GREAT NEWS! North Umpqua Wild Steelhead Safe...For now

This posting is courtesy of Matt Stansberry of The Caddis Fly Angling Shop

October 23rd, 2009 ·


Communique from Bruce McIntosh, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Fish Division Deputy Administrator, Inland Fisheries
As the management of North Umpqua winter steelhead is of great interest to Oregonians, last week ODFW made the following decisions regarding the future management of these fish:


•In response to interested publics in the Umpqua basin and Commission direction, ODFW has been looking at a range of options to implement consumptive fisheries for winter steelhead in the North Umpqua River over the last year.


•While no formal proposals were completed, ODFW did have internal discussions that considered the full range of options, from status quo, to a limited fishery on wild winter steelhead, to the implementation of a small winter steelhead hatchery program in the North Umpqua River.


•At this time, ODFW has concluded that the best way to address the management of North Umpqua winter steelhead is through the development of a coastal winter steelhead conservation plan, which would include the North Umpqua.


•ODFW will begin development of a coastal winter steelhead conservation plan in the latter part of 2010. Development of the plan will address all aspects of steelhead management for all the populations from the Necanicum at the north end of the Species Management Unit to the Sixes at the southern end.


•The coastal winter steelhead plan will be developed based on the direction provided by ODFW’s Native Fish Conservation Policy and will seek input and involvement from appropriate public, tribal, state, local, and federal management partners.


Breathe easy, stay vigilant. And thanks for everybody’s support on this.


Matt Stansberry

The Late, Great Fall Chinook Salmon

I don't think a word like abysmal can adequately describes the status of the west coast fall Chinook salmon runs the last couple of years. I suppose there are other adjectives that may be better but I was thinking of something so downward and fathomless and filled with gloom to really project how much in trouble these fish are in.
Whether it be the legendary runs of the Smith River in Northern California or the "pigs" of the Tillamook watershed there are none that deny that these fish are disappearing at an alarming rate.
It's downright scary and no one seems to be able to put a finger on the exact culprit in the fall Chinook's demise. There are probably many reasons and the cumulative effect of all of those reasons are probably why we are where we are today.
So let's look at a few...
Loss of habitat in critical spawning areas might be the largest reason. Siltation, loss of riparian buffer zones, poor logging practices have all play a role. The powers that be have finally recognized this and are trying to do something about it but it may be too late. Good positive strides in proper logging practices have been implemented and we are seeing some progress. Obviously there is more work to be done though.
Of course the numerous hydro-electric dams along the Columbia river and it's tributaries were and are a huge part of the problem. These man made barriers have destroyed countless millions of down river juveniles and have impeded the returning adults. The dams have also provided a smorgasbord of easy pickings for predators of all kinds.
Over harvest by everyone from sportsmen to commercial interests have added to the Chinook's woes over the years and while state agencies have reduced bag limits and catch allocations they ignored the warning signs for way too long.
The greedy sports anglers, armed with the latest internet fishing report, have long sought the coveted Chinook salmon roe to use as bait and while some may call this insignificant it is just wishful thinking to say this has not had some impact. The Tillamook region is still famous for it's "hen hunters" who stripped ripe females solely for their eggs and I would be willing to bet you could use fresh Chinook salmon roe as some form of currency for barter in that area of Oregon. Many salmon "celebrities" have made their living selling the latest and greatest salmon egg cure in order to facilitate those egg hunters.
Foreign troll fleets and Columbia river gill netters decimated these salmon for decades to feed the ever increasing demand from the non-fishing public for salmon to eat. In the past entire coastal economies were built around the Chinook and coho salmon returns of the fall.
Then of course is mismanagement by state fishery agencies. The tales of these bungling managers of these important resource could fill a massive volume. I have posted my criticism of these agencies many times on this blog and will not rehash old rants but I will say this much and I mean this with all of my heart. I firmly believe our state fish and wild life agencies must be reorganized and reformed from top to bottom. It's time for the bureaucrats, save asses and politicians to be prevented from pulling the strings and mismanaging our wild salmonids. Along with all of this is the archaic hatchery policies and practices that have changed little in decades and the effect of hatchery fish on wild fish is well documented. The old saying of "Throw the Scoundrels Out" certainly would apply here.
Finally there is that great unknown called ocean conditions. We are not real sure what goes on out in the salt but we do know that pollution and, yes, global warming have an effect and will continue to do so until some enlightened people who can make a difference will step up and do it.
I would really like my grand children to be able to watch in wonder the ritual of spawning salmon or witness a massive Chinook plow it's way through a shallow riffle on it's way to it's ultimate destiny and fate.
We will be a poorer world without the Chinook salmon and indeed any wild salmon or trout to enjoy and cherish for future generations.

Confessions of a Cynic

Am I a cynic? Do I take a negative view of what is happening to our wild salmon and trout? Do I see the proverbial glass as half empty?
Yes to all of the above!
I don't enjoy being a cynic. I wish that we didn't have a state agency that cares little about our wild salmonids and I wish I could become a fan of ODFW... I really do!
Thing is the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is an agency out of control with an agenda that does not bode well for wild fish.Here is an example of what I'm talking about.
Do you realize that ODFW has it's greedy eyes on perhaps the last remaining decent population of wild winter steelhead? The North Umpqua runs of wild winter steelhead have long been a target of just about everyone who just cannot stand to not be able to kill a wild fish in order to sate their ego.
Then there is the steelhead broodstock programs that put the coastal wild winter steelhead into a tailspin. The recovering populations had the rug pulled out from under them with this program. All one has to do is talk to a river guide and they will tell you how few spawning redds there were the last few seasons. By river guides I'm talking about those that have nothing to lose by telling the truth! There are plenty of bait guides on the north coast who will exaggerate their catch reports to the local ODFW office in order in order to keep these wild fish raping programs going. These are the same guides that run trips that fish over spawning fish in order to get their clients a hook up or two.
I could right volumes about the coastal cutthroat trout mess that was foisted on the rivers of the northern coast.
So yes I am a cynic and will continue to be as long as this states self proclaimed stewards of the resource change course and actually live up to their mission.
When will that happen? Cynically I do not see it happening until there is some visionary leadership in place that will clean house. As long as the addiction to hatchery programs and bait guide welfare still influence policy then I guess I will remain the grumpy old complainer that I am.

