Sturgeon

[92xj]

Insanely easy to find right now....


Tons floating dead all over. This is not good at all. http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2015/07/15/3653267/dozens-of-sturgeon-found-dead.html

[h2ofowlr]

Hopefully it isn't something the sockeye are carrying that are sickening than finally killing them.   

[syoungs]

bio said its the warmer water temp affecting the o2 levels, but im not buying that entirely, these salmon coming up are stressed and in warm water, getting sick and dying, im sure the sturgeon are eating their fair share, makes me sick thinking about it.

[Timberstalker]

bio said its the warmer water temp affecting the o2 levels, but im not buying that entirely, these salmon coming up are stressed and in warm water, getting sick and dying, im sure the sturgeon are eating their fair share, makes me sick thinking about it.

They've already found 66. Wow. That's sickening for sure.

[singleshot12]

Could it be a combination of the stress C&R causes and the warm temps? I think so

[WAcoueshunter]

Man, that stinks.  Just one of the many repercussions from the weather and lack of rain and snowpack.  Starting to see issues like this all over the place.  We've been on a good roll with the various fish runs the last few years, but this summer is going to wreak havoc in all sorts of ways. 

[zike]

Normally the Snake is warmer then the Columbia, but I haven't heard of any big die offs in the snake.

[Jonathan_S]

Could take a while to recover from this.  Sad to see it.  I doubt they are sick.  If they were that sick they probably wouldn't be stuffed full of dead Sockeye.

[ipkus]

...unless they are getting sick from the sockeye.

Which would also explain why you aren't seeing dead sturgeon in the Snake as their aren't very many sockeye in the Snake.

[Jonathan_S]

Yeah that point is salient.  I guess it's hopeful thinking that it is a temperature thing and not a bacteria or illness.

[singleshot12]

Sockeye poisoning,bacteria illness??  .. I can bet every one of these fish were hooked and released & died from exhaustion down stream from a popular c&r hole. These fish fight till they're almost dead!(especially on lite gear) Add warmer water conditions and they finally expire. Might take the bio's 20 years to figure that out tho

[Limhangerslayer]

Sockeye poisoning,bacteria illness??  .. I can bet every one of these fish were hooked and released & died from exhaustion down stream from a popular c&r hole. These fish fight till they're almost dead!(especially on lite gear) Add warmer water conditions and they finally expire. Might take the bio's 20 years to figure that out tho

water was 67 degrees at vernita Sunday.  I would also bet all those fish weren't caught and released.  I'm not against stopping the catch and release fishery to help out,  but i doubt that is what is causing it.

[ipkus]

Sockeye poisoning,bacteria illness??  .. I can bet every one of these fish were hooked and released & died from exhaustion down stream from a popular c&r hole. These fish fight till they're almost dead!(especially on lite gear) Add warmer water conditions and they finally expire. Might take the bio's 20 years to figure that out tho

You would lose your bet. 

1.) There is a sanctuary below many of the dams during this time of year to keep people from fishing on the spawning grounds where many of the oversize fish are right now.
2.) Fishing effort has been low.
3.) They are examining as many of the dead sturgeon as they can, and as of the first of the week I can tell you that they are not finding fresh hook wounds in the fish.  (yes, you can tell an old wound vs. a new one)

You can roll your eyes and bash the people that are trying to figure it out, but this situation is not simply a result of c&r in warm water.  Period.

[singleshot12]

Period? You sound positively certain. Somehow I feel we may never know the truth. So for the mean time I'll just stick to my own personal obervations of the sturgeon Thankyou very much!...lol

[BLUEBULLS]

I haven't noticed enough guys fishing for them below mcnary recently to match the numbers that have been found. Also, we deal with these same water temperatures
annually, just a month later. And then there's the fact that I haven't heard of any dead ones on the snake but they're on the banks of the Columbia above and below the mouth of the snake....  I'm no biologist but if I were to guess I'd question that it has  something to do with the sockeye that have been dieing off like crazy once they get past Bonneville.

Makes a guy wonder....

[JJB11B]

Its got me worried. We have no idea the impact on the ecosystem that so many of us enjoy fishing in. Regardless of the cause I hope they figure it out soon and find a solution (as doubtful as it may be)

[cohoho]

Hanford!!!  Hmmmm!

