaders when they didn't come through. So who is going to be the next group that rides to the rescue so you(we) can get a larger slice of the allocation pie. Like the spoiled children that they (we) are they didn't get their way and now are going to hold their breath until they turn blue. They piss and moan because they have to use barbless hooks or non-sulfite bait cures because it maybe just might help wild fish.
The new culprit is Native Fish Society or any conservation group who actually looks at the big picture. These conservation groups are now the target of these spoiled pricks and no matter how much the facts are presented they refuse to believe them. Sounds like a bunch of republicans doesn't it? Well it just so happens many of them are.
When the last wild salmon or steelhead is gone for good who is going to be blamed? The myriad of scape goats I listed earlier or the real culprit and just who is that real culprit? The assholes who bitch and cry on the internet that's who. The guys that don't do shit that's who.  Doesn't matter if they (we) fish with conventional or fly gear either because every so called sports fisherman who sits on the sidelines is to blame.
So I hope this blog entry makes the rounds of Facebook and it pisses you off to the point that you continue to try to spam this blog like someone has been doing for over 6 months now and generally ridicule my message because the truth hurts. 

Bet you thought I was done ranting and raving on this blog...not even! I'm not in this to win friends and if you are a spoiled rotten little whiner who isn't getting a metric fuck ton of fish every year then I don't even want to know you and I do know many of you....unfortunately
The last few weeks has shown me just how much this blog and my opinions pisses people off and I don't really understand why except that maybe just maybe there is a bit of truth in what I'm saying?
Take a look in the mirror fellas because YOU are the problem! You have no one to blame but yourself and you will not educate yourself as to what is fact and what is not. Native Fish Society is not the enemy....YOU ARE!

So Long Pete

 

 

Good friend and fishing buddy Pete Priepke passed away on September 2nd after a long battle with cancer. Pete was the one that got me interested in coastal cutthroat trout and he is also the one who tied his own special version of the Reverse Spider that is now very popular with many cutthroat trout fly fishers.

Pete was a mainstay at River City Fly Shop `for many years and could always be counted on to give advice  and direction to new fly fishermen who came into the shop. Pete was also the longtime president of Washington County Fly Fishers.

 

So long old friend! I am going to miss you

 

Saving Oregon’s Sandy River

Good article in "The Drake" about the efforts for wild salmonids on the Sandy River.

Saving Oregon’s Sandy River

You can read all the blustering on the internet about how angling opportunity being taken away and judge for yourselves who makes a more compelling argument.

Are You An Expert Fly Fisherman?

I was recently reading one of the more popular northwest fishing forums where the topic of discussion was "What makes a good fisherman".
Well as you might guess it quickly deteroriated in the typical testosterone charged chest pounding debate that this question always seems to incite.
So what does make one an expert fly angler?
I suppose catching a lot of fish might be a big determining factor. After all we "hunter-gatherers" need to kill something in order to prove our worth don't we?
While we fly fishers mostly release our catch but it is still a numbers game isn't it?
Then there is casting proficiency. That certainly must be the mark of an expert fly angler right? Well I'll tell you folks something. I can single hand cast quite well and if that were the mark of an expert fly fisher then I certainly would qualify wouldn't I? Hardly!
I firmly believe and expert fly fisherman is one who is contented at where his angling life has taken him or her.

Sure it's nice to catch a fish now and again and those magic days of big or numerous fish are certainly nice. It's also great to be able to lay out a nice cast and see every thing fall into place perfectly as your dry kisses the surface so delicately that the trout must certainly be in awe of your casting mastery much like a music lover would appreciate a maestro expertly conducting an orchestra.
I also think that an expert fly angler is one who loves the fish and the river. He cares deeply about them and is hurts when they are hurt and misused.
It's not a matter of how skilled you are that makes you an expert in this piscatorial pursuit of ours. It's a matter of where you are in your fly fishing journey that really matters. So if you catch a lot of fish well good for you! Maybe you can turn me on to a few of your best fishing spots!
If you have dozens of pictures of you holding up fish with your fly rod clinched in your teeth then bravo!
I can only speak for myself but I am much more impressed at someone who sacrifices for his resource...that is an expert in my eyes!