Mist on the River

The autumnal equinox was most assuredly upon me as I journeyed to the northern coast yesterday for a day of pursuing coastal cutthroat trout on a fly.
The leaves of the coastal corridor were well into their autumn regalia of reds and oranges as I drove along in the constant rain.
As I arrived at my first destination I saw that there was a fine mist rising from the river. The river isn't at it's full autumn flow but with the turning leaves and the mist the scene was surreal and beautiful and the eager cutthroat trout just added to the beauty of the scene.
I fished at several different likely cutthroat hangouts on 4 rivers and they all had this mist rising from them. I absent mindedly left my camera at home so the photograph in this posting was borrowed from the internet so you can get an idea of how this looked.
In the last several years of my angling life I have avoided as much interaction with fall salmon bank fishermen as possible. While there are many who fish with respect and ethics there are some that do not and I make sure to give them a wide berth on the river.These are the ones that make the most noise and throw away the most garbage along the river bank so while these "sportsmen" may be in the minority their presence is profoundly felt by all that are in the area. The salmon runs this year have not materialized on the upper portions of these coastal rivers yet and so I had my choice of places to cast my fly without the company of these unwashed masses.
There was a small hatch of stone flies and blue winged olives going on that the trout were mildly interested in and instead they were likely snacking on emerging October caddis which would provide a more filling meal.
There were a few lonely coho salmon rolling in the slower water and one near death chinook that put on an aerial display that would have been the envy of any steelhead as he neared his unavoidable demise after completely his mission of procreation.
I used to love the fall as it, at least to me, was a season filled with so much and such little time to do it all. The sounds of migrating waterfowl and changing leaves always got me excited. The return of the fall chinook was near and that meant fresh meat and fresh bait for the freezer.
These days though I am almost melancholy when autumn arrives. It means that the cold of winter is near and it means that the winter of my years grow nearer also. I think about what the next year will be bring and how this old broke down fly fisherman will fare. I prefer to fish alone more and more in this autumn of my own life because I am not as patient anymore with the quirks of other anglers and do not want to force my own quirks and foibles on anyone else. I like it this way and am seldom lonely on a river as I have the shore birds and swaying firs to keep me company. I will make at least one or two more coastal trips for my beloved cutthroat trout and one or two more trips east of the mountains for the steelhead of the Deschutes.
While the change of season makes me somewhat sad it also is still an enjoyable time to be alive here in the beautiful and awe inspiring Pacific northwest.

The Harvest Mentality Lives!

Yes the need to kill wild fish is still flourishing in Tillamook County folks.

While fly fishing for cutthroat trout last Friday on the Trask and Wilson rivers I witnessed it and can, unfortunately, report that it is quite well and still very much in force.

I had just pulled into a favorite tidewater stretch on the Trask river and encountered a couple of women "plunking" for trout. Lo and behold they hooked one and were desperately trying to remove the hook in order to put it on the stringer one of the kids that was with them was eagerly holding at the ready. Well as fish do, this lucky trout managed to wiggle off of the hook and land back in the water. Of course these two gals were mortified especially with me chuckling out loud. They soon left and took their bait with them.

How do I know that they were not intending to release the trout you might ask? Listen friends you don't use bait for catch and release! Well some do I guess.

I moved over to the nearby Wilson river to try my luck. I was fishing a run that had produced trout in the past and hooked up immediately.A young man who was there with his wife and baby commented "Well there's dinner tonight huh?" The fish was all of 10" mind you. I politely replied that I would never kill one of these wild trout.

Now one might think that these are isolated incidents but after fishing the coastal region for many years I have found that catch and release is the exception rather than the rule! Only when folks are forced to release wild fish will they actually do it.

It's not just a Tillamook county phenomena so don't think I am singling just this region out. It's a coast wide thing where locals have not come to grips with the fact that their salmon and trout are disappearing. Gone are those days of bringing home huge chinook salmon and stringers full of "harvest trout"

The bait guides claim that the wild winter steelhead populations are in fine shape but I think they are exaggerating and even down right lying so they can continue to get their broodstock programs funded. They claim that the wild steelhead are plentiful enough to warrant the mining of wild eggs for use in these hatchery programs.That along with district fish biologist "cooking the books" in order to provide these bait guides with a chance to make money on the backs of wild steelhead.

I've done redd surveys the past few years and what others who have done surveys and we are all seeing the same thing! There is an alarmingly low number of redds in the coastal rivers.

So choose for yourself who you think is right!

The harvest mentality will probably never go away though as long as there are remnant runs of wild salmon and steelhead to plunder by the ignorant and greedy.

Contacting ODFW

I've been asked to provide a list of ODFW contact information so that if you have any concerns (and you should) about how our wild salmon and trout are being managed you can address you concerns directly.


This is the ODFW commission. The people listed below are the ones who make the major decisions about what happens to wild salmonids.
These people are the ones who decided it was a great idea to allow the harvest of wild coastal cutthroat trout starting in 2009.

Marla Rae (Chairperson) - marlarae@qwest.net The Rae Group
333 High Street NE, Suite 202
Salem, OR 97301

Skip Klarquist - skip@erisalaw.com
Zalutsky & Klarquist, PC
215 SW Washington Street, 3rd Floor
Portland, OR 97204

Zane Smith Jr. - zanegreysmith@msn.com
1243 Delrose Drive
Springfield, OR 97477-1594

Dan Edge - daniel.edge@oregonstate.edu
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
OSU, 104 Nash Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331-2910

Carter Kerns NO Email Contact
503 N Main St.
Pendleton, OR 97801-2243

Jon Englund - jenglund@eglundmarine.com
Englund Marine Supply Co, Inc.
PO Box 296
Astoria , OR 97103

Bobby Levy - bobby.levy@my180.net
PO Box 69
Echo , OR 97826

You can also send comments to Rhine Messmer at ODFW
Rhine.T.Messmer@state.or.us

The Tillamook ODFW fish biologists can be contacted here

Chris Knutsen - 503-842-2741
Chris.Knutsen@state.ore.us

Robert Bradley - 503-842-2741
Robert.Bradley@state.or.us

Rick Klumph (Regional Manager) - 503-842-2741
rick.I.klumph@state.or.us

You can also contact the Fish Division Administrator
Ed Bowles - 503-647-6206
Ed.Bowles@state.or.us

Good luck and remember these people are mostly bureaucrats who will just pass stuff on to the next level down.