[ipkus]

Period? You sound positively certain. Somehow I feel we may never know the truth. So for the mean time I'll just stick to my own personal obervations of the sturgeon Thankyou very much!...lol

I provided actual facts that show your hypothesis is incorrect.  The fact that you choose to ignore those and continue on believing a fairy tail proves your signature line true...

[Limhangerslayer]

Have they thought anything about spawned out fish that could be more prone to sickness?   They were mature breeding fish that were dead.   All full of sockeye.  Which would put that bacteria into there stomachs maybe causing their death.   Like i said earlier vernita just above the reach was 67 Sunday.   That's not too warm for sturgeon.   Mid sixties water temps and warmer is when we have our hottest fishing.

[nwwanderer]

Dead ones clear above Whitebird in the Salmon too.

[magnus100]

Warmer water in the snake and plenty of C&R fishing with no die off. Hmm,
doesn't sound like stress from C&R to me?
We all hate to see a great resource like this suffer but let's look to science instead of emotion.

[MtnMuley]

The triploids in Rufus will be their next guess.

My uneducated guess as of now is a combination of the higher than normal temps for this time of year, less flow than some years, and guts stuffed with the big run of sockeye.

I hope they can get something figured out, or I might never get the chance to catch another again.

[splitshot]

  it might be something we have this year that we havent had before.  definately not c & r.     is it only affecting the sturgeon?     have we ever had water temps this warm before.      hope someone finds out what it is.   mike w

[westsidehntr]

Warmer water in the snake and plenty of C&R fishing with no die off. Hmm,
doesn't sound like stress from C&R to me?
We all hate to see a great resource like this suffer but let's look to science instead of emotion.

[singleshot12]

Period? You sound positively certain. Somehow I feel we may never know the truth. So for the mean time I'll just stick to my own personal obervations of the sturgeon Thankyou very much!...lol

I provided actual facts that show your hypothesis is incorrect.  The fact that you choose to ignore those and continue on believing a fairy tail proves your signature line true...

LMAO! did I hit a nerve? Facts? What facts? Do sturgeon really show fresh hook wounds in their mouth? You must be a young punk or an extreme c&r advocate yahoo. If either which sounds like you are I won't waste anymore time with you...... 

[westsidehntr]

Period? You sound positively certain. Somehow I feel we may never know the truth. So for the mean time I'll just stick to my own personal obervations of the sturgeon Thankyou very much!...lol

I provided actual facts that show your hypothesis is incorrect.  The fact that you choose to ignore those and continue on believing a fairy tail proves your signature line true...

LMAO! did I hit a nerve? Facts? What facts? Do sturgeon really show fresh hook wounds in their mouth? You must be a young punk or an extreme c&r yahoo. If either? I won't waste anymore time with you 

I think ipkus is correct also. If warm water and C and R is the problem, why are the sturgeon in the Snake fine? Both of these things are there also.

[JimmyHoffa]

Period? You sound positively certain. Somehow I feel we may never know the truth. So for the mean time I'll just stick to my own personal obervations of the sturgeon Thankyou very much!...lol

I provided actual facts that show your hypothesis is incorrect.  The fact that you choose to ignore those and continue on believing a fairy tail proves your signature line true...

LMAO! did I hit a nerve? Facts? What facts? Do sturgeon really show fresh hook wounds in their mouth? You must be a young punk or an extreme c&r yahoo. If either? I won't waste anymore time with you 

I think ipkus is correct also. If warm water and C and R is the problem, why are the sturgeon in the Snake fine? Both of these things are there also.

Could depend on things like how long the fish was played with or any kind of thermocline in the water.

[singleshot12]

It's the only thing that makes sense..seems some here are way too sensitive and worried about loosing a c&r fishery which I guess I can understand.
 I believe a lot more fish get hooked in the Columbia vs the Snake.
 With some guides C&Ring 50-100 sturg a day there is bound to be some fatalities especially in these warm water conditions.

Another fruitless battle here

[ipkus]

Period? You sound positively certain. Somehow I feel we may never know the truth. So for the mean time I'll just stick to my own personal obervations of the sturgeon Thankyou very much!...lol

I provided actual facts that show your hypothesis is incorrect.  The fact that you choose to ignore those and continue on believing a fairy tail proves your signature line true...

LMAO! did I hit a nerve? Facts? What facts? Do sturgeon really show fresh hook wounds in their mouth? You must be a young punk or an extreme c&r advocate yahoo. If either which sounds like you are I won't waste anymore time with you......

