Well i hope everyone enjoys their planned trips in the upcoming weeks. Just checked the ten day on wunderground.com and next mid week is looking like some classic salmon weather. I am very interested to see iwhat next week's wind events will give us mid week...could be another good one...
There is a whole other wall of fish out in the lake. This is by no means the mother load. Clint, i imagine there is a mass of fish chopped up between clamshed and ace in the hole...most likely holed up throughout the deeper pools. At the same time dsr should still be packed tosay. I havent picked up the rod since monday afternoon...i may pick it up tho s evening, but then again ive kinda neen enjoying the spectators point of view

Well the greed over runs the need.
LFZ will remain closed.
But what do I know about a fishery.

P.S.
Keeping the lfz closed is totally a B.S.
move as it does nothing to protect the fish . They must first get there.
If the dec of ny had any balls it would close the lower first half of the river, thus allowing the maximum chance for return while keeping a balance with fishers.
Obviously there is a need to take fish out of the system so that's why the above would work.

Second :
While I refer to this like 07 , I also said in other ways it's different.
Main thing is water temps.
In 07 while the levels were low and drought conditions existed , the water temps were low enough to sustain the fish, now they are not.
Again reason why db pointed out that there was natural spawning .
It's not just about flow, it more so about o2 levels and water temps.

Good luck up there and once again , get em' while their hot

My pea brain is at work again---
  Hey - dont recall exactly what dates the big flood was coupla years ago but do recall dropping everything and running up to check on my place- No fishing- not my cupa tea with those levels.
  As I went from place to place on the river for a few days just lurking I saw that there were large numbers of Kings everywhere running up the sides. I mean a LOT of fish. An ya couldnt see what was running otherwise cause of the muddy waters and depth.
   Now,  I know as well as the next guy that the high cooler water made them run like that but also that they more or less hadda be staged to get in and up so quickly. It too was  a huge number of early fish.
  Hmmmmm - just wonderin what it mighta been like  without the flood.  Could it possibly be that this was NOT the first hugest run ever this time of year ???

Too bad- I  would agree that the Zones might well stay closed till they see whats gonna happen. Probably be OK if the levels stay at least where they are now but if it gets lowered those that make it to the Zones are a major part of the future.

    Probably be up later next week= Work being done on my place late in the week and wanna  be around.
    If its down to 100 dont even know if I'd bother fishing= perhaps some secluded larger pool or run but the heart wont be in it too much. Might get depressed stumbling over deads.
  Gonna draw a big pentagram in the back yard- get naked- kill a chicken-do a dance- and sing for rain.
  Dont come around- will be an awful sight.     Its worked before though.

I don't know but maybe the skeins ripen at differential rates so that there is room for all the little potential salmmies.  Not a fish Physiologist, however!
 
L13

DEC Website still shows LFZ not opening on 9/15, and closed until Halloween.  I think they are just trying to prevent the massive dieoff that occurs from repeatedly "walking" those dogs, keep the air pollution down in Altmar! LOL!
 
L13

Disagree , fish did make in 07 just not in enough numbers needed.
So your sayin there are already enough ?
I guess the theory then is to walk them around in the lower river ( hope they don't float) like they were in 07 down there and then let them rest in the lfz.

Sorry I must be just like dumb mud shark and not bittng on that

Close it from 2A down to the mouth,that's where the major snagging and bloodletting occurs.Then the fish get a head start on there way to the hatchery and there is still plenty of river left for all to fish.Think Barkley would go for that?

Never typed close the river. I totally understand the need to have an amount removed . If you read my posts correctly , I only asked a half of the river be closed in order to balance the fishery and the fishermen. And that would be the bottom to the middle river . As said ensured fish the reach the upper

Guess I'm kinda missing a point or two here.
     Enlightenment please--
    While I agree that too many fish is unusual and some should  be removed from the system by dying or being harvested I really dont get the low river closing argument to protect them all-- not that they will do it anyhow.
 Every year some come into the River and are played with way low and released or attacked -even in low numbers -some also die naturally. Folks here do that every year. The hatchery still gets fish.
  With so many more fish now it might seem that a similar or even larger than normal percentage will get through to the Hatchery and Zones- In fact they are already arriving up there.
  Actually 185 or so is rather normal flow this time of year with the  exception of the  once a  month or so release for the Yak folks. Cancelled this year.
 I have never heard such a 'low river' protection argument when fish numbers were much lower which might seem  more appropriate. Just the opposite in fact with good DSR reports being kinda normal from regulars in Sept.
  Remember these seem to be primarily WILD fish and we have yet to see the stocked fish in good numbers- The runs will continue.  
   Also water temps are perhaps a bit cooler most years but certainly still nowhere near the needed Spawn temps.
  I understand low water closing arguments for the lfz so the fish that make it can not be played to death and overly stressed.
  I may add that it was great to see that fish are moving up and there seems to (as yet) be no indication of a feared 02 issue to any overly significant degree.

Dissolved oxygen (DO)  is a huge component in fish survival. There's alot of factors involved in a succesful run, enough DO would be one of them. Dissolved oxygen is not O2 . They are actually microscopic gas bubbles of oxygen released through gas diffusion and absorbed by a fishs' gills. So much for the science.  Nitpickin' BS on my part....The reality is some precautions should be taken, but it may be a good thing to have a smaller run to contain the balance of forage/predators in the lake. It may very well be the  under-developed skiens are from  overpopulation stress on the salmon. Nature will create a balance whether we like it or not. I may go up to do battle with a couple if I can.  They are pretty spectacular fish. I just got back from an incredible wilderness  trip and caught trout beyond count, but I still would find it difficult to turn down a shot at  huge bendos from some sharks. Glad to see the run happening and I hope all of us can make the best of it. Thanks for the discussion, guys. I always learn alot. Doesn't surprise me, despite disagreements,  the tone is staying civil.  Hope I catch some of you guys on the river- hopefully not with my backcast. lol.
 
Charlie

From what I recall of the disaster of 2007 they did lower it to 100 for a time,lets hope they don't do that now.Forecast is for rain tonight and then tuesday,but it won't change water levels.

Twobob, the run was nowheres near as big in 07...id almost be inclined to say that more fish have entered the river this year at this point than the total of 07...07 had some great coho runs in mass amounts and they were quite prominent in the lfz in mid october when the lfz was closed...believe what your hearing...this is incredible and theres still a wall of fish out on the lake...

Fichy, good to hear from you... my brother fished all day tuesday and wednesday with no weight on a 13 foot spey rod and had a blast... and it seems as if its still going on. You would have a blast if you were up. Its been a while since i started a thread here and im quite happy to see the different opinions and views being tossed around and at the same time it seems as if some new guys are chiming in and learning.... hope everyone has a blast

Tuna, i think we're both reading in to it a little much buddy...maybe its time for a little mellow mood buddy

wait before you rest your case explain to me why the water coming out of the dam isn't replenishing the o2 or d o levels so as it would seem from 3fan and others are saying the hundreds or thousands of these salmon that have made it past pineville  and in some cases into the altmar area?
there are no huge wads of fish upstream to deplete the d o2 level so why won't the fish survive?
stressing them i understand but fish are making it into a closed area with more everyday
once there why will they die?
how many does the hatchery need?