ODFW Paints It's Ass Into a Corner

Well it's the first day of autumn here in the Pacific Northwest and we are having mid-summer like temperatures.
We've had these type of late summer heat waves before and I will guaranty you we all will be bitching about the rain by Thanksgiving.
One thing this early fall drought does is keep the salmon holed up in tidewater and the bays of the coastal region. They will eventually move upstream but may not be as bright as some would like. That doesn't really matter to the egg hunters of Tillamook county though, the more mature the salmon the larger and better the eggs tend to be before the eggs single out for spawning.
This year Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife promises a veritable cornucopia of coho salmon including the allowing of the harvest of wild coho. Here is where it gets tricky though! ODFW is not allowing the harvest of any fall chinook in certain watersheds like the Nehalem. Meanwhile just down south it's business as usual in the Tillamook watersheds as far as fall chinook goes!!! Am I missing something here?
Okay let's see if I have this right. You can't keep fall chinook on the Nehalem system but it's balls to the wall on coho including wild coho. Then you drive less than 20 miles south and it's okay to harvest fall chinook along with the promised coho bonanza!?!?! My head is about to explode here folks.
What took place at the Tillamook ODFW office when they came up with this stuff? A week long kegger? Holy crap!
I guess Oregon State Police Fish and Game Division are keeping a wary eye on the Nehalem system trying to make sure no one is targeting fall chinook. Say what?
I am certainly glad that I don't fish for salmon anymore because this is confusing to say the least.
I just further proves that ODFW is not interested in managing the resource but desperately trying to bolster lagging license sales.
In the meantime wild salmonids get kicked to the curb as has been the modus operandi of a state agency that is out touch and out of control.

Those Things That Other Anglers Do That Piss Me Off

What are the little annoyances that you've encountered in your fly fishing life? Those things that are minor but it still rubs you the wrong way?
I know you find it hard to believe but I have a list and I just know this is the blog entry from me that you have long waited for so without further ado here are my fly fishing pet peeves and petty annoyances.

Hero shots where the angler is holding his rod in his mouth....irritating! Or the dumb ass who holds a small fish way out in front of him to make the fish look huge.
People who use stupid nick names for rivers are particularly annoying. Hey the Deschutes is not "The Big D" and the Metolius is not "The Met" show some respect how 'bout it?
How about being called a "Fly Chucker" or "Water Swatter"? Does that bother you?
Then there are those idiots who have pet sayings to describe catching a fish. One moron on ifish.net says "SHABAMALAM" when he posts about catching a fish...Good God!
A Burkheimer fly rod is not a "Burkie" by the way. Oh I could just go on all night with this stuff.  Steelhead are not "steelies" and cutthroat trout are not "cuttys" and rainbows are not "'bows"
Remember Fishing and Hunting News? That fishing rag with the week old reports about the hot fishing? It always had those stupid sayings like "Hot steelie action to be had on the big "D" Thank God F&H News died a well deserved death.
Oh I realize it's all pretty harmless stuff but we old guys like to have something to bitch about and there is plenty of really serious things to get really angry at right?
So anyway I think I'll head over to the big "D" for some hot steelie action with a few of my fly chucker pals. I may take my Burkie and head over to the Met for some 'bows.
Be sure to look for my picture. I will be the one with my fly rod clenched in my teeth while trying to make my 11" "cutty" look like it's bigger.

If Only They Had Trout in Hawaii

Well friends I'm back! Hawaii was everything I thought it would be and more. From the quaint little piece of paradise called Lahaina to the exhilarating Kaleakela Crater to the nightmarish, at least for me driving, Road to Hana it was a wonderful and memorable trip. I was glad to share it with the woman I married 30 years ago.
It's an emotional feeling I am having right and maybe it's just that I am tired. When I think about the last week especially when we visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor the wave of emotion I felt at that most hallowed place will be something I shall never forget.
I will add to this posting in the next couple of days with some pictures from my trip so hang in there.
One thing though and I really mean this. As wonderful and beautiful as Hawaii is I still am glad to come home to the Pacific Northwest,it's rain, it's trout and it's steelhead.
They is truly no place like home!

Feeling Nostalgic

I think one of the rights of passage into old age must be reminiscing about the "Good Old Days"
I find myself thinking about those days in the 60's and 70's in the pre-internet days more and more lately.
Those family vacations driving to New Mexico and up here to Oregon in the family Chevrolet to visit aunts, uncles and cousins were alot of fun. My parents would stay to the last possible minute and then dad would drive like a bat out of hell to get home for work on Monday morning. I remember my dad pulling over to splash ice water in his face in order to make it home by Sunday.
I think about those orange juice stands that looked like giant oranges along highway 99 before the days of Interstate 5 on our way up to Oregon and Washington.
I miss things like that.
Here is a list of things from my childhood and even young adulthood that I was sorry to see go.
Beer commercial featuring the Hamms Bear or the Burgie Man. Sitting in the left field pavilion at Dodger Stadium eating Dodger Dogs while Willie Mays of the hated Giants was teeing off on Don Drysdale and parking home runs in the seat just below us.
The Blatz beer and Union 76 jingles from LA Dodgers radio broadcasts...Vin Scully was and still is awesome.
Of course there was the drive-in movies with the old cast metal speakers that you would attach to the car window. Do any of you remember the playground for the kids that was right in front of the screen? Nothing like playing on the swing set in your pajamas.
How about the 19 cent McDonald's cheeseburgers or Tastee Freeze milk shakes or actually getting your oil checked and windshield washed while filling up on Ethyl gas.
The memories flood back don't they?
We had one of the first color television sets on the block so of course we were a popular family. The old round picture tube was great for watching Bonanza or the Monkees.
I was fortunate enough to live very close to Disneyland and for less the $10 we could go and ride all the good rides with our "E" Tickets left over from previous visits.
The Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile would come down the street and "Little Oscar" would give out wiener whistles. We kids were convinced that he made all the bologna and hot dogs in that little kitchen he supposedly had in the hot dog shaped vehicle.
Wally the bread man from the Helms Bread would have the best doughnuts while smelling like the whiskey he had stashed somewhere in his truck.
Then there was baseball cards. We all had the dozens of Wayne Causey and Eli Grba cards in hopes of getting a Koufax or Willie Mays. The gum was stale and actually would sometime breaks up in little pieces when you tried to chew it but it was worth it to get that coveted Hank Aaron card to trade for nearly any of the Dodgers.
Of course there are the things about fly fishing in those early years of my adult hood that I sure do miss. You could go into nearly any sporting goods store and buy a Hardy reel and at a reasonable price! Kaufmann's was just a small storefront in Tigard back in those days.The Deschutes and Washougal had good numbers of steelhead back in the day also.
I miss the days when Bill McMillan could be found working in local fly shops. I also, believe it or not, miss those 5 mile hikes up the Deschutes river before the trails when you had to step off of the railroad tracks to let the train go by.
We've gotten too busy and too self absorb to appreciate that time...I know I have.

