Snohomish Coho

Why is the Snohomish system the only one shut down for Coho this year?

I believe it has to do with the forecast not hitting the number of fish they want back, in particular wild coho.
SF

At the 2019 Mill Creek NOF meeting WDFW brought up that the Feds were telling the state and Tribe that they need to get more Native Coho back to the Spawning Grounds or face the possibility of the Fall Coho being listed as Threatened or Endangered. That is why there was a short season in 2019.

The forecast for 2020 is lower. So it is closed. The only hope is that more Coho return then predicted.

We sure f’d that run up remarkably fast. I’m sure it’s just a normal cyclical down turn though, nothing to see here.

This is not normal or normal cycles. Stuff is happening in the ocean that is unprecedented (in human record keeping times). Some of it is tied to Climate change, some to fisheries, some to hatcheries. And the crash is huge. The current estimate for Fraser sockeye is the LOWEST EVER RECORDED, including when the overfishing and Hell's Gate were at their peak. How does the last few LW sockeye compare with history?

There is lot going on out there, it is being observed, reported, published, and so on but no action is being taken.

LW Sockeye are at lowest levels ever. I saw a big school of them in the slough one day and it was covered in about 10’ long grass, good luck spawning in that.

"Ever" being a relative term since the Baker stock (primary source of fish in lake WA, was introduced in the 1930s.

this one makes some sense not like the Stilly being closed because there might be some king salmon.

I see you have 711 posts......I suggest you attend the NOF meetings in your area, that is the place to "get information AND to have some say so on the salmon season in your area".

I had lots of questions, so I'd fire off emails to personnel in Region 6, it was recommended that I start going to Region 6 NOF meetings.....I've done that since 2008, lot's of [Bleeeeep!] stuff but I'm there for most decisions, feel that its pretty "cut and dryed" before the meeting even start.

Ever saw a need to till now. Do they talk about all recreational or do they talk recreational/commercial?

Conversely, the sockeye return on the Columbia Rv was unexpectedly high. The returns were slightly above the 10-year average, which was considerably higher than predicted. And the water temps were fairly decent for their upstream migration, so it's likely they were not effected by hot water on their way up.

Most of those sockeye were headed to the Upper Columbia, and into British Columbia. The Snake River stock is still not doing well. Even this year.

Exactly why the god damns need to come down, lower water temperature combined with free flowing river gets those fish where they need to be.

I have been fishing the Snohomish system since 1980 and in the last 15 years I fish other systems for Salmon and Steelhead. Its amazing how many fish have disappeared from this system in the last 20 years. I'm not going to get into why but I have to travel to find better numbers of fish. I miss fishing the sky especially since its in my back yard. I hope the numbers increase even a little for my grandkids to enjoy. Tight lines to all. Peace and Luv.

If you skipped fishing the Snohomish system for the last 15 years, then you missed a lot of excellent opportunities.

Yes its declined significantly in the last few years, but there were some excellent years prior to that.

My buddy and I started fishing Dick Nites on the Snohomish and Sky back in 1983. We were told about them by a guy who learned the year before from two old time Skagit guides, Rich Bogle and Cary Duvall. We had many, many incredible days for silvers, chum, and humpies, being the only ones on the Snoho and Sky fishing them until I'd say about 1995. That all started to change when a guide, Rod Bush, authored a how-to article in the Everett Herald and Al Gore invented the internet. Soon after, everyone was an "expert" on how to fish them. Oh well... I still have several hundred in unopened packages.

I remember the dick nite craze and also when rod bush put out the next article about dick nites behind a diver. I still keep plenty of dn's around for coho. They work really well in BC when no one else are using them as well.

CC - I'm sure we've crossed paths on the river. We did talk for a good while over the phone about why we both always have oars in our sleds. Hope to meet up with you someday.

A friend and I went on Rod Bush's last guiding trip on the snoho (in 2004 I believe it was). That was my intro to snoho coho (always fished the salt for salmon previously) and Dick Nite fishing. Caught a lot of fish that year and following years out of the Snohomish using what I learned and sad to see such a quality fishery go downhill.

Driving by Cabelas the other day and noticed a cooler full of Coho for sale. Do they not get to stop fishing Coho this year or was it from another area?

Tulalip Bay hatchery Coho I'm assuming.

BD

They have their own hatchery at the mouth?

Their hatchery, I believe, is on the east side of the bay; inside.

Apparently they release a million coho from their hatchery on Tulalip Bay

https://nr.tulaliptribes.com/Programs/SalmonHatchery