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....