Anybody have plans to fish our falling rivers this weekend? All of our east-side rivers and streams are getting their first shot of really good rain, so they should fall back into shape just in time for the weekend.

Anybody been out lately? I had a good trip after Thanksgiving. Landed 7 for 9 with five keepers in two days. I tried drifting corkies/yarn with eggs, but I caught all of the fish on spinners. Geez, it's hard to learn new techniques when the old methods work so darn well. I need to learn to leave my hardware at home...

Here are some shots from the last trip:

My comment on the second pic got cut off (unlike the fish's adipose fin). I went on to say that the fish got to finish his journey (or get caught by the next guy) and dilute the native gene pool because while I'm pretty certain he was a ranched fish, it's not worth a fine... Don't get me wrong, I'm all for careful C&R of the natives, but part of the puzzle is limiting the amount of cross-breeding between hatchery and wild fish. There's just too much evidence showing that the brats breed a lesser quality fish, so allowing a brat to corss with a nate is a genetic risk. There's a chance to learn more about this type of stuff at the Tri-City Rod and Gun club meeting tonight here in Richland. Gary Loomis is speaking on the CCA--an organization dedicated to serving the interests of anadromous fish and sport-fishers. I'll post another thread with details on the time and location...

What the heck. Here's the "kill" shot from the trip. (I ran out of space on the original post--there must be a three pic limit). It's not often a guy gets to stack 'em five high...

Many of those fish without the clip are "endemic" to the system. They are spawned of wild decent and raised for 1 generation in a hatcheyr. They are ment to bolster the wild runs. It is in your best interest to release them. If you look closely you will see a orange or green mark behind the eyes denoting that this is an endemic fish which will be let spawn with its wild bretheren. Nice fish E-mann- those hens are nice and bright!

Nice work, Mark! Remind yourself again why you bought a boat...

Nice work

I'll be out this weekend, freezing my butt off hopfully bringing home some fish for the kids.

I'll keep ya posted.

Zen,

That's interesting to know. I guess I was under the impression that the 1st gen broodstock fish were still all clipped and meant primarily for harvest, but that in the event that they do survive the gauntlet to spawn, that the impact would be absolutely minimized by the least possible genetic "de-engineering" that occurs through crossing multiple generations of hatchery broodstock. I guess if these fish are indeed 1st generation broodstock fish, than I feel much better about letting them go to finish the deed.

Thanks for the info,

The one I caught on the "secret" river this weekend that looked like it had a red reflective stripe right behind the eye and what looked like a "misclip" adipose.

Zen is this consistent with endemic markings?