Picked-up a chrome 5 lb. sockeye while side-drifting eggs for steelies yesterday (went 2 for 4 on steelhead with 2 sea run cutties thrown in). This fish really pounced on the bait, the hook & bait was about 1.5" back inside of its mouth. Guess they start showing up in the native gill nets in Dec. and come thru the spring. I'd like to know more on this run of fish. Any fish Bio's out thier with up to date info?? What rivers thier in, timing, life cycle...all that. Thanks.....c/22

just thought I would let you know that it is against the law for sport fisherman to take any sockeye in the Quinault even if you are with a Tribal guide , there is a Large fine if you or the guide get caught , unfortunately the guide fishing on the Quinault is run by the gillnetters who decide what the guides can keep on the river. just thought you should know .

All the guides let the clients keep sockeye. What law are you talking about? Never heard of any law on the reservation where you can't keep them. Who does the enforceing?
The Duck

the tribal game wardens , and they are real serous about it , the fine for a guide is around 2500.00, if you don't believe me contact any guide ( Robbin Rhodes ) and they will let let you know

What fatpat said. It's been illegal to keep bluebacks on the Big Q for few years now due to poor returns back to the lake.

Not too sure what the tribal enforcement is like over there, but I think it's lax....probably why some of the bluebacks are getting bonked by clients. I've seen the Feds checking over on the Salmon, but never on the Q.

fatpat, I've never seen the tribe enforcement write any tickets for blueback. Even when they seen them in the boat. They just don't write up the guides. The Duck

Anyway........back to the original question on this post. ....c/22

C/22,

Here's a little info about sockeye...though there are others here who can tell you lots more than me...

Sockeye rarely thrive in rivers without lakes or significant beaver ponds in their system. This means places like the Quinault, Cedar River, Baker River, Lk. Wenatchee, and Lake Osooyoos have the more famous runs in Washington. While those systems all have lakes, there's a pretty good run in the Sol Duc, too, but I believe the juveniles rear in beaver ponds in the upper watershed. The sockeye in the Fraser River use various lakes in the Fraser River watershed, like Harrison Lake.

The reason that they generally need lakes in the system is that sockeye young do best if they have a lake they can migrate down to and rear in for a year or more before heading out to the salt.

That being said, I've caught sockeye in the Nooksack, Green, Sauk, Toutle, and Skykomish Rivers, too.

Supposedly they don't hit well in rivers, but I've caught them on pretty much everything at some point, with spinners or shrimp seeming to be the most productive. When they've opened the Baker River for sockeye I've caught them on modified Lk. Washington rigs, i.e., a brass Stee-Lee spoon with no hook and a twelve inch leader with a bare red 1/0 Gamakatsu hook behind it.

Hmmm....what else? They're pretty darn tasty, and fight pretty well, when fresh, for their size. They like to jump, and I've seen them in Lk. Washington clear the water and take a dodger and cannon ball out of the water with them. Pretty good for a fish that runs three to seven pounds.

Hopefully you'll get more from some others...

Fish on...

Todd.

Thanks Todd, I know a little bit about these fish in general (bluebacks/sockeyes) but what is with the timing on the return of these Q-fish?? Winter to spring runs seem pretty weird for this salmonoid, don't most run in the summer......

Actually Todd, most of the 'Duc juvies rear in Lake Pleasant from what I hear. The Hoh also recieves a small run with the Ponds just inside the Park providing the rearing area for those fish;)

A lotta folks say sockeye won't bite. A lotta folks say sockeyes won't hit flies. A lotta folks say sockeyes will NEVER hit a dry fly.

I caught one a couple of years back on a floating mouse pattern in Alaska, with witnesses. Blew me away. It made a perfect head to tail porposing rise and just engulfed Seymour the mouse. (SeyMour Fish, get it? )

Hasn't happened before, hasn't happened since. May not happen again. But I got mine!

Chrome -
The Quinault sockeye seem to be pretty unique. Typcially sockeye return to their home rivers in the summer, June, July, August, etc. While I'm certainly not an expert on sockeye (or any other fish for that matter) I know of no other sockeye that returns in the winter/spring period. Have to wonder what there is about the Quinault system that has selected for such unique behavior. Any idea when those fish spawn?

While it is true that generally sockeye populations are associated with rivers with large lake systems there seems to a river form (juveniles don't rear in a lake) as well. All the north Puget Sound rivers have small runs (dozens to a few hundred) of river sockeye. Some folks believe that this form is a coast wide population that is the pioneering form of sockeye. That is they are continually probing rivers look for new habitats (river with lake systems) in which new populations can become established. Another interesting aspect of the river form is their earlier spawning; typically August/September while most our lake populations spawn later. The Lake Washington fish for example spawn mostly in October, November and December.

Tight lines
Smalma

Chrome,

The timing of Quinault sockeye is an anomoly. Run timing is usually correlated to the distance from the ocean to their spawning grounds. For example, the early Stuart run in the Fraser enters the Fraser in late May/June to migrate 800 miles to the upper Stuart and Driftwood Rivers, while the later running sockeye in August/September spawn in the Pitt River and Cultus Lake, which are quite low in the Fraser system. The Quinault sockeye have the longest run entry timing of any sockeye population I know anything about. They spawn predominately in October, and their migration is quite short for sockeye, so some other factors would have to explain the mystery of their winter through early summer run timing. Like a summer steelhead, those early entering sockeye have to carry a significant fat reserve to sustain them a long while in Lake Quinault as they wait, and wait, and wait for the spawning urge to move them into the upper Q.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Thanks for the info S & Sg, a unique run of fish for sure. So, most of the spawning takes place in the upper Q, most likley in the feeder creeks as well? Also the creeks that drain into the lake itself I whould guess. By the time thier ready to spawn they must be in full spawning color...red body-green head. October is prime silver salmon time over there, anyone ever hook a colored-up sockeye while fishing for silvers??.......c/22

If these fish are suffering from numbers troubles and return now ... what have been the steps to reduce the impact of the net fishery and the steelhead farm on this native stock??

Seems like incresing mesh size would likely simply result in more net-drop-out??

Bob,

Favored net mesh for steelhead fishing typically ranges from 5" - 6"; for sockeye it's usually 5" - 5 1/2". Stock protection in most net fisheries is achieved by limiting fishing time (days & hours/ week). If two stocks equally subject to the same fishing gear are of dissimilar run strength (allowable exploitation rate) then fishing time SHOULD be limited to the amount of effort that can be tolerated by the weaker stock. The realities of commercial fishery management doesn't always follow that axiom. You probably knew that.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

I knew that See it wherever I'm at, whether it be here or AK ...

I wasn't aware that the numbers of sockeye weren't so good, nor that they enetered the river in the winter though.

I've heard ads for sockeye product though on our radio stations typically in the late spring though, so obviously, they're being picked off in the commerical fisheries.

Seems like common sense would dictate that netting / hatchery production would be decreased if another species was suffering ... that makes TOO MUCH sense though doesn't it

So if the #'s of bluebacks are down why are they picking them up off in there under-sized nets all thru the timing of upriver movement. The tribe could move to a bigger net-mesh size and let them all move upriver. They simply don't care, or its all for the $$. My guess is the guides let thier clients keep them as the enforcement is little to none.