glowball

Maybe Salmo or some one else knows the answer to your question better then I do. Here is what I do know!

For some reason, WDFW never has cleared that one up, possibly because it has the potential to effect production at the Cowlitz hatcheries. To the best of my knowledge, Coho do not have the same biological instinct to return to the ocean that many steelhead do, so there is really no reason for them to migrate down river once they have went through the "smolting" stage process in their life cycle.

I do not know how many times a coho can smolt before it looses that ability to so. I do know that coho do not all smolt at the same time, but I do believe that once their body has been through that process (smolting), that the smolting is over for them. I could be wrong, so I will wait for Salmo, Parker, or one of our other bb experts to tell that story. Not all smolts smolt in the first or second year of the lives. But I believe that it is extremely rare for much smolting to occur their 3 year.

I could be wrong, so again, I will wait for Salmo, Parker or one of our other experts to tell that story too.

I do known that their was a lot of BS going on from Tacoma, LCPUD and the BPA when the Cowlitz Falls Dam was being built about the need for upstream passage for resident trout and those little coho genies that were in Riffe. But when 6-10 million dollars was at steak, and neither coho nor resident trout were listed at time, guess who won out? The Friends of the Cowlitz (FOC) had a scientist by the named of Pat Trouter (sp) do a genetic study that proved that the resident trout above Riffe Lake and the sea run trout (steelhead) were one and the same. WDFW got all shook up and tried to say that the genetic testing method that he had used was not the correct one, nor was it as good as their method was.

So WDFW stayed with their preferred method and kissed off Trouter's method of testing in self protection (don't rock the boat thing). So you can see that over the years, lots of BS has been done by both the power companies and WDFW. I believe that WDFW has done it to protect their jobs and funding that was assured by their running of the 2 largest salmon and trout hatcheries in the U.S.

Well, did I confuse you more or did I help answer your questions?

Cowlitzfisherman