2027 Pink Run Destroyed

[bigtex]

Well with these floods I think it's pretty much destroyed our 2027 pink run. Certainly one negative about this being a totally wild run, there's no hatchery fish to help the stock. We may be back to square one for pinks after years of record runs.

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[hunthard]

I don't know about, I have more faith in "mother nature" than I do in the WDFW.

[buglebuster]

With the sheer number of fish that return, I don’t think it will be as bad as you may think. If that was the case, the runs would be completely over for good

[cohocrazy]

They should be fine. They've been through worse floods and survived. 

[Fishmaker57]

Based on the life cycle of pinks, they will most likely be fine. By the time Pinks have reached the upper Skagit, they are ready to spawn. Given the prolonged warm fall weather, the river didn’t chill down as fast, so the eggs would have hatched before the floods. Pinks are the fastest growing salmon in the world, and they swim up out of the gravel and head to brackish water fast. Hopefully the Chinook reds didn’t scour or silt in, but time will tell.

[3nails]

 I think it will be 6 years for them to bounce back from this. The wild coho bounce back faster due to 3 and 5 year returning fish. Pinks don't have that.

[rainshadow1]

What is the guess/assumption that fish experience during a flood? Is there gps tagging? Gill mounted cameras?

[FlyFish360]

They'll be fine. If you know anything about hydrodynamics, the current at the bottom of the river is the slowest. Plus those eggs are in the gravel.

[cem3434]

They'll be fine. If you know anything about hydrodynamics, the current at the bottom of the river is the slowest. Plus those eggs are in the gravel.

  spot on and WDFW and their lack of predator control is far worse for the fish than mother nature.

[Bullkllr]

While it is part of the natural process and runs can certainly rebound, it's pretty well documented that extreme high water events can have negative effects on spawning success. You literally get scouring and shifting of gravel in some places. Events this high could be hard on existing redds from any species. While pinks (and chums) don't rear in streams, the fry don't typically emerge from the gravel until at least late winter/early spring. Not the only factor for what comes back of course, but it seems reasonable to expect some impact.