The longer you run your mouth, the dumber you look.  Again, for the slow learners;

1.) No fishing is allowed right now where many of the oversize fish in each pool are located
2.) Fishing effort is low.
3.) They are not finding fresh hook wounds in the fish they are examining.
4.) Essentially all of the fish they are examining are chock full of sockeye.

These are called facts.  There is data and observations that proves them to be true.

YES, sturgeon that have been hooked with 8/0 and 9/0 hooks have wounds/scars in there lips, and YES you can tell if they are recent or older.

The more you type the more obvious it becomes that you don't know what the f you are talking about. 

Nobody is C&Ring 50-100 fish a day in the mid-Columbia.  I am not an 'extreme c&r advocate yahoo'.  I completely agree that they should close sturgeon fishing until they figure out what is going on.  C&R fishing does have stress and mortality associated with it, and anything they can do to protect the remaining spawner size fish should be done immediately.  That still doesn't mean that this die off is because of C&R fishing, because it's not.

There's an old saying that goes something like  '...better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you're an idiot than to open your mouth and prove it...'

Don't be a knucklehead.

[Limhangerslayer]

Period? You sound positively certain. Somehow I feel we may never know the truth. So for the mean time I'll just stick to my own personal obervations of the sturgeon Thankyou very much!...lol

I provided actual facts that show your hypothesis is incorrect.  The fact that you choose to ignore those and continue on believing a fairy tail proves your signature line true...

LMAO! did I hit a nerve? Facts? What facts? Do sturgeon really show fresh hook wounds in their mouth? You must be a young punk or an extreme c&r advocate yahoo. If either which sounds like you are I won't waste anymore time with you......

The longer you run your mouth, the dumber you look.  Again, for the slow learners;

1.) No fishing is allowed right now where many of the oversize fish in each pool are located
2.) Fishing effort is low.
3.) They are not finding fresh hook wounds in the fish they are examining.
4.) Essentially all of the fish they are examining are chock full of sockeye.

These are called facts.  There is data and observations that proves them to be true.

YES, sturgeon that have been hooked with 8/0 and 9/0 hooks have wounds/scars in there lips, and YES you can tell if they are recent or older.

The more you type the more obvious it becomes that you don't know what the f you are talking about. 

Nobody is C&Ring 50-100 fish a day in the mid-Columbia.  I am not an 'extreme c&r advocate yahoo'.  I completely agree that they should close sturgeon fishing until they figure out what is going on.  C&R fishing does have stress and mortality associated with it, and anything they can do to protect the remaining spawner size fish should be done immediately.  That still doesn't mean that this die off is because of C&R fishing, because it's not.

There's an old saying that goes something like  '...better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you're an idiot than to open your mouth and prove it...'

Don't be a knucklehead.

:yeah:Like was stated earlier,  most of these fish died in an area that is not fishable right now.   I was headed to the reach on Sunday, now I'm not.   That's alright the survival of the fish is more important then trying to get a keeper.   They are doing this moratorium as a precaution not thereason they are dying.   And no I'm not a young punk

[singleshot12]

Fish can die miles from a c&r area usually down stream. Your "so called facts" don't mean anymore to me than my opinion does to you. So we don't agree on what happened to these fish.what's the big deal? I'm not falling into this "know-it-all" game which is resulting in name calling. You might not be young punks but this conversation is getting way too juvinile for me.

[BLUEBULLS]

Period? You sound positively certain. Somehow I feel we may never know the truth. So for the mean time I'll just stick to my own personal obervations of the sturgeon Thankyou very much!...lol

I provided actual facts that show your hypothesis is incorrect.  The fact that you choose to ignore those and continue on believing a fairy tail proves your signature line true...

LMAO! did I hit a nerve? Facts? What facts? Do sturgeon really show fresh hook wounds in their mouth? You must be a young punk or an extreme c&r advocate yahoo. If either which sounds like you are I won't waste anymore time with you......

The longer you run your mouth, the dumber you look.  Again, for the slow learners;

1.) No fishing is allowed right now where many of the oversize fish in each pool are located
2.) Fishing effort is low.
3.) They are not finding fresh hook wounds in the fish they are examining.
4.) Essentially all of the fish they are examining are chock full of sockeye.

These are called facts.  There is data and observations that proves them to be true.

