Howdy,
I was talking with a guy up at Reiter who says the Snohomish is getting a good number of Humpys. Is it my imagination or are the Pinks during even years building up? A couple years ago, I caught a couple on the Stilly while fly-fishing for Sea-runs. If every Aug. was Humpy time, it would be like living twice.

I always thought it was every 4 years for the bigger runs.

If my memory serves me right, they are every odd year, with a large run every other odd year.
jq

Dunno, it would be interesting to keep track somehow. Alaska has annual runs, with the odd year being only somewhat larger than the even. There have always been fair numbers of even-year humpies in the Stilly and especially in Pilchuck Creek. I was surprised to find a pretty good-sized school in the Snohomish four years ago, not too far below the Snoqualmie/Sky confluence. --- Sorry, had to edit that, getting my odds and evens confused

[This message has been edited by Preston Singletary (edited 07-28-2000).]

Most humpies run on the odd year around here however there is a even year run in the Snohomish. I talked with Curt Kraemer about it and he said this this stock has been building and they might even have an opener on them soon. These fish tend to spawn in the lower Snohomish and are a smaller (size) fish then the odd year pinks.

Those even year fish that you are talking about are not Humpies. They are fish that are cross-bred between a Chum and a Humpy; called a "Chumpy". he,he

On a more serious note, the Snohomish system gets a small run of even year humpies. The even year fish tend to run a lot smaller than the odd year fish. I found a few at Douglas Bar in '98 that I hooked while I was waiting for the drift boat turnaround.

Saukit2em;
What do you use to catch those "Chumpys"?
Clown colored corkies? I'll bet the big green corkies with the purple spots would work well, too!

Correct me if I'm wrong please, but I believe the reason why there is no coho retention on the Snohomish system (except for the Wallace) is to protect the even year pinks. The same reason why there is the late coho opener in area 8-2, usually the fishery opens on 9/1, this year 9/15.

Do we really need to protect even year pinks to the point it shuts down coho fisheries??? Not worth it! My meager 2 cents!

As far as I know, even year Pinks just don't work in our state without a large odd year run. Researchers at Minter creek hatchery tried for years to start an even year run (experimentally) and failed. I think the majority of even year fish are fish that have just come back a year early.

Jake,
Even-year humpies run in quite a few local streams. Unlike northern BC and Alaska they are not there in large enough numbers to constitute a commercial resource so they don't get much official attention. These are full-grown two-year fish whose offspring will return two years later in the next even-numbered year. I suspect the effort at Minter Creek failed by not being able to establish a run big enough for commercial exploitation.

Preston, The work they did at the Minter creek hatchery was to establish ANY type of even year run. They planted for expected returns of over a thousand, and never got more than ten back. They tried for several years. I don't doubt that the many of the even year fish are adults, and are returning on even years, but do you know of any river that gets pinks on even years without an enormous odd year run in our state?

Yep, this has been one of my favorite C & R fisheries for a long time.

The fact that the largest bucks are 3 pound tops with the hens almost trout size (sample size 1000+), it leads me to believe that these are "jack" fish, coming back after one year instead of two.

These are low river spawners with the majority spawning at Douglas Bar to Crab Bar and some up to the 522 bridge. I have not caught 1 even year humpy in the Sky.

TK

[This message has been edited by TK (edited 07-29-2000).]

Jake,
As I said above, the Stilly has a small run of even-year humpies that appear to be the same size (up to 6 or even 7 pounds) as odd-year fish. Many of these fish hang a left at Pilchuck Creek. To my own knowledge, there are also runs in the Snohomish (whether ultimately headed for the Sky or Snoqualmie) and in the Dungeness. I suspect that most rivers that host large odd-year runs also have sparse runs of even-year fish. I don't think I have ever run across any reference to the jack phenomenon occurring in humpy, chum or sockeye. They seem to be restricted to a more rigid life cycle than chinook or coho. Anyone have any more information on that?

[This message has been edited by Preston Singletary (edited 07-29-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Preston Singletary (edited 07-29-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Preston Singletary (edited 07-29-2000).]