Lost Heritage

As I travel east on I-84 on my many journeys to the Deschutes I of course pass by the freeway sign for Celilo village. It's pretty easy to just speed on by and not really consider what was lost over fifty years ago and many people are oblivious to what took place there for perhaps tens of thousands of years prior. An important part of the heritage of the Columbia river tribes died that day over fifty years with the completion of The Dalles dam. Gone are the platforms from which native Americans dipped into the raging Columbia for salmon. Salmon played a huge part in the culture and daily life of the Columbia tribes and still do today. A lot of their rituals and ancient religion revolve around the returning salmon runs although dwindling salmon runs have taken a huge piece of that away.
I cannot begin to fathom what the native Americans endured due to white mans greed and ambition and I suppose it's easier to just act like it never happened but the fact remains that these ancient people and other indigenous people throughout North America suffered greatly and it's a debt that can never be repaid. The bottom line for me is that I, unlike so many of my fishing brethren,do not begrudge these tribes their share of salmon. At the expense of lost friendships I support the native tribal fisheries of the upper Columbia. Are native fish being harvested in the non-selective tribal gillnets of the Columbia? Yes they are BUT when it compares to what the commercial netters of the lower Columbia and what greedy so called sports anglers kill then I think what the native Americans take is far less. These bogus conservation groups with their fake lofty goals of "Saving the Fish" is a smokescreen and a ruse to get more fish for themselves. Native tribes of the northwest got screwed plain and simple...end of story!
So next time you travel eastward on I-84 take a minute to think about what is at stake if we continue to use up and plunder the natural resources that we take for granted.

Here is an article by Elizabeth Woody on the passing of Celilo Falls

Along the mid-Columbia River ninety miles east of Portland, Oregon, stand Celilo Indian Village and Celilo Park. Beside the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84 are a peaked-roof longhouse and a large metal building. The houses in the village are older, and easy to overlook. You can sometimes see nets and boats beside the homes, though some houses are empty. By comparison, the park is frequently filled with lively and colorful wind surfers. Submerged beneath the shimmering surface of the river lies Celilo Falls, or Wyam.
Wyam means "Echo of Falling Water" or "Sound of Water upon the Rocks." Located on the fourth-largest North American waterway, it was one of the most significant fisheries of the Columbia River system. In recent decades the greatest irreversible change occurred in the middle Columbia as the Celilo site was inundated by The Dalles Dam on March 10, 1957. The tribal people who gathered there did not believe it possible.
Historically, the Wyampum lived at Wyam for over twelve thousand years. Estimates vary, but Wyam is among the longest continuously inhabited communities in North America. The elders tell us we have been here from time immemorial.
Today we know Celilo Falls as more than a lost landmark. It was a place as revered as one's own mother. The story of Wyam's life is the story of the salmon, and of my own ancestry. I live with the forty-two year absence and silence of Celilo Falls, much as an orphan lives hearing of the kindness and greatness of his or her mother.
The original locations of my ancestral villages on the N'ch-iwana (Columbia River) are Celilo Village and the Wishram village that nestled below the petroglyph, She-Who-Watches or Tsagaglallal. My grandmother, Elizabeth Thompson Pitt (Mohalla), was a Wyampum descendent and a Tygh woman. My grandfather, Lewis Pitt (Wa Soox Site), was a Wasco, Wishram, and Watlala man. But my own connections to Celilo Falls are tenuous at best. I was born two years after Celilo drowned in the backwaters of The Dalles Dam.

The Dozen Best Fly Rods of All Time - Trout Underground

photo courtesy of the Trout Underground

 

Most of you are probably pretty tired of my ranting about ODFW, douchebags and ignorant people by now so here is a new type of post here on your beloved "The Quiet Pool"
I am going to post about......wait for it......FLY FISHING!!!!!!


To start things out I thought I would link a post from the "Trout Underground" blog so enjoy!

The Trout Underground picks the 12 best fly rods of all time

Do You Trust ODFW To Do the Right Thing Here? I Don't!!!!

