Which fin gets clipped on the stockies? I revived a bunch of them and dint notice any weird fins. I will have to pay better attention next time. I just wish I was there today, my shoulder is even soar today. lol
CP
 

    For those who have never been to Salt water -in warm water especially -and have never seen thousands of dead fish due to O2 deprivation I know its hard to understand.
    It is common for huge schools of fish- generally bait fish chased in by predators- to enter a  Bay or Harbor  decreasing the required O2  resulting in very large  'die offs'.
   Would agree that a very large run of early Kings into the SR in a time of low warm water is not dissimilar.   Also concerned with the upcoming ( 15th I believe) meeting on the possibly of lowering water levels even more.
   NOT trying to be all doom and gloom at a time of great fishing however have seen a few of those Salt water 'die offs' and have some reservations.
   Rain==please !!!

and when large numbers of large fish die off it gets ripe quick, last year there was a hot spell late in the salmon season, the smell drove me off of fishing some of the slow water spots.....whew pretty potent
 
so i  guess the only solution is for those guys who were being snow fences the last two days to join hands and herd them all back to the lake

I do
 
But you know me i gotta make alittle fun :)

the warmer the water the less O2 it can hold...its going to be in the 80's for the next 3 days....the more fish that are there and the more they exert them selfs the more O2 they use also once the dead ones start to decay it takes O2 from the water......its not a good situation because all of these factors are lining up against them and there is no rain in sight

wow
awesome
gotta love mudsharks
 

dimebrite

Two bob, ive got a bunch of pics...no time or capabilities of posting them though...if one of regulars doesnt mind, i'll gladly email them a few pics for them to post...

don't have a clue about the this post was listed as helpful meant but i sure hope you can get someone to help you.
i can't get enougfh of pics of these fish.
is it harder to post pics this year?
i don't see them like they were in last years posts.

"fish are now showing up in Atmar"
Dime...herd those fish up there....gidyap MudShark!

Bigbear said it correctly.
Low warm water filled with lots of big cold water fish is not good, now or later.

Have fun , get them while you can.
I'm very close to bagging the salmon season.
 
Sorry I typed that from my dumb operator phone:
Anyway here is a little more detail as to whats going on and what can happen in a fishery:
Lucky13, you should be able to give a point of view as well..
 
These are cold water fish, just like a trout species.. They live in the deep colder water and Warm water is lethal to them..
Now we have 2 things working against this "run" ..
 Jeez DB, 20,000 is an entire season.. So here we have it, like 07  but in other ways unlike9 temps were lower)..
Low Warm (68) dont cut it, water with masses of big fish all looking for cover and oxygen..
Take into account , catch one, fight it to reduce furthur ( like that one TB ? ) it's o2 then release it to try and join the rest of the group to recover..  It may feel good to watch that fish hopefully swim away but in reality it's not pretty.. Now the next guy hooks it.. hummm
 
Generally I'm towards the conservative side and leave the trout streams alone when the conditions dictate.. I fully understand the reasoning why folks go to the SR and fish for Salmon now or anytime for that matter..
I only hope, wish  the "smart" folks who matin the system (i'm sure they do) would realize that closing (07) or potential closing upper stretches is not the answer..
Start from the BOTTOM up.. As they would in a Natural fishery above the lower 48..
 
Have a good day folks..

    I honestly hope the TAKE part  is happening often. There would seem to be simply far too  many fish in the system for conditions right now. Those who want to take have a unique opportunity.
     Agree completely with folks here about the fishes mortality even when released in these conditions.   It would seem to make it easier for the rest to move on up to the spawn beds and hatchery with a bit less chance of o2 related issues if the numbers were reduced to something more or less 'normal'.
  I fear they will all be doomed should the water be dropped to 100 as has been suggested here by some as a possible action due to the drought.   
    Really hope Mother Nature steps in with rain and cold weather- NOT on the radar right now.
   Not much different an approach or attitude than a State adding Deer tags when numbers exceed forage limits.

One last thing, its looking like most smaller fish braking in the estuary...maybe cohoes???

     Really good to hear they are making it up top Dime- helps alleviate some fears of the 02 issue- great=- at least till we hear bout the water level thing.
     Since they are mostly 'natural fish' it  seems they will be first to spawn = good- nice to see  it happening naturally.
    Just hope it isnt simply too much for the Lakes to handle as the numbers seem to be increasing substantially.
     Might suppose the real answer will be if this is happening throughout the system or is just a SR thing. Have heard of no other runs like this so perhaps we can just count our lucky stars and simply enjoy the show.
  Keep up those great reports too-  kinda jealous I cant be there for a bit- would love to see it.

Well here is my report (sorry I missed you DB).   I was running on very limited time and just went up after getting out of work.  My buddy went up to Pineville this AM and roughly saw a  hundred fish or so from Pineville to Trout brook.  I ride to work with my sister to save gas so I met up with him at the Parish exit to go back up and save time.   Wanted to stay away from people so  walked from Pineville to Trout brook and maybe say 20 fish or so.  Got a swing at a few  , but no takers.   Way fewer fish in the PM.   Went up to the ballpark at 7:15   and watched until 7:45 did not see one fish pass through in that 1/2 hour.  
 
Here is one thing though with less people around there is $hit going on.   I literally saw some ****hole throwing rocks in a small pool to scare the fish out.  I could not take it and said something.   He was less that happy when I politely asked him to stop, but he stopped and walked away.

No wonder the River  Cam on the Needle has had so few fishermen.
    Are they stacking and staying low ??
 Certainly many have moved up cause Dime has seen them upriver and Clints friend seeing 100 upriver is certainly not getting skunked- --but-the ' mother lode" ??
 
 Uh- oh

nother newb question.
doesn't it matter that it is a river.
i get the o2 level dropping in a pond or even a bay with a small mouth but isn't the water coming down from upstream replentishing the o2 downstream.
wouldn't higher levels upstream draw the fish upriver and isn't that a good thing?
if these fish are wild born and running early doesn't it mean that is what they are programmed to do.
if past generations ran early and had all this success with spawning and survival rate what has changed this year?
if these aren't the hatchery fish why would their death early rather than later affect the future fishing.
as long as the hatchery fish hold off till later won't there be enough eggs.
do they shock the river to get eggs from natural spawners every year so they have enough?
it seems to me the problem will be if the low water continues because the people standing in the runs sight fishing will decimate the run of hatchery fish later.
 
my two day trip is coming shortly and i'm looking for reasons not to feel bad about catching, if i can, these fish.
i don't plan on keeping any since i'm told that they don't taste good and are contaminated.