FISH FIRST NEWSLETTER

January 1, 2006

Volume 11 Issue 1

FISH FIRST 11 YEAR ANNIVERSERY

Dan Rawding, fish biologist with Department of Fish & Wildlife Region 5 will speak to Fish First members about the state of wild steelhead in Southwest Washington.

Join us January 19, 2006 7 p.m. Oak Tree Restaurant.

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Pikeminnow Program — Dec. meeting topic

Northern Pikeminnow commonly called squaw fish are heavy feeders on salmon parr and smolt in our rivers, lakes and stream. The pikeminnow are not strong swimmers and prefer slack water areas to ambush the young salmon.

In an effort to control their populations and to aid in salmon recovery, Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife have conducted a pay voucher program on Northern Pikeminnow since 1991.

Eric Winther is the WDFW project lead for the pikeminnow program which is funded by Bonneville Power.

WDFW set up sport reward fishery stations at boat ramps in both Oregon and Washington, from the Lewiston/Clarkston area and the Vernida Bridge in the Tri-City area down the Columbia River to the estuary waters around Cathlamet. To participate fishermen must sign up at the ramp, harvest the fish and return them fresh and whole to the same ramp in exchange for pay vouchers. Stations are open 12 – 8 p.m. and most contain a night box for the early morning fishermen.

Scientists are able to recover pit tags and other statistics from the bellies of the pikeminnows who consume large amounts of steelhead, Chinook, coho and sockeye.

Before the pikeminnow program began assessment was done on the John Day Reservoir. It was estimated that between 1982 and 1988 three million fish were lost to predators. Of that 2.8 million were lost to pikeminnow. Pikeminnow can reach 24” long and 6 to 7 pounds in size.

A native fish, pikeminnow eat insects, cadis flies and other small nutrients in their youth. They become carnivorous when they reach 9 to 10 inches in length. Slack water behind the dams created optimum living conditions for pikeminnow.

The peak of fishing for pikeminnow is almost always the third week of June in a season that begins in May and extends through September. In 2005 - 240,955 fish were harvested. 2004 saw a harvest of 267,000 fish. 1993 witnessed the lowest harvest of pikeminnow at a total of 104,536.

It is estimated that predation on juvenile salmon is down by 67% since the introduction of this program by WDFW. Visit www.pikeminnow.org for more information or contact the reward hotline at 800-858-9015 (toll free) or 360-906-6707 (in Vancouver, WA.)

TIP: The number 1 bate for catching Northern Pikeminnow is fresh chicken liver.

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Pacificorp draft up for public review

We encourage our readers to review the draft Hatchery and Supplemental Plan proposed by PacifiCorp and Cowlitz Co. PUD for the Lewis River Hydroelectric Projects (FERC Nos. 935, 2071, 2111 and 2213). This plan is required as part of the settlement agreement.

Members can read the Executive Summary (9 pgs.) to get the gist of the agreement or read the over 100 page document at the web address listed below.

http://www.pacificorp.com/Article/Article49202.html

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Oral Histories of the Lewis River

Al Fulcer, Fish First member since 1996 has historically helped with net pen projects, helped with live fish plants and now runs the nutrient enhancement program with the help of his sidekick, Dennis Franz.

Originally from Forks, WA, Fulcer moved his family to the Woodland area and worked as a construction electrician wiring concrete tilt up buildings and mall stores until he retired in 2000.

Al Fulcer joined Fish First at the urging of his wife, Carol, who reminded Al that he has taken sooo many fish from the river, he really should help the club restore the populations.

“I remember putting my drift boat in at the Lewisville bridge on Thanksgiving Day for many years in a row and floating to Daybreak and always bringing home a steelhead.” said Fulcer. “Floating from Lewisville bridge to Daybreak or on down to the Feeders took six to seven hours and was a very pretty trip especially in summer.”

“Years ago I fished the lower East Fork at the car body hole. I remember hitting an early evening high tide (about 6 or 7 p.m.) while standing on a high bank and counting 25 to 30 steelhead schooling upstream. They were fun to watch. Spooky fish though. I’d have to sneak up on them, drift some fresh cured eggs with lead and a small corky or a little yarn. Actually the yarn probably worked best. They are subtle bitters and the yarn seemed to get caught in their little teeth. When the riggin stopped, I’d know I had one. Sometimes I’d use some yarn and scent like cocktail or sand shrimp or prawns instead of eggs.”

“I have fished the winter steelhead in November and December and

occasionally caught a Fall Chinook but my favorite was fishing for the big run of March steelhead. Back in 1968 or 1969, when we could keep the natives, I would bring my boat out of Hams Bean Yard by the silo barn and I remember catching a steelhead that weighed 27 pounds. In fact, four fish I and friends from my boat caught that year weighed over 20 pounds each.”

The Spring steelhead in that stream have diminished. People moving into the areas along the river have made it difficult to fish. I used to be able to park at Daybreak and walk almost to Lewisville Park in June and July. I can’t do that now because there is no bank access.