Paying Homage to Fly Fishing Tradition

I've fly fished for about 35 years and along the way I have some idea about what the traditions of this piscatorial endeavour are and I even have my own.
Fly fishing is rife with tradition probably more than any other type of sports angling and it appears that those traditions are no longer revered as they once were.
I have an annual tradition of making sure I fish the last day of the coastal trout season. It's like I want to say goodbye to the river and the fish that provided me with so much happiness during the five month season. It's important for me to do that and I always fish alone on that day.
I also make sure that, on that final day, I use one of my Hoffman bamboo rods. I suppose if I could I would find some tweeds to dress in.
I think the sound that a Hardy reel makes while a running fish takes out line is music to us traditionalists. There is really nothing like it and it is unique in the way the sound the engine of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle makes that is like no other motorcycle.
My other traditions include a three day trip to the Deschutes for the annual salmon fly extravaganza.
I think we lose out when traditions of this gentle of all angling sports are dismissed and forgotten. With all the bells and whistles available to the new fly fisher who wants to catch a lot of fish immediately tradition get swept aside.
I suppose I am sounding like an old guy but the "young guns" trout bums of today pay no homage to all the great fly fishers from the past and that is too bad.
Us old guys can't helicopter into a remote trout or steelhead stream because, like myself, we cannot afford it or are not physically able to.
Maybe those remote streams should be left alone! How is that for a new tradition?
I always thought that it is traditional and ethical to treat the fish you are about to release with the utmost care! Shouldn't the safety of the fish take precedent over your hero picture?
Anyway in a sports so full of rich traditions I try to embrace as many as I can. I suppose if I could actually get some tweeds to fir my large carcass I would probably wear them.
I would probably get a few second glances but at this stage of my life who really cares what others think.
So while the music of Beethoven or Mozart are most pleasing to those classical music loves ears for me the sound of a Hardy fly reel paying out line or the crisp "pop" of the ferrules on my bamboo rod as I take it apart are music to my ear in the fly fishing concert of mine.
Take the time to slow down and drink in all the rich traditions of fly fishing. Remember this is not a blood sport and in fact many of us gave up that type of angling for something gentler and more traditional.

Soul of the Fly Fisher

I was thinking of calling this entry "The Zen of Fly Fishing" but after looking up Zen in the dictionary it did not convey exactly what I really wanted to say. I was trying to find the exact words that would adequately describe the soul of fly fishing and I think this says it best, "the quality that arouses emotion and sentiment"
Dan Washburn, a Georgia fly fishing guide says, "Fly fishing is the metronome for the soul"
What does he mean by that? I think when Norman Maclean was describing his father he may have had something like this in mind when he said, "I never knew whether he believed God was a mathematician but he certainly believed God could count and that only by picking up God's rhythms were we able to regain power and beauty"

Rogue River fly fishing guide Dave Roberts executing a perfect cast

I think the soul of fly fishing is the concept of simplicity surrounded by the complications of our own humanity. Too many times we cannot just let our time on the river be what it is but we tend make it into something that is frustrating and confusing and so the soul of fly fishing must be simplicity.
I also think it is oneness with the moment. To lay out a perfect cast is truly artistic and to have a trout rise to that perfectly placed fly is a joy in knowing that you and that trout have made a connection.I would compare it to the joy a parent feels when seeing a child walk for the first time or graduate from college.
For that one moment you have put it all together and achieved perfection in this pursuit. I'm not sure if other types of angling can accomplish this but I know, at least for myself, I  have never felt the shiver of emotions that I feel when fly fishing. The soul of fly fishing could also be in the ghosts of those that came before us.I am reminded of fly fishing legends like Lee Wulff,Mike Kennedy and Roderick Haig-Browns when I am in the cathedral of the Deschutes  river canyon or the sacred water of the Metolius river because I know they all must have felt the same emotion.
I know I risk of sounding overly sentimental but at my age it just makes sense when little else does. The days of youthful exuberance are past and so all I have now is the contentment of what I do. Tell me if you've never been stirred by the beauty of a river so clear and a trout so beautiful that your emotions well up into your throat and I'll tell you you've never really fly fished. Oh maybe you've fished with a fly but it's never gone beyond the cold mechanics of that.
If this sounds like some sort of religion then perhaps it is. To me it is the grandest church of all. It is not some man made doctrine of guilt and shame but instead a pilgrimage to a higher ground in the outdoors.
Yes the soul of fly fishing is in each of us in that we check out of the reality of our day to day worries in life and do the simple thing of casting a fly to a rising trout thereby gaining back some semblance of sanity and restoring our own soul.

Book 'em Dano

Aloha

Off to the 50th state to celebrate 30 years of wedded bliss. I've scheduled some blog entries during the time I'm away for those of you that cannot fathom the thought of not being able to read my sage wisdom.
Aloha!

Fly Fishing Double Speak

Whenever you hear a fly fisherman speak you can bet that they are either lying or not telling the whole truth about their fishing trip.
So as a public service I will list here the things you'll hear a fly fisherman say and what it really means.

When a fly fisherman says "We hooked a couple of fish" it really means he didn't actually hook anything but others in his party did just not him. If he had success you can bet he would have boasted in the singular to all who would listen.
When he says "I had a couple of bumps" he really means that he felt something while his line was in the water. It could have been a stick or underwater vegetation but it is unlikely what he really felt was a fish.
They will also say things like "I just wanted to get out and work on my casting" which means they got skunked!
Or you'll hear them say "I don't have the right line for my rod" and that means, of course, they can't cast worth a damn!
Of course every fish actually landed can be reduced in size by at least 4 inches or in the case of a steelhead or salmon you can automatically reduce the weight by at least one third.
I've used every one of these "half-truths" at one time or another. Usually when my wife asks me how I did and I feel the need to justify the exorbitant expenditures I make on my gear.
I might say things like I had a really great time on the river today but while I may have had a great time the reality of it is I didn't catch or even hook diddly squat.
Of course tippet size shrinks in proportion to the size of the trout actually landed. If you hear the angler say he was using a 6X tippet he was actually using a 2 or 3X.
How about the term strike indicator? "I was nymphing under a strike indicator" but what it really means is they were using a bobber on their fly line.
I can swear right now that as crappy a fly fisherman as I may be or a big liar that I may be I do not use bobbers.
You all know how I feel about these baby toys and so enough on that.
There are all kinds of half-truths and down right lies we poor anglers get accused of but in reality we probably deserve it.
So a typical story you might get from me is
"Yeah we hooked 2 or 3 and I got a couple of bumps. I need to get a new line for my rod since I was just out practicing anyway. I had a really good time though!"
Does this sound like one of your stories? Remember one thing though. A fisherman can detect BS coming from another fisherman. We are so well practiced you know.

ODFW Wants to Kill Wild North Umpqua Winter Steelhead...Again.

For those of you that might think my rantings on this blog at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is unreasonable then read the article below and you will understand the frustration of dealing with these people.
This agency does not care about wild salmonids and it hasn't for many years! The lame excuse of "angler opportunities" is weak at best and just wrong. There are a lot of people smarter than me out there and I defer to them and the person who wrote the following article is one of those I defer to. The writer of the article below is Bill Bakke of Native Fish Society and he is someone who has been at the forefront of saving wild salmon and trout for decades.
Bill was advocating for wild salmonids way back before it was the en vogue thing to do and I know of no better friend of wild salmon and trout than Bill Bakke.