Linked letter from Native Fish Society and Steamboaters to Oregon Gov.Kitzhaber concerning Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's plan for salmonid populations on the coast of Oregon.
Letter to Governor Kitzhaber re: Coastal Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan

From Trout Unlimited in Oregon - Suction Mining

 

 

Isn't it amazing how someone is always thinking of new ways to harm our fragile eco-system? Whether it be things like the proposed Pebble mine in Alaska or destroying wild salmonid habitat right here in Oregon.
Tom Wolf is our TU representative here in Oregon.

Motorized Suction Mining in Oregon

Damn Science Anyway...I Hate It!!!

If the science does not agree with your thinking then by all means ignore it, discount it or just out right hate it. Never has this been more evident than in the debate about wild fish.

The links below are to studies about the interaction of hatchery and wild salmonids. So say it's all bullshit if you want but until you come up with more than the typical "there are no true wild fish" and crap like that then how about just shutting the fuck up?



Ecological interactions between wild and hatchery salmonids: an introduction to the special issue

Mechanisms influencing competition between hatchery and wild juvenile anadromous Pacific salmonids in fresh water and their relative competitive abilities

Predation by hatchery yearling salmonids on wild subyearling salmonids in the freshwater environment: A review of studies, two case histories, and implications for management

Risk management of non-target fish taxa in the Yakima River Watershed associated with hatchery salmon supplementation

Ecological risk assessment of multiple hatchery programs in the upper Columbia watershed using Delphi and modeling approaches

Lack of trophic competition among wild and hatchery juvenile chum salmon during early marine residence in Taku Inlet, Southeast Alaska

Spatial and trophic overlap of marked and unmarked Columbia River Basin spring Chinook salmon during early marine residence with implications for competition between hatchery and naturally produced fish

Wild chinook salmon survive better than hatchery salmon in a period of poor production

Evidence for competition at sea between Norton Sound chum salmon and Asian hatchery chum salmon

Perspectives on wild and hatchery salmon interactions at sea, potential climate effects on Japanese chum salmon, and the need for sustainable salmon fishery management reform in Japan

Wild and hatchery reproduction of pink and chum salmon and their catches in the Sakhalin-Kuril region, Russia

Some consequences of Pacific salmon hatchery production in Kamchatka: changes in age structure and contributions to natural spawning populations

Breeding success of four male life history types of spring Chinook Salmon spawning in an artificial stream

Rapid expansion of an enhanced stock of chum salmon and its impacts on wild population components

Genetic differentiation between collections of hatchery and wild masu salmon (Oncorhynchus masou) inferred from mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA analyses

Overview of salmon stock enhancement in southeast Alaska and compatibility with maintenance of hatchery and wild stocks

Strategies for reducing the ecological risks of hatchery programs: Case studies from the Pacific Northwest

An overview of salmon enhancement and the need to manage and monitor natural spawning in Hokkaido, Japan

Understanding the adaptive consequences of hatchery-wild interactions in Alaska salmon

Ecological interactions between wild and hatchery salmonids and key recommendations for research and management actions in selected regions of the North Pacific

There are a lot more studies out there....this is just a sample. The difference between our agenda (pro-wild fish) and the hatchery lovers is a matter of selfishness. We have no interest if what we can get out of the deal except to save wild fish. We want wild salmon and steelhead to be in our streams for future generations. The hatchery crew wants fish to kill period. They are not interested in a workable compromise that would save wild fish for the future while providing a harvestable product for the dinner table. I like to harvest a salmon or steelhead of hatchery origin for the exact same reason as I am sure most of your do. The things is I am not about to compromise the well being of wild salmon and steelhead to do so.

Native Fish Society Working For Wild Steelhead On Salmonberry River

Just one question to the lynch mob on ifish who hate NFS. What have YOU done for your local stream? Huh? C'mon big mouths.
So typical of the anti-conservation crowds to bad mouth the good works that a group does and spread lies about them....no wonder they are mostly republicans!!!


