took a ride(no fishing) down the sky today in my sled and at
hanson's farm saw a fish trap.was it indian?
i don't know.cables were strung all the way across
the river. it was not operating when i went by.
just upsets me that fishing is closed and to see
a fish trap on the river.it is the same kind that
is at mt. veron on skagit river under railroad trestle.
fishingdrunk

Fishingdrunk -

The trap is called a smolt trap. They catch the small outmigrating salmon and steelhead. Generally they operate from January/Febraury into and possibly through the summer. The young fish are counted, ID as to species, sampled as needed and released to continue their journey to the Salt. This information is used to monitor the production of salmonids from the basin. The information that is developed from such traps is key to evaluation of escapments, survials of the eggs and fry, evaluation of the habitat productive, etc. Smolt traps are being used more and more by either the State or various tribes. Folks are likely to see then on the Nooksack, Stillaguamish, Skagit, Skykomish, Snoqualmie, Cedar, and a number of other sites throughout Washington.

Tight lines
Smalma

Smalma ... A question for you

Smolt traps and even a few adult traps (wheels) are used throughout many of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula fisheries for analysis of both young and adults. One tool that they use a lot up there to estimate run strength throughout many of streams in-season is the use of sonar counters (not perfect, but they're working on them, and new technology is just around the corner).

My questions is: has the WDFW ever considered their use. If no, why not?? Seems like it might be useful tool in evaluating our fisheries and giving us a better idea of what we have in the system before we have to rely on redd counts (which are often too late in the case of a year of poor escapement). Thanks!

Bob -
Good questions. The short answer is yes they have been considered and to date have been found to be of limited value. Conditions (both river systems and fisheries) are different here than in the Great North.

Let's consider salmon and steelhead separately.

For salmon much of our salmon fishing occurs well out in front of the rivers. If in-season updates relied on river counts they would be too late to effect the fisheries - most of the fish would have been caught before they got to the river.

Theoretically steelhead would be easier as nearly all the fishery is in-river. The fly in that ointment is the water conditions, especially for winter steelhead. Our frequent floods in October through Febraury would make reliable counts difficult; who knows how many fish may or may not slip into the river during a week or more of high water.

As you point out the technology is improving as it does hopefully counters will prove to useful as well as affordable. Stay tuned.

Tight lines
Smalma