Northwest Fishing Reports

...

I saw that and was wondering which one of us scurvy dogs won!!!! Awesome job!!!!!!!

Sweet!!! Beautiful fish!

The Sea Run Cutties in Lake WA are just plain ole gorgeous. I personally only C&R them as I've seen a major decline in size and population over the last few years. But for some strange reason even though they are on ESL when in the salt water they aren't in the fresh, I guess the population becomes healthy when they're in the fresh....... Go figure.

That is a nicely colored fish, I have to say the residents are the ones with the best coloring.

Bodofish wrote:The Sea Run Cutties in Lake WA are just plain ole gorgeous. I personally only C&R them as I've seen a major decline in size and population over the last few years. But for some strange reason even though they are on ESL when in the salt water they aren't in the fresh, I guess the population becomes healthy when they're in the fresh....... Go figure.

There are a few people who have some pull with the WDFW who are, in my humble opinion, are incorrectly convinced that the Lake Washington cutts are to blame for the poor sockeye fry escapement. In fact, they have got the state to fund a study on it. http://nwsportsmanmag.com/editors-blog/ ... predation/ I had mentioned to Frank that they will find the majority of fry being taken by birds, non-native fish like bass and perch and wait for it, juvenile coho. I'd much rather see a two over 16" limit on cutts in Lake Washington as opposed to the "b" word that was bandied about at the meeting I attended.

Yeah, I know they've been harping on that for years. How about juv Chinooks they'll take on anything up to twice as big as they are. The Cutts have been going back and forth forever. I just don't see the problem. If they weren't so quick to shut down hatcheries they just might able to put enough fry back into the system. It's a total numbers game, when you dump in hatchery fish you get a 2% return, its pretty much the way it's been since the beginning of time. Native spawner's and you get a much lower return. This whole hatchery debacle just makes me see red!!!! They need to concentrate on fixing the habitat and food in the salt so we can start to see numbers retuning. I don't care if they put satin sheets out for the native spawner's, if there's not enough food out in the salt they die. Shutting down hatcheries has nothing to with the food supply in the sound or polluted rivers. We need to fix the real problem.

...

Hahahaha, yeah, we normally toll for them and you can tell the Sea Runs right off the bat, Not saying I've never eaten one but we sure try to put them back. If I hooked one through the gills or out the eye it would surely go in the box. There used to be a lot of really big ones, 8,9,10,12 pounders until the guides started their systematic rape of the fishery taking their 5 fish per...... Only took a few years. Bad form in my opinion but what are ya gonna do.
I used to fish for them a lot when I lived up North, lots of the little devils make the Nooksack home. They spend a lot of time in the brackish water in the river delta. When you take them before they spend any time in the fresh, boy are they fat and tasty! Always taken on the Res, with a tribal permit. What ESL.....

Nice going guys!

Hey I was excited to see it make the magazine and even more thrilled to see you won the contest! It was an amazing fish that could have easily made the cover of the magazine too. Congrats and we will have to 'hook up' sometime out there!

...