Munsel salmon

GaryP1958
GaryP1958
Just saw a guy post this on FB I believe its a Coho he caught it at Munsel.
 
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Reel_Deal
Reel_Deal
obviously not a smart person! :eek:ffended:


"Anyone fishing Munsel Lake in Florence needs to remember that any coho hooked must be immediately released and should not even be removed from the water. There are wild and hatchery coho in the lake and all of them must be released, they eventually head out Munsel Creek to the Siuslaw River and eventually the ocean."
 
rogerdodger
rogerdodger
GaryP1958 said:
Just saw a guy post this on FB I believe its a Coho he caught it at Munsel.

Nope, that looks like one of the steelhead that come from the elementary school classroom "Egg to Fry" program. Notice the spots on both lobes of the tail and slight rainbow stripe...Legal to retain because in Munsel Lake, that is just a big rainbow and counts as your "1 over 20" per day as part of a 5 trout per day limit. Excellent to see these caught, great surprise for people normally catching planter rainbows... cheers,roger
 
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rogerdodger
rogerdodger
That fish had an amazing life, if the person that caught it isn't aware, you should share this info on how 'the egg' became that fish:

The eggs came from steelhead caught by the STEP group in the Whittaker trap, were fertilized and racked at our Florence hatchery. 'the egg' was part of about 100 that went into an aquarium and for roughly 10 weeks was cared for and monitored by aspiring marine scientist between say 5 and 10 years old. At about 1" long, it was collected up by STEP folks and dumped into a 5 gal. Bucket along with fry from all the other classrooms, into a pick-up and OFF to Mussel Lake, where it was scooped into a clear plastic cup with about 4 other fry. The kids arrive one class at a time, each student gets to select a cup of fry, stir them around with their finger, and pour them into the lake at the boat launch (see image).



We all know what happens to most of them once they hit the lake, so let's jump ahead with the fact that some of them grow in the lake and find Mussel Creek and make it to the Siuslaw, entering the river just behind the Port of Siuslaw RV/Campground. Some of these make it out the river and into the ocean, some of those survive and grow and return to the Siuslaw, then Mussel Creek, past the STEP trap, and into Munsel Lake, and some of these actually get caught by fishermen!

So ~2500 eggs go into the classroom, ~1500 fry into the lake, who knows how many reach the ocean, but we think about 20 to 30 each year (based on 'catch and pass' at the STEP trap) are making it back as cookie cutter 1 salt fish about 24" long...I think that is pretty damn cool....cheers, roger
 
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GaryP1958
GaryP1958
It is cool and it sure looks like a chrome Summer fish I have never seen Coho Jacks thats what I thought it might be. It appears to be non clipped though.
 
J
Jordy
Yep that's a native summer steelhead. Is it legal to kill native steelhead in that lake?

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk
 
rogerdodger
rogerdodger
Jordy said:
Yep that's a native summer steelhead. Is it legal to kill native steelhead in that lake?

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

Yes. Except it is a winter steelhead, so it might have been caught earlier this year or just got lost in the lake and stayed around...NW zone rules define any Rainbow over 16" to be a steelhead in rivers/streams, but in lakes, they are just rainbows unless the Special Regs modify things, an example of that is Tenmile Lakes in the SW region where during certain dates, rainbows over 20" are considered steelhead and thus only clipped can be retained...Munsel has no Special Regs so the NW zone rules apply and large rainbows can be retained from that lake all year following the 1 over 20" per day rule. cheers, roger
 
E
eugene1
That looks like a really cool program, roger!

But I think there is an option #2 for that fish as well:

It's a wild rainbow or steelhead. Hard to know unless the program marks them in some way. Nice catch for the angler at any rate.


Best,
 
GaryP1958
GaryP1958
He just caught it yesterday he said and it CAN be a Summer Steelhead! It looks way too chrome to have been swimming in there since winter but legally its considered a Rainbow.
 
rogerdodger
rogerdodger
GaryP1958 said:
He just caught it yesterday he said and it CAN be a Summer Steelhead! It looks way too chrome to have been swimming in there since winter but legally its considered a Rainbow.

