Originally Posted By: Rivrguy
Well it does not pay to do three things at once. I have fixed the modeled Coho numbers. Keep in mind harvest numbers do not show fish that got by the nets. The massive early movement were the very fish that were modeled for the QIN to catch.

I also received this from another gentleman who like me does not eat WDFW propaganda for breakfast.



When I read about the closure due to low flows, I went to USGS flow data (https://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/current/?type=flow). I only ran three tribs, the Satsop, Wynoochee, and Humptulips; discharge only, and for all years available. What the graphs show is this isn't a bad year flow wise for the three tribs I looked at.

The graphs are rather busy so I tried doing tables copied from USGS, importing them into microSLOP EXCEL, but I am now in ongoing discussions with the software as to how to properly sort the data. The sort function is not cooperating; go figure.

What I'm trying to do is distill the data down (approx. 35,000 records per year) to only the lowest flows for each year. I'll keep working on it, and when I get the sort function to work, I'll run all USGS tribs in the closed areas. I'll send you the results.


I'm good with Excel, in case there's a need to help get a spreadsheet working...

Beyond debunking WDFW's justification for the closure (which we should do), I think flow is probably the wrong metric to study; I'm pretty sure it was water temps that were slowing the fish down. As you have pointed out, dry weather and low flows are absolutely normal late summer/early fall conditions. What was not so normal this year was the air temperatures. Seems like we saw 90 degrees almost weekly from July on, and while the overall average may have only been a couple degrees above normal, in water temp terms, a couple degrees can make a really big difference....