Hello all. There is going to be a fin clipping work party this coming Saturday, 10/9 from 9:00 AM till about 2:00 PM. The hatchery is about two miles east of Monroe on Hwy 2 on a minor creek that runs into the Skykomish. I realize that this is short notice, however, if you are interested in selective fisheries and how hatchery fish can contribute to those fisheries, then maybe you might be interested.

This hatchery is a co-op between the Seattle Poggie Club and the Sky Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited. We currently have 60,000 coho parr on-site and have already marked/fin-clipped about half. We need to clipp the other 30,000. These fish are raised in a series of pond environments and are compeletly segregated from the wild coho population. In late April/early May these fish are released as "marked" smolts and allowed to exit the Snohomish system to grow to adults out off the Washington coast.

If you currently enjoy any of the coho selective fisheries throughout the Straits and the Coast or any of the coho fisheries here in the Puget Sound basin and want to be a part of providing more selective fisheries as an alternative to no fishing at all then this type of hatchery might make sense. Or, maybe, even want to debate the whole concept, please contact me and we can talk about it while we clip adipose fins. OBTW, the Poggies always provide a great lunch.

Love to see some of you "recs" interested in hatchery reform and/or selective fisheries issues.

Gary Bee
home 360-794-6378
work 425-482-6657

Poggies do provide awesome spicy chilli and great tasting Hot dogs!!

Here are some photos from last month's fin-clip work party.
It's a great event for kids!

http://groups.msn.com/SKYVALLEYCHAPTER/cohofinclipevent2004.msnw?albumlist=2

Hope to see some of you folks at the Fin Clipping event tomorrow!

Want to thank all the Poggies and Sky Valley TU members who showed up and made short work of fin-clipping the remaining 30K coho parr that we had on site. Special thanks to SilverKing from this board who drove all the way to Monroe from Gig Harbor with his two, very helpful, kids to participate.

Thanks again
Beezer

While not a substitute for wild fish, it's nice to have the harvest opportunity these fish provide.

Happy you got the help!

It was a great time the kids really enjoyed it and learned something about the efforts people put into maintaining the sport. Give me a yell Gary if you ever have an open seat in that drift boat I'd love to see the river up close and learn more about drifting and working the fish in the river systems!