Just WHERE did you come from?

Anyone who's curious really should give this WDFW database a whirl. The first time I tried a few months back, I didn't get very far... but I've got some helpful hints for anyone else who's had difficulty.

https://data.wa.gov/Natural-Resources-Environment/WDFW-Coded-Wire-Tag-Fish-Recoveries/auvb-4rvk/data

According to the DNA results, I am:

35% West Europe
18% Great Britain
16% Scandinavian
9% Iberian Peninsula
9% Ireland/Scotland/Wales

Low Confidence Regions:

7% East Europe
3% South Europe
2% Caucasus
1% European Jewish

Migrations:

Lower Midwest and Virginia Settlers

So, now you know.

Surprised that no one else chimed in about the utility of this CWT database.

In times past, I've always taken the opportunity to fill out the creeler's card with my name and address so that I'd receive a courtesy letter informing me of just where the fish was hatched. It's the ONLY "cool" factor about getting checked in the first place. In 2017, the WDFW creel program got rid of the manually written cards (understandably so given the labor-intensive reply process and the fiscal burden of snail mail) and replaced them with this self-serve web-based application.

Seriously, did ANY one else even try it this year?

Didn't know about it. Will look into it if we're fishing WA waters this year. I turn in snouts in BC and get nice reports with maps and data from DFO when a tagged fish is identified.

One day while fishing with Katosan last summer, the checker's magic wand beeped not once BUT TWICE as we off-loaded our catch. With glee, the checker measured and cut the snouts off a plump tule and a skinny little dinker "coho". Once we got home to the cutting table, I was a bit mortified to discover the snoutless dink silver CLEARLY had BLACK gums and a few oval black spots in the upper lobe of the tail. That "coho" slipped past and was misidentified by two salmon guru's and the fish checker... OOPS!

So what was the verdict?

This CHROME butterball of an ocean tule came from the Big Creek hatchery on the lower Columbia.



And the dinker mis-ID'd "coho"?

That hatchery king was released from the San Joaquin net pens at Sherman Island (thanks JD Richey) after being hatched at the Mokelumne River Hatchery.

Is there a guide to using this database?

I’ve never been checked by a fish checker. I’ve seen them when launching but they were gone when I got back.

I see the checker VERY rarely. When I have seen them, they will “wand” my catch. I’ve had a few that had tags. I know I’ve had one (white king) from the Chehalis River in BC and one from the Cascade/Marblemount. I think I had one other from the Nooksack? There are all fish caught in the San Juans.

I’m always interested to find out where they are from. I didn’t realized they changed the system in 2017 but I suppose it saves some pennies on postage? Now if they could just modernize their license and catch record systems...