Northwest Fishing Reports

With the latest record rains, and the last rain on snow event last night it doesn't look like the rivers will be in shape for at least a week. Here is what the Snohomish system looks like at the Monroe gauge, the highest flow recorded was 46,000 CFS for this date in 1978, we have hit 49,900 and it is shooting right off the graph.

Flood warnings have been issued for the Snoho, Sky, Skok, Puy, Bogie, Dung, Stilli just to name a few.

Bad day for our dwindling chum and coho runs that just put their eggs on Redd this fall and winter.

what is the record CFS and height?
Stilly nf right now is 51,400cfs and 15.29ft, flood stage is 13ft[scared]

SHHHHHHH they dont get steelhead till like feb. or something like that Toni.

flinginpooh wrote:SHHHHHHH they dont get steelhead till like feb. or something like that Toni.

Hahahahahahahaha! Dang I wish people thought that about the snoho and sky up here, because I feel the same way you do pooh. But at least two thirds of the guys that go out catch maybe one, two fish a season, even though they're there as often as I am. They're only there to longline, leave forty pound mono and 100 pound braid on the bottom, cast over your line after you already yel "FISH ON! COMIN' DOW" but then they try to reel up, instead of lettin it ride, genreeally leave the bank in a foul condition and ty and drink yer beer. But they're gonna leave yer fish alone :bounce: Hehehe, everybody and their grandma was out last time I went out, was a bit aggravating:dwarf: .

Ive gone out 2 times and have 2 limits. I want to go out tues but my wife is telling me no not yet. Says I have too much fish in the freezer. Im doing another batch of smoked fish tonight. And another batch in a few days. That will open up some room and give me gifts to give out.

The intent of this thread was not to illuminate the fact that I could drive to the Columbia and catch fish at any point in time since their stocks are in seemingly better shape than the majority of rivers in Washington.... I was implying that this series of events could not have come at a worse time for the "imperiled" stocks of fish throughout the Puget Sound. Chum runs have been so low that retention has been closed for them throughout much of Puget Sound the last two years, and this year's coho runs left "something to be desired". The majority of coho eggs have been going on redds the last 2 months, and the majority of chum eggs have been layed throughout the month. The amount of siltation, scouring, and channel migration that occur during these massive flood events are very perilous for eggs, alevins, and over-wintering smolts throughout the river system.

It is a sad day indeed for this years chum run. (and subsequently the years to come)

Yes it is a sad thing. Once again the puyallup will suffer in a few years. I wonder what they did in the past when it flooded but they always still had fish. And the skok, I mean it floods if you sneeze too hard and yet there is always gr8 returns there. Im not sure how the flooding effects one system so much more then others. Unless there is more involved in it. I know how the rivers down south flood and what ones are more effected fish wise then others. Really most of the rivers that have a strong hatchery program should be pretty much uneffected. Since the fish are being kept inside till later when they get put into the tanks outside. And only released out when ready. Is this the answer to have thriving hatcheries? You cant stop nature from itself. Yet in the past there was always fish in the waters. You can stop over fishing. Im not sure how to do it but puget sound fishing should be sport only. Commercial fishing should be left for way off the states coast. Tribes put money time and resources towards the rivers and the hatchery programs. Alot of tribes run hatcheries and put into the waters. And they fished these waters before other people ever thought of living around here. So do I think its right to fish with nets? Not really. Im native myself here. But I think since its supposed to be because of traditions that give the right to do this then Tradition is how it should be done. No more jet boats, No more guns to do whaling. Use the canoes like our ancestors did. Row row row that thing and do it with pride. Not with the jets the guns the way they are doing now and calling it in the name of tradition. Thats not right in my eyes.

Is this more in the lines of what you wanted when you asked if anyone wanted to fish.

Im watching the flooded rivers on the news and thinking of all of the poor salmon eggs too.

Matt wrote:The intent of this thread was not to illuminate the fact that I could drive to the Columbia and catch fish at any point in time since their stocks are in seemingly better shape than the majority of rivers in Washington.... I was implying that this series of events could not have come at a worse time for the "imperiled" stocks of fish throughout the Puget Sound. Chum runs have been so low that retention has been closed for them throughout much of Puget Sound the last two years, and this year's coho runs left "something to be desired". The majority of coho eggs have been going on redds the last 2 months, and the majority of chum eggs have been layed throughout the month. The amount of siltation, scouring, and channel migration that occur during these massive flood events are very perilous for eggs, alevins, and over-wintering smolts throughout the river system.

It is a sad day indeed for this years chum run. (and subsequently the years to come)

It's awful timing for sure. I wanna go fishing real bad, in answer to the question that started this. Luckily, it ended up being not as bad as the epic disasters they were predicting when it first started.

Dispite the budget crunch, it sure would be nice to see hatcheries to suppliment the natural runs and protect agains this type of flooding.

Just thinking outloud but it seems to me that It would be best to have hatcheries that used the native stock from the systems they're on instead of using import stock. I know that's how the hatchery in Issaquah has worked. Get rid of the clipped fin and manage the resources.......Let it flood.

The reasons some systems handle floods better than others is directly related to how much the river is confined to its main channel. If a river only needs to raise a small amount before spilling over it's banks, it will spread out the "damage" over a greater area. Dike the river, fill in the wetlands and you"ll effectively scrub the river clean anytime it even comes close to flooding. The Army Corps of Engineers never took wildlife habitat into consideration for any of their projects and we are now left to deal with the consequences.

Absolutely right, G-man. Rip-rap and other channel control structures put in place to help PREVENT flooding actually do more harm than good to the poor little guys in these instances.

Here's a vid of the Stilly up at Granite Falls

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Yup. Bad timing. Especially after the last few years of dwindling returns. And the video of the stilly flooding... How is anything supposed to survive that kind of torrent. Looks like we could be in for a few more bad years... We'll just have to wait and see...