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Snohomish River Report
Snohomish County, WA

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10/14/2013
51° - 55°
Casting
Coho Salmon
Fish Eggs
Chartreuse
Mostly Sunny
Spinner
Morning
10/14/2013
3
2232

My salt water trips are done for this year so it’s off to the rivers. After working the weekend I was ready for a fishing day on my (one) day off this week. I called up Nate Treat and invited him on my “tin can” for some Snohomish river coho action. Gotta give a guide a break from guiding and just relax on the river. I told Nate “no video, this is just a day of relaxed fishing”.

We launched at 7am from Cady Park and motored up river to the big island and headed right. Found a likely spot and started casting my homemade chartreuse green spinner, size 3, toward shore. Within minutes I had fish on. It was a nice buck, probably in the 8-9 pound class. Well hooked, and after a fun fight that included several out of the water jumps (now I regret no Go Pro!) Nate netted him. We fished this area for a while longer and then decided to explore further up-river. My original plan was to run all the way up to the rock cliffs and spend the day fishing back, but the water level was pretty low, the fog pretty thick, and my memory of the channels pretty dim. So we went up a half mile or so and fished our way back, with no success. We did have a couple hits on plugs but they came un-done.

We anchored up just below the big island where another boat was having some success. Casting spinners, corkies and spoon did not do us any good. Bored, we decided to do some side drifting down to the Pilchuck area. This proved to be effective as Nate hooked and landed a 5 pound hen on eggs. I landed a surprisingly alive humpie on a red spinner size 3.

The sun came out, as did a bunch of anglers, and this area started getting crowded. We ran down to the Hwy 9 bridge and were surprised to see the river empty of anglers. This was around noon and close to high tide. We decided to do some trolling. Nate picked out a couple kwickfish type lures, let out 40-50 feet and off we went, downriver. I will be honest, I thought we’d just have a pleasant boat ride. I was running the kicker, eating lunch, minding my own business when I hear my reel screaming. Nate called out fish on and I grabbed the pole, getting to play a fun 6-7 pound buck. I was amazed. This fish came out of nowhere and just crushed the kwickfish. Nate said it was the coolest take down he’d ever seen on a plug (again, where was that Go Pro!). The reel had a nice backlash from the violence of the take down. Fortunately the fish came at us so that wasn’t an issue.

We called it a day not long after that. A trifecta – fish caught on hardware, eggs, and plugs. Pretty cool!

One thing of interest – when I got home and filleted the fish, one of them was full of white, round nodules that burst liquid when poked. It didn’t look too appetizing so that fish became fertilizer.


Comments

HillbillyGeek
10/14/2013 7:03:00 PM
Very strange looking meat indeed! I wonder if there's a biologist out there who'd want a sample or if it's something that's well-known.
Fish cancer?
Fish pox?
fishee2
10/14/2013 7:25:00 PM
I got this information from Wikipedia. they have picture similar to yours. hmmm. GROSSS!

Henneguya salminicola, a protozoan parasite commonly found in the flesh of salmonids on the West Coast of Canada. Coho salmon
Smalma
10/14/2013 7:25:00 PM
Those puss pockets are caused by a parasite that goes by the name of Henneguya salmonicola or sometimes called tapioca disease.

The parasite is a two host parasite with the salmon being the secondary host that becomes infested while in freshwater. The salmon carries the parasite the rest of its life releasing the spores after death which infect the invertebrates in the freshwater. While salmonicola can be found in any of the salmon species it is most common in those that spend the longest time as juveniles in freshwater (more exposure to the secondary stage of the parasite) thus more common in coho than other species..

Like many such parasites it lives in cold blooded critters and will not survival in a warm blood animal (including man) though hardly a critter that one would want in a quality diner.

Curt
schu7498
10/14/2013 8:48:00 PM
Good info curt! Those parasites are also very common in the satsop fish! You will even catch fish that is so infested that it will be covered in bumps. Super gross. Glad you guys got into some fish!
Mike Carey
10/14/2013 9:21:00 PM
thanks for the info. Sad about the meat, but oh well, still a great day.
troc
10/14/2013 9:42:00 PM
Nice report and some great pics of the kwickfish lures in action.
watfordr
10/14/2013 11:53:00 PM
Also known as tapioca disease
Smalma
10/15/2013 5:45:00 AM
Those scale bumps (sometimes referred to as salmon pox) is caused by a different critter (in this case Myxobulus squamalis). Like "tapioca diesases salmon pox is another "disease" picked up when the salmon is a juvenile in freshwater. Again it is most commonly seen in coho. IN this case the parasite takes residence in the skin pocket that surrounds each scale which ultimately causes those bumps.

It is not uncommon to find fish with both tapioca and salmon pox disease and the life cycle of the two parasites are similar though it is not the norm a fish with both. Again neither disease is fatal to the salmon and as warm blooded animals not a health concern to us.

Curt
natetreat
10/15/2013 7:37:00 PM
NASTY. Too bad about the meat. That take down was EPIC. Seriously, that photo made me nauseous.
Mike Carey
10/15/2013 8:22:00 PM
ya, it was sad to see. First time ever in my experience. I have to go track down some of those plugs Nate!
racfish
10/22/2013 7:12:00 AM
Is it a parasite that also infects the Roe or only the meat?
Mike Carey
10/22/2013 8:23:00 AM
this was a buck so couldn't say. I only found the parasites in the meat.
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: FinReaper GS

Phone: (503) 551-9772