ROUND THREE – ODFW WANTS A KILL FISHERY ON NORTH UMPQUA WILD WINTER STEELHEAD:
The ODFW staff and commission are dedicated to finding a way to kill wild winter steelhead on the North Fork Umpqua River. In 2007 the public poured into the ODFW commission room to support the release fishery for wild Umpqua winter steelhead.
Guides said that killing these fish jeopardized the future of their fishery. Anglers valued these large beautiful fish too important to be caught just once and that the long-term health of this fishery could be achieved only by releasing the fish. The proposal for a catch and release fishery by the public was in response to the slaughter of wild steelhead after ODFW adopted a kill fishery on the mainstem Umpqua in 2004-2005. The river became a magnet to those people, many of them from out of state that wanted to kill the first steelhead they catch. The anglers not only swarmed the river,they high-graded their catch to take home the largest steelhead. The ODFW rationalized the kill of wild winter steelhead on abundance, saying wild steelhead could withstand a kill fishery. They point to the Native Fish Conservation Policy advocating the policy promotes a kill fishery on wild salmonids when they are abundant enough to support it.
The problem is that the staff does not know what the impact on wild winter steelhead is from this fishery, but the public was outraged.
During the 2008 angling regulations process a year later, the staff introduced the kill fishery to replace the catch and release fishery that was adopted by the Commission the year before. But at the commission meeting in Forest Grove, Oregon, the majority of the public testified in favor of the no kill regulation and convinced the Commission to let the catch and release regulation run its
full 4-year course. They agency mounted a rationale to support a kill fishery, but the public did not buy it and a massive organization effort was conducted to oppose it. The catch and release fishery was once again approved by the Commission for the entire Umpqua system, but the chair of the Commission, Marla Rae, said in an off-hand remark that it was not over yet. Her prediction was correct.
In 2009 the district biologist for the Umpqua gave a presentation to a group of southern Oregon fish biologists promoting a kill fishery on wild winter steelhead in the North Umpqua River. I heard from staff that her advocacy for doing away with the catch and release fishery had been reeled in. The leadership in the ODFW staff directed the Conservation and Recovery Program staff to build a model that would provide the basis for a kill fishery. I learned that this abundance 2 based model does not address diversity attributes of the wild population.
So factors contributing to the health and diversity of the population would not be included in the proposal to kill steelhead. This exercise did point out that North Umpqua wild winter steelhead are on average the oldest maturing population of steelhead in Oregon and Washington coastal rivers. The smolts tend to spend three years rearing in the river and tributaries and the adults tend to stay in the ocean three years before maturing and returning to the river. On average these fish are 5-year olds and unique on the coast. It is also a factor in producing really large adult steelhead. An abundance-based model could justify killing these fish, but not how to maintain their productivity and abundance.
The Fish Cons, a group of fish conservation organizations, had arranged to have ODFW staff present this model to them at their July 2, 2009 meeting, but when it came time to do so, ODFW refused to participate. I have heard that there is strong disagreement within the staff about this kill fishery promoted by the district fishery biologist and the chair of the ODFW Commission. If the leadership staff had resolved their dispute, they would have presented the proposal to open a kill fishery on North Umpqua River wild steelhead at the July 2 Fish Cons meeting, but that did not happen. I heard that a staffer said, “We may have to give up on it.”
Public advocacy for the protection of wild winter steelhead on the Umpqua has been successful in removing the kill fishery and defending the catch and release fishery in 2007 and 2008, and are fighting to retain it against as staff generated assault on wild steelhead in 2009.
If one is optimistic about ODFW staff and Commission motives this issue would not be on the table. We could be confident that the agency is concerned about wild steelhead and salmon and their framework for management is precautionary, science based, and careful. However, their track record inspires no such confidence about their motives and the long list of extinct wild salmonid populations and those protected under the ESA are indicators that the agency has gotten it all wrong for a long time.

Proud of Yourself Asshole?

This picture is of a soon to be dead cutthroat trout. See the bleeding from the gills?
The picture was on ifish.net, that bastion of the harvest mentality, and the guy that killed this fish says this.

"it was just hard not to keep that one!"

He was fishing a coastal river that I spend a lot of time on and I wish I would have been down there that day to tell him what a stupid asshole he is. I sincerely hope he or someone that knows him tells him about this post and wants to contact me.
I do not pull any punches when it comes to this kind of stuff. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife "cooked the books" when they pushed for the harvest of these wild trout and I will remain that agencies harshest critic as long as they have the people in place that they do making decisions about wild salmonids.
It really brings it home when you see a picture from your own home river of a dying trout that you care about...it breaks my heart and I do take it personally.
Maybe I shouldn't but I do!
That dying trout is irreplaceable and no doubt this person didn't think about that as he ripped his worm out of that trout mouth.
What this has accomplished is a renewal of my efforts to protect all wild and endangered salmonids and that is what I intend to do. I'm tired of being told that it can't be done. It can be done but we have to get off of our lazy over fed asses to do it!
Who is with me?

So Long Teddy

Senator Edward M. Kennedy passed away tonight at the age of 77. He was the last of the Kennedy brothers and the only one to not die a violent death.
While Teddy certainly had his flaws he was a great crusader for progressive thinking and maybe one of the last.
I saw Ted Kennedy in person way back in 1960 when he passed through our little California town campaigning for his brother John. It was one of those lasting memories of childhood that I never forgot.

More than just the loss of Senator Kennedy we are at the end of an era. The family that drew us to them with their charm, good looks and their tragedy has lost their patriarch and quite possibly, for those of us who were around at the time, we lost one of the last connections to John and Bobby.
I doubt the younger children of the Kennedy clan will have the impact on this nation that the three Kennedy brothers did.
While Teddy's death was not unexpected it still is sad and I am grateful for his service to this country.

