TOPIC:

The survival variance could be a nightmare scenario. If you go from %.5 to %5 you’re basically multiplying to number of fish stocked times 10. I’d have to guess that with the tight rope the managers have been walking the last few years that alterations in stocking programs are not really being encouraged. I’d also bet the forage available also is a big factor in how many of those fish survive.

FYI, the vast majority of cohos are not marked in any way, so you cannot tell if they are hatchery or wild origin. Previous research in the 80s and 90s showed that coho reproduction was pretty darn low - like 10% or less. There has not been any research suggesting otherwise in recent history, although they have not been clipped and tagged under the mass marking program yet. I would be surprised if there was more than 20 or 30% wild coho lakewide. I hope that after steelhead mass marking has given managers enough information that the tagging will shift to coho.[/quote]

Can you clarify please when the steelhead marking program started, I cannot remember, and I assume this is adipose like the kings were?
Lakewide like the king program was?
Thanks

The 2017 yearclass of steelhead were the first marked (bulk of them stocked as yearlings in spring of 2018). Those fish are about 18-22 inches long right now as 2 year olds

They are all marked lakewide, with adipose clip and a coded wire tag. But keep in mind those larger fish, which are the bulk of fish being caught by anglers, are too old to have been marked

Fishing is horrible on the south-end! I went out yesterday went 1 for 1 on a coho and trolled for 12 hours. from 90 FOW out to 200 FOW. I wont be back on this end till the spring, water is just way to warm and to get to a thermocline 50-70 feet down, you need to go 10-15 miles off shore. and then still, no bait in the area. Now, especially with the cyanide leak in PORTAGE. *scary stuff* not interested in the southend for awhile.

southshore wrote:

The survival variance could be a nightmare scenario. If you go from %.5 to %5 you’re basically multiplying to number of fish stocked times 10. I’d have to guess that with the tight rope the managers have been walking the last few years that alterations in stocking programs are not really being encouraged. I’d also bet the forage available also is a big factor in how many of those fish survive.

The whole point in stocking fish is that you hope they survive, so any increase in survival would be welcome. Coho to chinook equivalencies are 3 coho to every 1, so managers aren’t really worried about coho putting a dent on baitfish populations. You have to remember, coho are stocked at 18 months, maybe even older if states get their way (to increase survival) and then literally spawn the next year. They aren’t eating much for very long....nothing like a lake trout will eat in 30 years that is for certain.