The strong chinook, the coho returns the options of the bolster fisherman | Outside
Fall Chinook and Coho Salmon to Snake River and Beyond Continue to Give Anglers and Fisheries Managers Reason for Optimism Through a Late Summer and Fall otherwise disappointing.
Both runs appear to be exceeding pre-season forecasts. This happens at the same time as rainbow trout, once the most reliable anadromous fish in the Snake River basin continue to weaken severely.
As of Wednesday, more than 24,000 fall chinooks had been counted at the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River. This is just below the 25,000 fishery managers who are forecast to return throughout the season. The race is past its peak but has a few weeks left.
“This year’s race is several weeks early,” said Becky Johnson, production manager for the Nez Perce Tribe’s Fisheries Resource Management Department. “We could be 80% of the way in Granite. “
Johnson said the race could end between 30,000 and 32,000 fish before the end.
Years ago, the tribe lobbied for the Snake River fall chinook hatchery program to extend above the Lower Granite Dam and lead the way in raising and releasing fish. in the Clearwater, Snake and Salmon rivers.
The tribe is also responsible for the coho salmon fishery. The coho was declared functionally extinct in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the tribe began an effort to establish the race. Fishing was first authorized in 2014, when more than 18,000 people returned to the Lower Granite Dam. This remains the high score, but it could go down this year. Johnson said a preseason forecast called for a return of 13,000 coho, but based on detections of tagged fish at the Bonneville Dam, the comeback could be between 16,000 and 19,000.
“We’re pretty excited to see this,†she said.
The 2021 Rainbow Trout Race continues to be the worst on record since 1938, when the Bonneville Dam was completed and annual counts began. As of Wednesday, 58,960 rainbow trout have been counted at the dam. The 10-year average is 175,100.
The return of fish to the Snake River is small but not to the point of being the worst on record. Until Wednesday, just over 12,000 rainbow trout had been counted there. The 10-year average is around 28,000. But it is well above the recent low numbers through September 22 of around 5,000 to 6,000 rainbow trout recorded in 2017 and 2019.
On Tuesday, a group of state, tribal and federal fisheries managers updated the official rainbow trout forecast to 63,600 at the Bonneville Dam. The forecast calls for 53,500 run A fish, including 33,300 hatchery rainbow trout and 20,200 wild fish. They expect 10,100 Series B rainbow trout to make it to at least the Bonneville Dam. This includes 8,400 hatchery rainbow trout and 1,700 wild fish. The update lowered the forecast for run A but increased the forecast for run B. The preseason forecast predicted a return of 89,200 run A rainbow trout and 7,600 run B to the dam. Good city.
Dave Johnson, director of the Nez Perce Tribe’s Fisheries Resource Management Department, noted that rainbow trout use a different part of the ocean than chinook and fall coho and likely experience worse conditions. Coho salmon and chinook salmon are approaching the coasts of North America. Head of Steelhead “straight into the ocean and across the Pacific,” Johnson said.