Fulcer also fishes the North Fork and the Lewis below the confluence of the North and East Fork to where the Lewis meets the Columbia River.

“The mouth of the North Fork Lewis river has filled up horrifically,” said Fulcer, In the mid-1970’s the river in that area was about 12 to 14’ deep and today it is a shallow 6 to 8’ deep.”

Fulcer considers the North Fork a premium steelhead stream. He said it is ok for silvers and fall Chinook and fair for Spring Chinook.

“Of course, the Spring Chinook are the best for eating followed by steelhead, in my opinion.” said Fulcer.

“If you know the river, a person can jet boat from the mouth to the forks and then to the dam all year around.”

Fulcer said the size of the winter steelhead in the North Fork and in the main Lewis River below the forks has decreased. In earlier years they weighed 12 to 14 pounds and today they weigh 6 to 7 pounds.

“Today I fish mostly from Gun Club Rd. down to the mouth. Occasionally I can take some nice silvers out of the Turpin hole near the bed and breakfast,” said Fulcer.

Fulcer believes that the Lewis River has a good run of fall Chinook, a fair run of Coho (silvers) and spring Chinook and although they are down slightly historically, the steelhead in the Lewis have been the most consistent. He attributes that to control by hatchery personnel and adds that they have done a good job with their steelhead and spring Chinook programs. Historically summer steelhead averaged 8 to 12 pounds with some steelhead over 18 pound. Spring Chinook averaged 12 to 20 pounds and the big ones weighed 20 to 30 pounds.

“The smelt runs in the North Fork 15 years ago where large. Three years ago we had a good run. Last year the smelt came in as far as the railroad bridge. Now I have heard they are susceptible to water temperature and if the temperature isn’t right they won’t come in. I thought that was a curious thing considering the temperature issues in the East Fork Lewis.”

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NUTRIENT ENHANCEMENT

NET PEN UPDATE

FISH FEEDING SCHEDULE

Al Fulcer, Dennis Frantz, Don Lewis , Tom Golick, Dan Balch, Glen Johnston, and Richard Potenski have been busy cutting the tails off of 3,687 fish carcasses during the first two weeks of December 2005.

The carcasses and tails were placed upstream of egg box sites in Cedar Creek and other feeder streams of the North Fork Lewis River.

So far the team has processed 8,540 fish. Tails are removed so area biologists won’t confuse planted carcasses with native wild spawned out salmon when they do testing and observation on the streams.

1315 intact fish are in the freezer awaiting placement upstream of egg box sites during February, March and April, while the streams are still running a lot of water. This is a critical time to supply nutrients to the newly hatched baby fish.

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NET PEN UPDATE:

December 7 Fish First members placed 75,500 spring Chinook in the Echo net pens. Members Dave Bowden, Gary Hurn, Glen Johnston, Richard Polenski, Al Fulcer, Dennis Frantz and Dan Balch had the pipe installed, received fish from the hatchery transport trucks, and flushed them down the pipe system into the pens and were done by 12:15.

Walt Arola surprised the group with a visit about 9:30 a.m. Walt was the net pen manager from 1995 to 2000. Arola underwent hip replacement surgery two years ago and uses a cane to get around now. He says he really enjoys reading our newsletter.

We really enjoyed his visit!

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FISH FEEDING SCHEDULE

Penned fish are being fed at Echo on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.

Speelayi fish are fed on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Glenn Johnston and Dan Balch are our fish feeding officianodos.

Anyone interested in helping Dan Balch feed the fish can call him at 360-225-7388.

Contact Glenn Johnston at 360-887-8787.

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FISHING TIP:

After baiting hooks all day, to remove the ‘fishy’ odor from you hands, wash them in toothpaste. It works great!

BAIT AND TACKLE SUGGESTIONS

Anadromous Fish

Chinook .. Plugs, spoons, anchovies, herring, spinners, spoons and salmon eggs

Coho.. Spoons, flies, herring, salmon roe, spoons and spinners

Shad.. Small bright metallic colored lures, shad darts and small brightly colored beads with a bare hook

Sockeye.. Plugs, spoons, spinners, bare painted hooks and lures

Steelhead.. Salmon roe, shrimp, crawfish, worms, artificial spoons, spinners, jigs and flies

White Sturgeon.. Anchovies, herring, smelt and ghost shrimp

Fresh Water Fish

Brook Trout.. Worms, cocktail shrimp, artificial flies and spinners

Brown Trout.. Dough, worms, spoons, spinners, minnow imitating plugs and other natural baits

Cutthroat Trout.. Dough, worms, salmon roe, spoons, spinners, flies

Kokanee.. Salmon eggs, worms, flashy spinners

Rainbow Trout.. Worms, dough, salmon roe, cocktail shrimp, artificial lures, spoons, spinners, and other natural baits

Excerpts from WDFW’s “Freshwater and Andromous Sport Fish Identification Guides”.

Contact WDFW at 360-696-6211.

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