He is free to call it a summer steelhead or a cream filled dognut; it's parents were winter Siuslaw steelhead caught at the Whittaker Creek trap. Cheers, roger
 
Q
qwapaw
Roger, you are bountiful source of info. You help make this board the best. Thanks, I learned something today. Cheers back at ya, Dan
 
rogerdodger
rogerdodger
eugene1 said:
That looks like a really cool program, roger!

But I think there is an option #2 for that fish as well:

It's a wild rainbow or steelhead. Hard to know unless the program marks them in some way. Nice catch for the angler at any rate.


Best,

My logic against that is this- Munsel Creek is a tiny trickle of water, just a couple feet wide in places and maybe a foot deep, it winds through east Florence, around the north end of the lake and in. It's mouth is way back in the shallows behind the island just up from the RV/campground, quite a distance across shallow mudflats back from the river channel. I am confident that the only steelhead finding their way in and to the lake are those that come from the lake.

There is no spawning grounds in the inlet creek suitable for rainbows/steelhead, the water is too warm for their eggs. All the rainbows in the lake are from the Alsea hatchery, planted and pretty much all caught by about mid-summer. So the only fry with an interest in visiting the ocean would seem to be from the classroom aquariums... and from a single pair of parent fish.

I saw many fish almost identical to this one in Jan-Feb, same length, body shape, coloration, they were caught in the Munsel Creek trap and released to either continue up creek or turn and go back towards the Siuslaw. I also watched one swim by our Munsel hatchery in late-Feb, same length and shape...

So I am very confident that this fish is a sibling of the 'egg-to-fry' fish that I saw heading back to the lake earlier this year... cheers, roger
 
jamisonace
jamisonace
Winter steelhead regain their chrome sheen post spawn, prior to heading back out to the ocean.
 
GaryP1958
GaryP1958
Talked to the guy the fish was 27 3/4 long and the meat was white! just a strange stocker!
 
D
DrTheopolis
GaryP1958 said:
Talked to the guy the fish was 27 3/4 long and the meat was white! just a strange stocker!

That makes me think it's more than likely a downrunner winter. Sometimes they hang around a long time, if water conditions allow.
 
jamisonace
jamisonace
GaryP1958 said:
Talked to the guy the fish was 27 3/4 long and the meat was white! just a strange stocker!
That is without a doubt a down run winter. They get very bright. We catch then all the time in the Willamette. Very tempting to keep but the meat is no good.

Sent from my SCH-S968C using Tapatalk
 
rogerdodger
rogerdodger
jamisonace said:
That is without a doubt a down run winter. They get very bright. We catch then all the time in the Willamette. Very tempting to keep but the meat is no good.

Sent from my SCH-S968C using Tapatalk

as I said, that is a winter steelhead from the 'egg-to-fry' program and it just didn't get around to leaving the lake...cheers, roger
 
GaryP1958
GaryP1958
The only down run it can make is from Ackerly Creek its possible some native steel make it up that chain of lakes, I have seen Steelies in Socal Malibu Creek to be exact and its just a trickle of water. Could be a small population of steelhead still around.
 
rogerdodger
rogerdodger
GaryP1958 said:
The only down run it can make is from Ackerly Creek its possible some native steel make it up that chain of lakes, I have seen Steelies in Socal Malibu Creek to be exact and its just a trickle of water. Could be a small population of steelhead still around.

I think it is worth noting that the figure of speech "down run" just means it is past the time of spawning, the fish has burned through it's fat reserves, and has been in fresh water for a long while...it doesn't actually require running downstream in a stream...
 
E
eugene1
GaryP1958 said:
The only down run it can make is from Ackerly Creek its possible some native steel make it up that chain of lakes, I have seen Steelies in Socal Malibu Creek to be exact and its just a trickle of water. Could be a small population of steelhead still around.

Or not necessarily part of a endogenous and self-sustaining population but just a stray.

roger, do you know why the fish aren't clipped in that program?
 

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