Why Other Anglers Hate Fly Fishermen

We are snobs! It's just that simple. Oh not all of us of course but the ones who make a lasting impression are what we all are judged by.
We look down our noses at those who do not fly fish and think we, with our brier pipes, single malt scotch and expensive cigars, are better. In some cases we certainly are because we generally are more conservation minded than our gear throwing brethren, but that is the exception not the rule.. We scoff, and rightly so, at the use of salmon eggs for bait and the presence of hatchery fish but that still does not give us the right to be the elitists we are accused of being.
Even amongst ourselves there is definitely a social scale. Those of us that are not physicians or lawyers are the ones that get to cast their fly in exotic locales while us middle class fly fishermen ( I include myself in this group) are barely tolerated.
You see this a lot with the higher class Spey casters who fly fish for steelhead in the Pacific northwest.
We seem to forget from where we came. As for myself my story is quite familiar. I returned to the Pacific northwest, where I was born, after 17 years of California dreaming. I had heard tales of the salmon that were caught up here and wanted to try it for myself. I also heard of steelhead, a fish that until 1973 I was totally ignorant of.
I got lucky and hooked up with a couple of experienced steelheaders who showed me the ropes and after catching my very first steelhead in the winter of 1975 I knew this was for me.
As I became more successful catching steelhead with gear and yes bait, I wanted to try fly fishing. Well the rest is history! I have fly fished for over 30 years but it was not until 2004 that I gave up gear and switched exclusively to the fly rod. I had accomplished all that could be accomplished with gear in the waters of Oregon and Washington so it was on to a different challenge. I found myself, during the winter, missing my fly fishing more and more and so I mostly gave up catching a lot of steelhead and salmon on gear to just catching a few steelhead and trout on a fly. It's a conversion that I am most delighted with. I gave up salmon fishing altogether because the fall salmon crowd made me very uncomfortable with their carnivorous and slovenly ways.
Now I am a mostly full time fly fisherman and will die being a fly fisherman. Yes I do fit into the snobs description sometimes I guess but with me it's not thinking I am superior it more like I found a better way, for me at least, to fish. I the depths of winter when casting a fly is not very practical I will drag out my drift rod and corkies to drift fish. After a couple of winters strictly adhering to my fly only regimen I found myself staying home a lot because of unfriendly conditions for casting a fly. I do have reasonable skills drift fishing and can take home an occasional hatchery fish. I would rather be fly fishing though.
I will continue to look down on those who show no respect for our wild salmon and steelhead by doing things like snagging or egg stripping. I will look down upon those who do not know the meaning of ethics and etiquette. I will look down on those who kill wild fish.
Someone has trouble with that then too damn bad!
I think we middle class fly guys get the bad rep because of those who have more money than common sense and think their money and lavish fly fishing lifestyle makes them aloof and better than the rest of us mortals.
I've attended a few fly clubs and visited one or two upscale fly shops that have that air of superiority about them when they see me roll up in my Ford Ranger pick up and not a Land Rover. I agree with the gear guy being put off by this. Hey I cannot be helicoptered in some remote British Columbia river for some trophy steelhead or visit the bone fish flats of Christmas Island or Belize although I have fished for Atlantic salmon in Ireland.
The guys I know that can do trips like this are pretty down to earth anglers who guide for local fly shops and are able to get to go to these places because of their employer.
No, I am talking about the Henning Hale Orviston types from the book "The River Why"
These are the ones who get the ire of the gear crowd, some of whom are very skilled with their spinners or spoons or drift gear.
I am talking about the one who will not give you the time of day when they are encountered on the river.
It's those that give the fly fisherman the bad name and it's these guys who will do little if anything for conservation causes while they jet off to Iceland to pursue Atlantic Salmon.
For me I will continue to do what I do and enjoy myself. I am not wealthy nor particularly skilled but I will always exchange a pleasant greeting to all whom I meet along the river. Even you gear chucking peasants.

They Just Don't Get It

I do not fish for fall chinook anymore and haven't since 2004. You see I have this silly notion that fishing of any kind should be enjoyable. I've noticed that more and more people are turning angling into some sort of blood sport. It's no longer that peaceful endeavour where one can relax and maybe get a fish or two, it is
combat fishing in the truest since of the word.
This is especially true during the fall when the salmon begin their primordial journey to pro create and then die
The large fall chinook will typically run at least 30 pounds with some even larger. That is a lot of meat for the freezer and people kind of lose their minds when these fish are in their home rivers to spawn
I fished for chinook for many years and took many home during that time but the last few years before I ceased fishing for them the mood and attitude of salmon anglers changed into a surliness that I was uncomfortable with. It changed from the good natured camaraderie of fellow anglers to a win at all costs pursuit. I found myself stressing out about not getting my favorite salmon spot and it got to the point where I seldom did.
In other locations people actually would resort to violence and the brandishing of firearms when they felt someone encroached on their waters.
It's sad to see that so many have lost sight of why we fish in the first place.
They are passing on that "I gotta get mine" attitude to their kids.
I have witnessed some very ugly scenes during that time of year in my salmon days.
Fall chinook season will bring out the absolute worst in human behavior. You want to get a glimpse into the true nature of a man? Take him to the Trask or Wilson river in late October and point out there is a pool full of 30 pound plus swimming meat
in that hole, just see how he reacts.
I am still pursuing coastal cutthroat trout until the end of October and encounter these "sports" every year.
One year I was working a productive run, swinging wet flies for trout and hooking then releasing several nice trout. The water I was in was too shallow to hold chinook so I was able to stay well above the bobber and egg guys in the lower deep pool.
They were having no luck at all with their tennis sized baits of cured salmon roe so
one of these gentlemen brought his glob of gooey eggs up to just below where I was and ran it right through my trout run. Well of course the trout are going to ignore my fly from then on and feast on the loose eggs left over from the salmon invader.
What did I do? I left! You cannot teach these slugs proper angling etiquette and no doubt I would have been assaulted, at the very least, with crude remarks and insults
It certainly was not the first or last time I experienced this stuff and so I try to avoid all association with these people.
I am not able to fish some choice spots for cutthroat trout during the waning days of the season but it's okay. My over all enjoyment of the river and fish is more important to me than making sure I get a few casts in among the salmon knuckle draggers.
The folks and sadly many anglers, whether fly or gear, have turned their time on the river into something stressful.
Angling should always be a celebration of every thing that is good about being outdoors. In our busy lives we need these breaks to unwind and collect our thoughts and wits and just get away from the stressful lives we lead.
Unfortunately many just do not get it.

Thus Sayeth...Me

I am an opinionated old goat and I admit it. At this stage of my life I have gotten beyond caring what people think of me and so I figure that gives me the ability to say and offer opinions on anything I want.
Don't like it? Sorry but it is what it is.
My close friends know my heart and they know that my beliefs, especially about fly fishing and fishing in general, are born out of experience.
Call me irascible or call me an asshole because it really does not matter much.
So with that disclaimer in mind I shall proceed with the "Fly fishing gospel according to Shane"
Many of these you have read before on other blog entries but some are new and remember it usually takes me a day or two to go back through and correct typos.

Strike Indicators - Not fly fishing and never will be! It's a gadget to shorten the learning curve and catch fish.

Internet fishing forums - I think these have been the bane of civilized fishing. Greedy and opportunistic Pacific northwest fishing website owners making a buck on our fishing resource and giving nothing back except for crowded rivers and rude people.