Salmonberry River Marcroinvertebrate Monitoring Report

A Wrong Never Righted - The Death of Celilo Falls

As I travel east on I-84 on my many journeys to the Deschutes I of course pass by the freeway sign for Celilo village. It's pretty easy to just speed on by and not really consider what was lost over fifty years ago and many people are oblivious to what took place there for perhaps tens of thousands of years prior. An important part of the heritage of the Columbia river tribes died that day over fifty years with the completion of The Dalles dam. Gone are the platforms from which native Americans dipped into the raging Columbia for salmon. Salmon played a huge part in the culture and daily life of the Columbia tribes and the still do today. A lot of their rituals and ancient religion revolve around the returning salmon runs although dwindling salmon runs have taken a huge piece of that away.
I cannot begin to fathom what the native Americans endured due to the white mans greed and ambition and I suppose it's easier to just act like it never happened.The fact remains that the ancient people throughout North America suffered greatly and it's a debt that can never be repaid. The bottom line for me is that I, unlike so many of my fishing brethren who begrudge these tribes their share of salmon. I do not! At the expense of lost friendships I support the native fisheries of the upper Columbia. Are native fish being harvested in the non-selective tribal gillnets of the Columbia? Yes they are BUT when it compares to what the commercial netters of the lower Columbia and what greedy so called sports anglers kill then I think what the native Americans take is far less. These bogus conservation groups with their fake lofty goals of "Saving the Fish" is a smokescreen and a ruse to get more fish for themselves. Native tribes of the northwest got screwed plain and simple...end of story!
So next time you speed eastward on I-84 take a minute to think about what is at stake if we continue to use up and plunder the natural resources that we take for granted.
Here is an article by Elizabeth Woody on the passing of Celilo Falls

Along the mid-Columbia River ninety miles east of Portland, Oregon, stand Celilo Indian Village and Celilo Park. Beside the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84 are a peaked-roof longhouse and a large metal building. The houses in the village are older, and easy to overlook. You can sometimes see nets and boats beside the homes, though some houses are empty. By comparison, the park is frequently filled with lively and colorful wind surfers. Submerged beneath the shimmering surface of the river lies Celilo Falls, or Wyam.

Wyam means "Echo of Falling Water" or "Sound of Water upon the Rocks." Located on the fourth-largest North American waterway, it was one of the most significant fisheries of the Columbia River system. In recent decades the greatest irreversible change occurred in the middle Columbia as the Celilo site was inundated by The Dalles Dam on March 10, 1957. The tribal people who gathered there did not believe it possible.

Historically, the Wyampum lived at Wyam for over twelve thousand years. Estimates vary, but Wyam is among the longest continuously inhabited communities in North America. The elders tell us we have been here from time immemorial.

Today we know Celilo Falls as more than a lost landmark. It was a place as revered as one's own mother. The story of Wyam's life is the story of the salmon, and of my own ancestry. I live with the forty-two year absence and silence of Celilo Falls, much as an orphan lives hearing of the kindness and greatness of his or her mother.

The original locations of my ancestral villages on the N'ch-iwana (Columbia River) are Celilo Village and the Wishram village that nestled below the petroglyph, She-Who-Watches or Tsagaglallal. My grandmother, Elizabeth Thompson Pitt (Mohalla), was a Wyampum descendent and a Tygh woman. My grandfather, Lewis Pitt (Wa Soox Site), was a Wasco, Wishram, and Watlala man. But my own connections to Celilo Falls are tenuous at best. I was born two years after Celilo drowned in the backwaters of The Dalles Dam.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Dirty Pool @ Montreux 1982

Have You Evolved As An Angler?