YES, sturgeon that have been hooked with 8/0 and 9/0 hooks have wounds/scars in there lips, and YES you can tell if they are recent or older.

The more you type the more obvious it becomes that you don't know what the f you are talking about. 

Nobody is C&Ring 50-100 fish a day in the mid-Columbia.  I am not an 'extreme c&r advocate yahoo'.  I completely agree that they should close sturgeon fishing until they figure out what is going on.  C&R fishing does have stress and mortality associated with it, and anything they can do to protect the remaining spawner size fish should be done immediately.  That still doesn't mean that this die off is because of C&R fishing, because it's not.

There's an old saying that goes something like  '...better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you're an idiot than to open your mouth and prove it...'

Don't be a knucklehead.

 

[BLUEBULLS]

Fish can die miles from a c&r area usually down stream. Your "so called facts" don't mean anymore to me than my opinion does to you. So we don't agree on what happened to these fish.what's the big deal? I'm not falling into this "know-it-all" game which is resulting in name calling. You might not be young punks but this conversation is getting way too juvinile for me.
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[ipkus]

Fish can die miles from a c&r area usually down stream. Your "so called facts" don't mean anymore to me than my opinion does to you. So we don't agree on what happened to these fish.what's the big deal? I'm not falling into this "know-it-all" game which is resulting in name calling. You might not be young punks but this conversation is getting way too juvinile for me.

There's another saying; Ignorance is bliss.

Bye.

[dscubame]

Stugeon will be fine, relax already.  Normal off season crap.

[HunterStrait]

Saw three of them dead today from Columbia point to howard amon park. Two of them were about 10 feet in length.

I also saw a handful of dead suckers too.

[time2hunt]

Radiation poisoning from the Japan tsunami  the tribe  has been test fish in the ocean and the levels are high in the salmon .  It's been a pretty hush hush deal


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[magnus100]

Closed from Bonneville upstream now so I guess if the die off continues it must not be due to C & R? If die stops I will definitely believe C & R played a role....
Stupid is as stupid does.

[Gringo31]

This has me worried.  The areas I fish I've heard reports of it being just terrible.  I wanted to take my boat out yesterday just to look and see as I've been gone in Alaska.  I don't buy the C&R excuse.  Yes, it does have it's impact but this is something new...... something different from the norm and I don't feel a few degrees is the cause either.

[4fletch]

Radiation poisoning from the Japan tsunami  the tribe  has been test fish in the ocean and the levels are high in the salmon .  It's been a pretty hush hush deal


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last few years the sockeye run in Alaska has been lower than expected. The forecast if my memory recalls was 27 million and only 2.5 million showed up. Something's fishy. I hope it's not due to radiation

[rtspring]

This happens almost every year, I have spent alot of my life up and down the banks of the River. Since like 8 years old I always found alot of dead sturgeon.  I'm 42 now, hike around bateman island, you can always find 1-2 washed up on the bank. 

Not sure if the numbers of dead fish are up but maybe its just natures way of doing the dirty deed.  Lets hope so!

[Gringo31]

last few years the sockeye run in Alaska has been lower than expected. The forecast if my memory recalls was 27 million and only 2.5 million showed up. Something's fishy. I hope it's not due to radiation

Recent intel told me that in Bristol Bay the sockeye just didn't show up.  They had like 15% of the run and then it just tapered off.  Everyone left calling it a loss but 2 weeks later they came in full force.   

[grundy53]

My buddy just got back from the Kenai. He said the run was horrible and they were all undersized.

[singleshot12]

So what does that have to do with dead sturgeon on the Columbia

Back on topic: anyone hear of anymore dead sturgeon since the c&r closure?

[Jonathan_S]

Did somebody cut you off in traffic today singleshot12? 

People are linking Pacific Sockeye with the Sturgeon die out and they're talking about Sockeye runs...duh

[BLUEBULLS]

So what does that have to do with dead sturgeon on the Columbia

Back on topic: anyone hear of anymore dead sturgeon since the c&r closure?

Yep

[magnus100]

Saw a  smallish oversize fish, probably 5-6 footer that was belly up but still alive... Tried to roll and revive it but it was just dying. This was below mcnary yesterday so this rules out C&R in my eyes. I fish all stretches of the river and see very few if any floater oversize sturgeon and this is the second I have seen this year. But I don't see 5000 dead sturgeon washed up so I also don't think this is a catastrophic event.