View Full Version : Floating dead Tules!!
TheRogue
09-22-2003, 06:51 AM
Wow, were there a bunch of dead fish floating downriver on the CR yesterday! Pretty neat to see, all appeared to be Tules, great indication of the sheer amount of fish in the system.
TR
FishaholicAZ
09-22-2003, 01:43 PM
Never makes me happy to see "lots" of dead salmon floating... Even if they are Tules. Sounds like a shame to me but then again, I dont know the cause. Its still unpleasant.
Hawgs n Harleys
09-22-2003, 11:00 PM
I think they may have been from a net or the dam. They had alot of seaweed on them but the bellys looked too white to be tules to me. You are right about there being a bunch of them. I didnt count but I'm sure there was atleast 6 that floated right by our boat.
-Steve
Steelhead Hound
09-22-2003, 11:29 PM
I was oversizing on sunday and saw about 10 salmon float down some were chrome bright. I think they might be sufficating* in the ladders aswell as in Tanner creek maybe..... :shrug:
:bowdown: The King
NEUTRON
09-23-2003, 12:45 AM
maybe they were released because they are undesirable?
TheRogue
09-23-2003, 12:54 AM
Could've been out of the nets, of course, in which case it's quite sad....but still a good indicator of how many fish there are.
TR
Wheeler Dealer
09-23-2003, 06:43 AM
What are Tules? :whazzup: :blush:
skeezer
09-23-2003, 06:46 AM
tu late
skeezer
09-23-2003, 06:47 AM
:shrug:
Miss B Haven
09-23-2003, 09:55 AM
Weeler Dealer -Tules are Columbi River Chinooks that spawn in the Lower Columbia River. They are usually darker and lower quality (pale) meat by the time they hit the CR. Some are nice quality but most are smokers or releasers.
When compared to the upriver brights (fish that spawn mostly in the Hanford Reach area) or Tributary Chinook (like Sandy)they are easily identifiable. They are bronze or darker on the back and have a kind of humpy/lumpy looking back between the dorsal and adipose.
They are raised in hatcheries mostly to provide Canadian trollers with mitigation fish so they won't catch all the Coastal Chinook heading down the West of Vancoover Island before they get here.
:cheers:
I limited the boat one day on Tule floaters. Took only hens........ :wink:
Jennie@ifish
09-23-2003, 07:27 PM
ZaQ... that just isn't proper.
You should take whatever you net first, regardless if it is a buck or a hen!
Geez!!!! :mad:
Is the Carrot Milk failing? :shocked:
LOL :laugh:
In all seriousness, why would they be floating around? Nets? REALLY?
[ 09-23-2003, 07:28 PM: Message edited by: Jennie@ifish ]
crabbait
09-23-2003, 07:36 PM
I know that there is no market for these dark fish. If you were using a technique that rendered fish dead when harvested what would you do (or be tempted to do) with fish that had no market value?
finclipped
09-23-2003, 09:07 PM
There aren't to many options, if you can't sell them. I mean really, what would you do with a bunch of dead worthless fish. You can only use so many to fertilize the yard.
I heard Spring Creek hatchery gave a bunch of tule's to the state pen a couple years ago. I can't help but laugh when I think of the inmates reading a daily menu saying "Fresh Columbia Salmon." Mmmmmm, I bet they were disappointed.
Wheeler Dealer
09-24-2003, 12:30 AM
Thanks Mel!! graemlins/idea.gif
When you can pick and choose like that, why take bucks? I think the hens taste better, that is all.
http://home.comcast.net/~zaq26/pics/barf.gif
NEUTRON
09-24-2003, 06:58 AM
Prize goes to Crabbait!!!!
dawhunt
09-24-2003, 08:07 AM
Tule bucks hold their color longer and are better table fare or smokers then the hens who lose their color because all their blood goes to their eggs and therefore have paler flesh and bland taste.Don't even make good smokers once their in the tribs.,and their meat is white.
Bob
MasterMariner
09-24-2003, 08:22 AM
I think its anglers catching a fish, holding onto it, catching a better looking fish and then discarding the tule.... I see that happen all the time! Better make sure our own house is clean before we start throwing stones....
Jennie@ifish
09-24-2003, 08:33 AM
Pretty sure it was all a joke about netting, or keeping hens, guys. :smile:
Read between the "lines".
Jen
[ 09-24-2003, 08:34 AM: Message edited by: Jennie@ifish ]
crabbait
09-24-2003, 08:47 AM
MasterMariner - I was not attempting to "throw stones" and have no first hand knowledge that this takes place. I was simply stating the reality that there is no market for tules, a fact that was recently published in the Oregonian.
As for sport fishermen "upgrading" a brighter fish for the dead one already on their tag: If you see it happen all the time I think you should be jotting down boat registration numbers and making a phone call or at least say something to these people so that they know that you saw what they did and do not condone it.
The behavior that we condone with our silence is the behavior that we will see repeated.
MasterMariner
09-24-2003, 01:13 PM
I call all the time...I'm sure OSP is tired of hearing from me. I'm sick of seeing people high grading, 2 poling, snagging, etc, etc...
FishaholicAZ
09-25-2003, 12:28 AM
Right on crabbait... Right on.
Steelhead Hound
09-25-2003, 02:07 AM
High grading????? 2 poling???????? EXPLAIN.......
Wheeler Dealer
09-25-2003, 07:03 AM
Crabbait graemlins/applause.gif
FishyBuckSlayer
09-25-2003, 04:40 PM
Highgrading: Trading a lesser fish for a better fish. NO ONE does this in my boat. Several have tried. Once a fish goes in the cooler or a rope goes through the gills, it stays with the boat.
2 poling: Fishing one pole legally and sneaking in a second line or pole. I have seen this done with sneaky hand lines on occasion. I look forward to the day when I see some poor fool lose a finger to a 40 lb. URB on a sneak line.
FSB,
We fished handlines for halibut when I lived in Alaska and never lost a finger.