Okay first of all I am not talking about skills or technique here. It has nothing to do with how well you can tie a fly or how well you can row a drift boat. What I am talking about is your outlook and attitude as you ply those angling skills.
Age has nothing to do with it either! I know some fishermen that are barely out of their teens but are wise beyond their years when it comes to understand what is going on with our cold water fisheries.
I also know more than a few "sportsmen" that are well into their sixties and still act like complete fools on the river while they try to keep up with younger and more skilled fishermen and fail miserably doing it.
Does it anger you to see litter along the stream bank? You know like bait containers, monofilament, beer cans etc. Or are you just focused on what you came to do and do not bother to pick any of it up.
When you catch a wild steelhead does it bug to have to release it because "it has too many fins" or is it a joy for to release that wild steelhead so it can spawn?
When it comes to salmon are you a egg hunter or do you take satisfaction in releasing that salmon to lay those eggs in a redd?
Are you a belligerent bully on the river or are you more than happy to share the river with all anglers in order for them to enjoy the resource?
Are you involved with any organization that advocates the conservation of our wild cold water fisheries or do you belong to a fishing club that supports thoughtless hatchery practices that harm wild fish?
My questions might seem some what rhetorical but think about it for a minute. The evolution of an angler might take years. It certainly did for me. I am still evolving in my angling life and I hope to never stop learning and growing in my appreciation of what we have. I would think that someone who has spent their most of their adult lives speaking out for wild salmonids and clean water would never be satisfied with where he or she is in their growth as an angler/sportsman/conservationist.
There is always something to learn and the minute we are complacent and self satisfied then our the world will pass us by and we have become an obstacle to progress.
When a person denies the science that tells us that hatchery salmon and steelhead do harm to wild salmonid populations then he is little more than a knuckle dragging neanderthal. Their perspective on what is important does not go very far beyond their own greed and ignorance. They don't care about anything but themselves and what the outdoors will give them.
I want to keep growing in my commitment to wild fish and I know there is a ton of things I don't understand...yet.
So journey well my angling friends. Take it all in while giving something back along the way. Get involved because you can make a difference even in a small way.

The Lovely Reed

I've never really been asked why I enjoy fly fishing with a bamboo fly rod and it's probably a good thing because I'm afraid I could not answer that in a way that would be logical. Fishing with a bamboo fly rod, especially does not make a lot of sense. After all can't a suitable graphite rod of superior quality be found at half the price? Yes they can and there are many high quality graphite rods available and I own several. Isn't bamboo extremely fragile and could be easily broken? Well it's not as fragile as one would think and would probably withstand as much if not more abuse than graphite.

In a review of George Black's excellent book "Casting a Spell: The Bamboo Fly Rod and the American Pursuit of Perfection" Publishers Weekly writes this review

" Black wraps his own personal journey through the contemporary world of bamboo fly rod making in a sweeping, meticulous telling of the history of American fly-fishing. With admirable dexterity, he manages to make the story a metaphor for a great deal of how American social and commercial culture has evolved over the past 150 years. The author indelibly etches a story of peerless craftsmen laboring toward perfection, sparring all the while with corporate interest, fickle customers and the inevitable diminishing of their own inspiration"

Why do you suppose that is? Do you think master bamboo fly rod craftsmen such as Glenn Brackett, formerly of Winston Rod Company fame, can fully explain it...not fully I would think. Maybe that is the biggest reason why Brackett left Winston after the company's new ownership decided that  tradition didn't mean that much anymore.

So therefore I cannot explain why other than the exquisite pleasure of casting and fishing a fine piece of genuinely American craftsmanship. Or maybe it's just my way of being a part of that tradition that cannot be duplicated by machines and production lines or to feel a part of the fly fishing tradition of many years past.

Bamboo is not practical in the truest sense of the word but then again neither is fly fishing! Certainly there are more efficient ways to catch trout and at a lot less expense.

So if I had to answer why I love fishing the "Lovely Reed" so much I would simply have to answer in the only way that makes sense, at least to me. I fish bamboo.....just because. I think every bamboo fisherman knows exactly why

Guide Welfare

Those of you that either live in Oregon, care about wild steelhead or both need to pay attention to what ODFW is doing here.
Why did I title this post "Guide Welfare"  Please read on.

