Spring steelhead fishing is fast approaching, and I am pondering the old dilemma over what constitutes “ethical” fishing.
I’ve talked to anglers, hatchery managers, fisheries biologists, conservation officers, fly shop and tackle shop owners, and other folks about spring steelhead fishing. They have a lot of conflicting opinions.
The arguments largely boil down to two camps: One side says you should leave the fish alone because they are past their prime and looking for a place to spawn.
The other side says they are mostly hatchery fish put there for anglers, so there’s nothing wrong with fishing for them. Either they’re going to get caught or swim into a hatchery and get spawned, then bonked and chucked in a dumpster. If they’re not caught or spawned at the hatchery, they’re going to attempt to spawn in marginal habitat and probably won’t be successful.
Biologist tell me wild steelhead typically return to the tributary streams where they were born, most of which are closed to fishing because they actually have good spawning habitat. They also have to be released unharmed if they’re caught, so as long as people play by the rules, wild fish are safe.
I prefer fall fishing, but I’ve had some pretty fun days spring fishing and plan to go again this year. I’ve also seen some ugly behavior, including snagging, littering, crowding, and drunken idiocy.
It’s not something I want to associate myself with as an angler, but I don’t want to limit my steelhead fishing to six weeks in the fall, either.
What’s your argument for or against spring fishing?
Delicious
Digg
Yahoo
Not totally accurate. Many
Not totally accurate. Many of the surplus fish at Sawtooth hatchery are given to food banks or handed out to people who want them even some of the fish that are spawned are handed out.
There are a lot of strays that spawn in tributaries and that may reduce the success of wild fish, if there are any left, or flood the gene pool with hatchery genes. I think that the Upper Salmon River has some severe problems in this regard.
I would rather see the dams removed and the hatcheries eliminated but that's not likely to happen anytime soon.
I used to do some spring fishing but the crowds and the drunken behavior have turned me off. I also don't like the snagging.
The other dilemma
After turkey opens-- steelhead or turkey or both?
Dumped in a dumpster???
What are the details here Zimo? Does F&G throw fish to a landfill? Doesn't seem good at all! Seems to me just throwing them back into the river is a good solution. If F&G is so sincere about bringing salmon/steelhead back they ought to be sincere about completing the whole life cycle.
dumpster steelhead
This probably needs some clarification. Some fish that return to the hatchery are given away for human consumption, others are thrown away. F&G typically does not put the carcasses back in the rivers because of "disease concerns."
Roger
Hakuna matata
I'm pretty sure the cylce of life includes diseases (with or without Trojans).
gotta be a better use than throwing in the dumpsters. bad on F&G!
Roger, sorry for not reading the byline and knowing it was you instead of Zimo.
The primary disease concern
The primary disease concern is bacterial kidney disease which is exacerbated by hatchery situations so if carcasses are dumped into the river then the possibility of increasing BKD in the wild population goes up.
Salmon, on the other hand, are dumped into the river to provide nutrients to the river. Steelhead don't always die after they spawn and the carcasses don't really provide much in the way of nutrients because of the timing of their spawning (just before spring runoff when water levels are high and temperatures cold so carcasses don't rot very quickly)
Hackina Mutata...
would be that result.
Fish Eggs
Hmm...I don't get it.
If the returning brood is captured, milked and then bonked on the head it goes back to the water or in the dumpster. In either case the fish either does or does not have BKD. So if it's returned to the water, that is the same as if it spawned in a creekbed. Seems like a pretty low chance of occurance. Plus (costs not knowing) it seems like f&g could test a sampling of the returning fish for the BKD and other diseases for stats, research etc and based on that,,,,
Well at least in the current situation, it sounds like a good opportunity for fertilizer manufacturers, cat food makers or some other users. Landfill is just a waste of a big resource.
Roger, how about an article on this for more info??