Wild fish - The life blood of our sport and we should do anything and everything to protect them. If it means not fishing at all for the good of a population of wild salmonids then so be it. I can live without playing catch and release on certain depressed wild fish populations! Can you?

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife - A top heavy agencies full of arrogant save asses who do not care about protecting our wild salmonids...just that simple!

Bait - The gear fishing equivalent to fly fishers using indicators. Show me a spinner or spoon angler or a good drift fisherman and I will show you a skilled angler. Any idiot can use bait and catch fish. To put a bait scent on your fly is as beyond contempt as using your bamboo fly rod to dunk worms.

Side drifting - Same as a bait angler...no skills necessary

Armchair or bar stool fishery biologists - Anyone can cut and paste to try to look smart and well read. You sit on your ass all day in front of a computer offering your unsolicited opinion then you are not a well person.

Hatchery steelhead - A necessary evil to satisfy the harvest mentality. Properly managed hatchery steelhead can have minimal impact on wild populations but they are not properly managed.

Steelhead broodstock programs - Evil and could spell the doom of wild steelhead as we know them. This is little more than a welfare program for bait guides.

Bamboo - If anything is pure and sacred in fly fishing it is this. At the risk of sounding elitist many are not worthy or skilled enough to have one of these rods.

Single Malt Scotch - The nectar of the gods.

Photos of wild trout - If it's not a unique, large or first fish then we don't really care. The time you had that 12 inch redside out of the water for your glory shot might well have spelled it's doom. If it's a hatchery pellet head then who cares! Kill it and grill it!

Bass - To quote Henning Hale-Orviston "The largemouth bass (or smallmouth bass) is an outlander, a devouring pestilence, a freakish invader to the salubrious waters to the north and northwest"
Unfortunately these "outlanders" are thriving here in the Pacific northwest and there is little that can be done.

Carp - While they might be great sport they are still ..ahem..CARP for crying out loud! They eat feces for crying out loud and any fly fisherman using quality tackle while angling for these "rough" fish should be doomed to an eternity of watching videos of Jimmy Houston fish for bass with George Bush.

The Metolius river - If there is a heaven then the rivers in heaven will look like this.

The Deschutes River - It's like that wild girlfriend you dreamt about as a teen. Cannot be controlled so it should be enjoyed and revered.

Fly fishing traditions - They may seem silly to some but if our sport is to be considered anything more than just fishing then at least a nodding respect to fly fishing traditions should be considered don't' you think?
You don't have to use bamboo rods or gut leaders to respect tradition...it is what sets this type of angling apart and why some of us find it so alluring.

So there you have it friends! If at anytime while reading this latest diatribe from me you were offended or felt I was singling you out then tough shit! I probably was.
Feel free to send comments if you like but don't be surprised if I nuke them and they do not see the light of day.

Watching the River Run

Have you ever taken time out of your day of fishing and just watched the river? You would be amazed at all you see. Most of us are so focused on what our fly is doing to really notice much of what is going by or going on around you.
I've fished in Oregon for almost 35 years and visited most of this states rivers at one time or another but it's only been in the last few years that I actually started to take the time to look at the river and it's nuances. I know there are many anglers who will claim to know a river intimately and maybe they do but to know a river is much more than just knowing which holes will hold fish. I'm not saying that it is not a part of knowing a river but it's just a part of the whole picture.
Ever notice the way the water runs over a submerged rock and the wake it creates? In the millions of years that a river runs it's course I find it amazing that no two wakes will be alike. The water in a riffle will never create the exact pattern twice and maybe I'm looking at it in a childlike way but you have to be in awe at what nature has provided for us don't you?.
Take a look sometime at the life that goes on around a river and when you take the time to really look you'll see a myriad of activity that goes unnoticed. The shore birds that count on the river for their very existence for instance have you noticed how they go about their constant rituals to survive? The more you watch it the stronger the bond with will feel towards it. I think you will view a river as a close friend instead of just a means to catch fish.
I think few people ever have drawn a river into their soul and made it's presence a part of their life. Frank Moore must have done it on the North Umpqua because no mere steelhead run can stir a man like the Umpqua does for Frank. I think Bill McMillan knew the Washougal in the same way. It must have broken his heart to see what happened to his river and he had to move away because it hurt him so much. I would think it had to be much like losing a loved one. Roderick Haig-Brown must have felt the same way because his writings capture the soul of the river and it's fish.
I feel this way about the Deschutes and although I have been traveling over the mountain for many years to fish this river it has been just the past few years that I have begun feeling a deep abiding affection for it to the point the I am always in wonder at what I see and learn every time I go there.
You see folks it really isn't just about catching fish. It's about so much more than that and until you've taken a river into your heart and soul can you ever feel totally fulfilled as an angler? I can only speak for myself but it was only when the actually hooking and landing of fish became secondary. I think it's the real sign of the contented angler that I have alluded to before. I'm not there yet but I am on the right road....why not try it yourself next time you are fishing your favorite stream.

Strange Days on the Deschutes

My trip to the Deschutes last Saturday reminds me of the old Doors song "Strange Days"

Strange days have found us
Strange days have tracked us down
They're going to destroy
Our casual joys
We shall go on playing
Or find a new town

It started out innocently enough as I picked up my friend "Bob" last Saturday morning for a trip to locate some summer steelhead.

We left the metro area around 10 AM and began our journey eastward.

We had crested the highway 26 summit near Government Camp and were merrily chatting away about various topics.

"Bob" is a staunch neo-con, FOX News addict who believes anything that Bill O'Reilley and Sean Hannity says. He believe FOX is really "Fair and Balanced" and he also believes former Alaska Governor Sarah "Quitter" Palin is the most honest politician out there.

I was talking about the proposed Bristol Bay copper mine which would have an adverse effect on wild salmon in that area.

"Bob" took it as a slam at "Quitter" and went into a rage. When he started the finger jabbing at me while I was driving I went into a rage myself. I basically invited "Bob" to either stop the invectives and finger pointing or he would find himself making a long walk back to Portland. I explained that I was not even talking about "Quitter" but about the Bristol Bay copper mine.

He calmed down and apologized.

Okay well that little debate had ended well and we looked forward to the lovely Deschutes.

We arrived in a small town near the river where a well known husband and wife team run a very successful high end fly shop and guide service. I have spent a moderate amount of money in this fly shop over the years and usually buy something every time through.

We were having a pleasant little banter with one of the owners about fishing, conservation etc. and apparently he became bored with this small talk and pretty much asked us to leave. Funny behavior to be sure and my fishing buddy kind of saw it the same way.

I am no fishing star at all and I like to have good tackle and am willing to pay for it in shops like this one. I also like the pleasant chatter that can be found in a fly shop. It's a group of like minded people who always find something to talk about.

In this shop that day there were no other customers so we were not distracting this person from helping out other customers or prospective customers. He was rude and I will probably not do much shopping there from now on.

