Sunset falls

[natetreat]

Lately I've heard rumors from a couple of people, the guy at sky valley traders and several fishermen that they truck fish above sunset falls on the south fork of the sky. This doesn't really make sense to me since I was under the impression that the falls were a natural barrier for anadromous fish. Does anybody know if this is true and if they put steelhead up the south fork?

[BentRod]

nate, personally I don't know anything about it, but from a google search:
2008 document (see page 4 for full text on included picture)

[Bodofish]

It just astounds me! Who would have ever thought????

[RiverRock]

There is a fish trap below the falls and yes the fish are transported above the falls. There are alot of fish that make their way up the s.fork and it is a highly overlooked fishery. Access is difficult at best,rugged terrain and private property. Be prepared to do alot of hiking.

[natetreat]

That's awesome. I hiked into the falls the other day and saw a bunch of coho in the falls pool, and they were in the next hole down that you can legally fish in too. I drove upstream from the falls and the water looks spectacular!

[wolverine]

The state has stopped hatchery steelhead plants above the falls. So the adult fish that get lifted over will have the extra "wild" fin. So if you want to bonk steelhead stay around Rieter.

[RiverRock]

There are still a fair number of hatchery fish that make their way up past reiter and into the s. fork. Enough to make it worth fishing. These hatchery fish are strays/lost fish passing by the wallace and reiter and continuing up river. Hatchery fish are not trucked over the falls, but returned to one of the hatcheries. I guess I should of added that to my comment above.

[natetreat]

The whole thing doesn't make sense. I was reading more about it and the documentation and justification of their decision to stop trucking hatchery fish is to make room for the "wild" fish. Which are not wild fish! They are just the progeny of the hatchery fish that they've already trucked up there. It doesn't make sense, there was no natural run of any fish above the falls, now they're off limits even though they're hatchery? Bah! Humbug. Nothing they do makes sense.

[wolverine]

There is a lot of very good fish habitat above the falls and in the tribs up there. Mans heavy hand has not ruined it up there due to its remoteness. The waters are not very fertile but at least it hasn't been diked, dredged, used as livestock watering holes, etc. The area provides a lot of spawning and rearing room for anadramous fish that had prior been blocked by the falls.
It would have been nice to have only used wild stock to seed the area but it would have taken far longer to get a significant impact.
The above falls area was never intended to be used for a "meat" fishery. There are plenty of opportunities for that down river(s). It is a fun area to fish during trout season. The near road areas get pounded pretty hard but a few hundred yards walk will get some nice productive water. Late in the trout season there are also some very nice C&R surprises available.