How many W steelies come up the Sandy ?

[ssteelheadsteve]

Go ahead ....Make a guess....
An excellent return of Big Creek Fish would be 3%of the Smolts planted.How many smolts do you think ODF&W planted in the Sandy for this years return ?

Does 2-3 thousand fish returning over a 5 month period constitute a "fishery" ?

[Smily]

Hi ssteelheadsteve,
Are you saying that's all the fish coming up is 2-3 thousand? What is a good run? A bad run? What was the run last year?
I am curious to know too? Anybody?

:smile: Smily :smile:

[David Johnson]

A good run would be 10 to 12 thousand. The Sandy was once the #1 producing winter steelhead river in Oregon. Closeness to Portland helped in that rating but still an impressive amount of fish were taken. You can thank the Wild Fish Policy for limiting the number of steelhead released into the system.

[Ranger]

There is certainly a lot of disagreement on what is happening on the Sandy.
When the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission met In February 2001 to consider amending the Sandy Basin Fish Managemeent Plan their Exhibit "C" document stated the current program released 230,000 fish, the same number of winter steelhead smolts since 1990.I also have a copy of the Sandy River Basin Management Plan showing hatchery winter steelhead releases back to 1955. The releases before 1990 were all smaller than the 1990 - 2001 releases. The returning adults for this year are coming from the largest releases on record. If 3% of 230,000 return, it would translate to 6,900 adults, using the math I know. There is more to the decline in numbers of returning fish than just release numbers. The stock used predominantly since the mid sixties was Big Creek Stock. That particular stock seemed to react more severely with the poor ocean conditions and other limiting factors than other stocks did. That is why last years releases were changed to 160,000 Sandy River Stock and only 80,000 Big Creek Stock. ODFW is now using fish from the Sandy River as brood stock for future returns.Hopefully the return percentages will rebound. With improved ocean conditions and better survival for salmon stocks in general, lets hope the stocks returning to the Sandy will fare better and give us 3% and more. I think there is reason for optimism in the return.
I really don't think the Wild Fish Policy has anything to do with the returning number of fish in the Sandy. ODFW is putting as many hatchery fish into the system as they ever have.

[ 11-25-2001: Message edited by: Ranger ]</p>