Lame...

I hope they at least got to keep the deposits.

I'd hardly classify local extinctions of salmon in that circumstance a "mistake".

Salmon are like the ultimate weeds of the fish world. The key is their full diversity of life history strategies to deal with whatever Ma Nature throws at 'em.

They persist despite all manner of natural disaster, promptly recolonizing any suitable habitat that later becomes available.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/290/5492/795

I didn't buy the abstract but I'm leery of using 4000 year old sediment records without knowing what other events might have occurred in the ring of fire.

there's a bunch of soxs in the wood river system right now....
been flooding in the last week. been trying to target net heads since they're probably F'd on spawning anyways.

Oh my, it did change. River is now officially closed to all king salmon fishing, period. We've already had a few calls for people now looking to come this way ...

Yep.. it's official:

July 02, 2010

NUSHAGAK-MULCHATNA DRAINAGE CLOSED TO SPORT FISHING FOR KING SALMON

Sport fishing for king salmon and the use of bait is prohibited in all waters of the Nushagak-Mulchatna drainage effective 12:01 a.m., Monday, July 5, 2010. This closure prohibits all sport fishing for king salmon, including catch-and-release fishing. King salmon may not be retained or possessed; king salmon accidentally caught while fishing for other species may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately.

These restrictions are made in accordance with 5 AAC 06.361. Nushagak-Mulchatna King Salmon Management Plan. The plan directs the department to close the sport fishery for king salmon and prohibit the use of bait if the spawning escapement of king salmon in the Nushagak River is projected to be less than 40,000 fish. Through July 1 an estimated 24,646 king salmon have passed the sonar at Portage Creek, and the spawning escapement is projected to be less than 40,000 fish.

Via the link Doc povided I see that approx. 6 million Bristol Bay sockeye were harvested this past week. Wonder what the in river counts look like.

Tight lines
Curt

Yes, I see the catch took a spike for week 27. Historically the fishery peaks around the 4th of July.... this week.

Clicking thru a bunch of the different fishing area links at the bottom of that page, I see everything looks to be about a week late.

Then I got to thinkin' about "statistical week". There are 52 weeks in a year... thru the last week of June should have been roughly 26 weeks, but they are already reporting week 27.

HMMMM....

Looks like the statistical week ends on a Friday. This year, "week one" ended on Fri Jan 1, burning up a statistical week by the time the calendar year just got started. So the tardiness we're seeing is probably just an accounting artifact.

Good point Doc, I've noticed that over the years with the calendar vs. fish returns....

Keith

Yesterday morning in the airport at Bethel a guy reported the Nushagak chinook closure. Chinook abundance seems to be down again this season. Sockeye run hasn't begun there yet. Natives said the king harvest in the commercial opening was a lot lower than expected, and they gillnetted for subsistance in the river every day at high slack tide.

Sg

The Situk is doing just fine for Sockeye even with all the damn nets off the mouth!
Lower river is full of nice big Sockeye, we were hooking and releasing 50 to 60 per morning each.
Subsistence nets are a joke in Alaska, they use it to take way more fish than they can use. Watched 5 guys do it one day and they took more fish than all the sportsmen will take all month.
The commercials take over 150,000 fish each year and then bitch at the sportsmen for flossing!

Looks like things will be ok

I'm up here fishing the Nush right now, There are more than plenty of chinook here. The kings have all been larger than normal as well, several 40+ lbers and alot of 30's in June. The ice carved out a new channel this year and they have been running up the middle of the river instead of on the right cut bank where they have always counted them. The sonar only goes out 30 feet so its not even close to where they are running. They say they are going to remap the bottom and move the sonar, ect., ect.

The river is virtualy empty right now. F&G have been harrasing the few people still fishing for chums, bullying them to try to get them to stop fishing period. Apparently, to them, fishing in 4 feet of soft water with hotshots is "Fishing King Gear" and its "unprofessional of anyone to be fishing in that manner when the river is closed for Chinook".

We're going over to Lake Aleknagik to fish for Sockeye and Char to try to salvage what we can of the trip. I really feel for the camps up here. They're really getting it stuck to them.

Chum... do you really think that ADFG doesn't know where to place their sonar equipment and that's why the decision to close the river to all king fishing, including c&r was made... really?

Mag Warts used to be the "go to" king lure on that river... so it is completely within reason that the gamies would frown upon Hot Shots being used to fish for chum. When they say they don't want you targeting kings at all... they mean at all... so why push it?

If you're really interested in targeting the chum and not the kings, just swing flies or drift gear from the bank.

+100

There about halfway through the 39,000,000 projected run, 30 for harvest and 9 for escapements. Not sure if they will hit the harvest number but the escapement should be easy now.

A buddy just got back from the Nush on Saturday. He said "every" Chinook they landed had extensive net marks (they landed over 100). No doubt the Chinook take a beating getting throught the Sockeye nets as if they have taken enough of a beating from Pollock trawl bycatch of Chinook. Pollock trawl has killed more than 477,000 Chinook in Bering Sea during the past 10 years per NOAA. Over 120,000 alone in 2007 when restrictions were relaxed. Those darn commercial fishermen just can't exhibit self control can they...

http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/inseason/chinook_salmon_mortality.pdf

I'm sure all this has little to do with lower numbers of Chinook in the Nush. ;-)

Landing over a hundred can't be helping either

Not sure what upriver chinook release mortality is but no doubt a few didn't make it despite good release procedures. That was 3 guys fishing with over a hundred landed on the Nush...that's about 4.5 fish per day per person over a week. Not sure how guilty they should be feeling about that. Nine fish surely didn't make and I hear they taste great.

Just saying out of those hundred with net marks they now have hook marks too..Then the next group flies in...and finally the bears need to eat. But your right there being over handled something the sockeye aren't.