The picture above was taken on the Wilson river near Tillamook. The angler has a wild winter steelhead in his net and is taking it to a collection tank for sports caught wild steelhead to supply fish for the ODFW wild steelhead broodstock program. Sad thing about this picture is this fisherman and those who wrongly support this program thinks they is doing the resource a big favor by taking that fish to be live spawned for the wild steelhead broodstock program. He probably feels real good about himself....too bad isn't it? He is not doing the resource a favor by adding more hatchery fish to a river at the expense of wild fish. Do you think he cares?
For those of you unfamiliar with the ODFW wild steelhead broodstock programs specifically on the Tillamook area streams let me briefly explain what they are.
The hatchery winter steelhead on rivers like the Nestucca, Siletz and Wilson were for many years entirely reliant on out of basin eggs from the Alsea hatchery down on the central Oregon coast. These fish provided harvest opportunities to anglers and guides during the months of late November through January. These hatchery plants were kept in the lower river and everyone was happy because the later arriving wild fish were mostly left alone because the hatchery steelhead were through the system by the time the wild fish showed up. Now don't get me wrong dear reader I in no way advocate any hatchery fish anywhere that also supports wild fish populations but these Alsea mutants served a purpose and had what seemed to be the least impact on native fish...as long as the were kept in the lower river where little wild fish spawning occurs and they provided the public with a harvestable fish for the dinner table.
All the while ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) and a few north coast guides were casting a greedy eye on the later returning but still endangered wild winter steelhead and wondering how to maybe get the harvest later into the year and oh if the guides made a buck or two during their "Wild Steelhead Rodeos" then so much the better. Viola! Enter the wild steelhead broodstock programs!!! These programs would live spawn captured wild steelhead and raise those fertilized eggs in a hatchery environment thus producing a supposedly superior strain of harvestable fish and hey whaddya know they could also provide north coast guides with a later season harvestable run to make some money on. Win/Win right? After all these first generation HATCHERY steelhead were of wild origin and would not hurt wild spawning steelhead. Everything would be just wonderful and everyone could gather in a big circle,hold hands and sing kumbaya because at last everyone's needs would be met! ODFW pledged to keep plants in the lower portions of the Wilson river where these fish would not interfere with wild fish....ah yes angling life would be perfect in Tillamook county at last.
If only life were so simple!
Fast forward to today. The broodstock smolt are not being planted in the lower river despite what ODFW said and ignoring the objections of conservationist landowners along those rivers. The returning broodstock fish are pretty much allowed to spawn wherever they like in whatever portion of the river they like. Some north coast guides on ifish.net even think it's a great way to supplement the river's wild steelhead because after all these fish are just one generation removed from wild parents. What these broodstock proponents fail to tell the unlearned is that while these broodstock smolt are indeed one generation removed from wild parents they are still reared in a hatchery environment being hand fed by hatchery staff in a total controlled setting and according to fish biologist are still inferior! So what doe s that mean? It means simply this. These are hatchery fish in every sense of the word and are imprinted with behavior traits just like every other hatchery raised fish. You can put a gold ring in a pigs nose but it's still a pig isn't it?
I haven't even touched on the impact these released hatchery smolt have on wild spawned steelhead smolt. ODFW releases these fish when they are six to eight inches in length and since they starve them for the last 48 hours before releasing them into the river. These hatchery smolt are released into the same areas used by wild smolt and they are voraciously hungry. The coastal streams are not nutrient rich such as rivers like the Deschutes so there is a definite competition going on for available nutrients in the river. Since these broodstock fish are bigger who do you think wins? Just cast a fly into these rivers during the coastal cutthroat season and you will understand where I'm coming from on this. We've asked ODFW for a scientific take permit on these hatchery smolt just to see what they are feeding on and have been refused thus far.
I'm not a scientist by any means but I know skunk when I smell it and folks this whole steelhead broodstock program stinks to high heaven. I will admit that years ago this whole scenario made sense me but I decided to dig a little deeper and question why everyone who stood to benefit monetarily from these was so excited about it. I wondered why almost every north coast steelhead guide was fervently in favor of these programs....well at $175 per client it does not take a genius to figure it out.
What is wrong with this scenario? Very simple! The state is taking wild fish that should be left to spawn naturally in the river and making their offsprings hatchery fish. Is this what we want? What has been done is to make wild steelhead a money source for north coast guides at the expense of wild steelhead. They claim to be borrowing the eggs! How in the name of all that is sacred can this wild steelhead egg rip-off be called borrowing? They are stealing the future of wild winter steelhead for the sake of making money!
The state of Oregon is facing a huge deficit in their general fund revenue. Hopefully this wasteful "pork barrel" program will end at the hands of those who understand and care.
Here is a link to a much more comprehensive look at Steelhead Broodstock programs by Bill Bakke of Native Fish Society
Broodstock Programs Are Not A Solution

A Drift Inside - Göran Andersson on the Deschutes