So after that we decided it was time to head to the river.

The Deschutes on a Saturday in the summer is not the place to be if you are seeking solitude. I knew this but since my argumentative, Sarah Palin loving fishing buddy works and he can only fish on the weekends. His vehicle was not running good so I accommodated him.

To say they were a lot of people using the river that day is an understatement! Yes it was crowded with rafters, both drunk and sober, splashing around in steelhead holding water and the. All the campgrounds were filled to the brim and then some.

Hopefully these people were obeying the "human waste" laws but since enforcement is spotty at best I kind of doubt it.

Well we were here and so we may as well fish I thought. Down the 17 mile long gravel Macks Canyon access road we went.

The gravel is not exactly small little pebbles like you would expect on a gravel road.

They were more like baseball sized jagged rocks and your tires had better be up to the challenge....my tires were not.

A flat tire before we even got to wet a line! We decided to fish and deal with the flat when were done swinging flies in a nice run for steelhead. Of course the ever present rafters were using that portion of the river as well and the chance of actually hooking a fish was about the same as me fitting into a Spandex jumpsuit.

We changed the tire and decided not to press our luck by journeying further down the tire killing gravel road.

By the time we got back to the main road and headed back upriver the wind had made it's daily appearance which pretty much nullified any further piscatorial pursuits and we headed home.

So what did I learn on this weird day on the river?

Leave the political discussions out of the trip especially if fishing with someone who actually believes FOX News is truly "Fair and Balanced" and Sarah "Quitter" Palin is an honest politician.

Never assume a semi-famous fly shop owner is going to be cordial no matter how much money you have spent in their shop. If you are not Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods then you probably do not rate much politeness. Finally have confidence in your tires and make sure they are able to take some abuse especially when driving on rocks that are shaped like daggers.

Finally never, ever, ever fish the Deschutes on a Saturday in August.

Failure

As revolting as the above picture is to me I am not angry at the angler who killed this cutthroat trout and then snapped the picture.
I am angry at the utter failure by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. They are ones who failed to live by their mission statement. They failed to listen to any opposing argument when it came to allowing the harvest of this fish.
They failed to present truthful information when assessing the fitness of the population of this endangered fish for harvest.
The commission failed to allow debate on this and they failed to search for a compromise that all parties could have lived with.
The guy who killed this fish was just another member of the harvest mentality that dominates the thinking of most sports fishermen in this region.
As an example of this I read a post on ifish.net where the poster marvelled at seeing a pod of orcas in the ocean near the mouth of the Columbia. He got a few congratulatory replies about how cool it was to see these wonderful creatures.
One comment, however, shows what most people really think.

"No that's not cool, I mean cool you and your crew got to see them, but I hope they keep moving on.I am sure they could put a dent in the run by hanging out at Buoy 10"

So now we get a glimpse of the potential future enemy of the greedy and self absorbed sports fisherman.

This Just In! Water is Wet

In other news of the obvious it has been determined that hatchery steelhead are inferior to wild steelhead. Their offsprings are inferior and these hatchery steelhead should be kept away from their wild counterparts at all costs.
This is really not new information but what it does do is puts another dent in the armor of the pro-hatchery people.


The article below is courtesy of the Vancouver Columbian

If you’re a fish raised in captivity, scientists know that it’s hard for you to successfully reproduce in the wild.
Now, it turns out, your kids may have the same curse.
That’s the startling conclusion of a new study by Oregon State University researchers who examined the reproductive success of hatchery-raised and wild steelhead in Oregon’s Hood River.
“I was surprised, frankly,” said researcher Michael Blouin, an OSU zoology professor. “I thought the offspring of hatchery fish would be … pretty much like a wild fish. But, in fact, they’re still carrying a handicap they got from their parents.”
The new research undermines ongoing experiments by state and tribal fishery managers to crossbreed wild fish with fish raised in hatcheries. After more than a century of overfishing and habitat degradation,hatcheries now produce the overwhelming majority of the salmon and steelhead that return to the Columbia River basin each year. Fishery managers have suggested boosting the last vestiges of wild-spawning native salmon runs by crossbreeding them with relatively abundant hatchery fish.
Doing so may cause more harm than good, according to the OSU researchers.
From a wider lens, the researchers noted that their results could affect thousands of animal species expected to require captive breeding to prevent extinction over the next 200 years.
“Captive-bred organisms could potentially drag down the fitness of the wild populations they are meant to support, even while temporarily boosting their numbers,” the study concluded.
Raised in steel and concrete raceways, hatchery fish aren’t subjected to the same forces of natural selection that cull their wild-spawning cousins. Wild fish first must survive fast-moving currents that eradicate many eggs in the gravelly river bottoms. If they’re lucky enough to emerge from the gravel intact,wild fish must find their own food while eluding predators before making their way to the ocean.The offspring of both hatchery and wild fish face these same obstacles.
Yet, the OSU study found the offspring of two captive-bred parents reproduce at a rate that’s only 37 percent of the offspring of two wild parents. For the offspring of one wild and one hatchery-raised parent, the reproductive fitness is 87 percent of fish with purely wild parentage.
In other words, the behavioral characteristics necessary for survival appear to be embedded within the creature’s genetic makeup.
“This genetic suggestion is pretty startling,” said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle.
Researchers haven’t determined what harmful genetic trait the hatchery-raised fish are picking up and passing on to their offspring — or how to rectify it. Blouin suggested one possibility: Hatchery managers may be selecting and crossbreeding fish with a relatively fast growth rate. This may be good for fishermen, but it may be problematic for any offspring produced by the steelhead.
“A fish with a high metabolic rate is going to have to feed a lot more,” Blouin said.
Over time, maladapted genetic traits picked up in the hatchery could be eased out with each succeeding generation of fish spawned in the wild.
However, hatcheries are likely to have an enduring influence. As long as hatcheries continue to exist — producing meat for commercial, sport and tribal fishermen — hatchery-raised fish are likely to continue to stray into wild spawning grounds.
“If you’re adding hatchery fish every year, you’re constantly resetting the clock,” Blouin said.
That’s why it’s so important for hatchery managers to do everything they can to keep hatchery fish away from wild spawners, another scientist said.
Lars Mobrand, a fisheries scientist who served on a federal review of 178 hatcheries operating in the Columbia basin, said hatchery fish should only be deliberately crossbred with wild fish in the most extreme cases. Unless a particular run is about to blink out completely, he said, hatchery fish should never be used to supplement wild runs.
Mobrand said the OSU research, published in the scientific journal Biology Letters, underscores the point.
“We have to go to greater lengths to (enhance) our ability to remove and harvest hatchery fish,” he said. “Those that aren’t harvested ought to be captured.”