dabney, 2 for 3, no keepers.

[morglum_s]

Well I landed my very 1st salmon this evening. It was a monster and took me 20 minutes or so to bank. This after the 1st one I hooked got away. They drag on my new reel was set way too low, and in the heat of the battle, I loosened it even more.

Anyway this looked to be a wild Chinook as far I could tell, and somewhat spawned out? I got another smaller one right before I left that looked similar: black mouth, darker skin, starting to turn pink (Sorry for the poor quality pics...) Both were released safely.

There were lots of fish in the river. I saw one swim by me not 3 feet away. These guys were all going upriver, though they looked dark, not the silver Coho I was expecting...

 

[tnffishman]

The tules spawn in that area... But there should've been some coho around

 

[osmosis]

Good job on the first fish landed! Many more on the way with this rain finally showing up!


The sand is bad for 'em and those fish create our future, Plus it makes a cooler picture to keep 'em in the water. Not harpin on ya so please don't take it that way.

 

[morglum_s]

Thanks for the tip Osmosis. I will remember that next time. (I am not used to throwing them back...unless the are tiny...

 

[troutdude]

Nicely done. Decent fish; but definitely sorebacks (term means: dark, old, beaten up by rocks and such).

But a word to the wise: you WILL get ticketed, if you are not positive about identification. So, I thought you might find this information useful. I'd hate to see you have to pay a fine...especially when you're intentions are to follow the law.

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/mrp/fishid/salmonid.asp

Good luck, and tight lines.

 

[morglum_s]

Thanks for the link P. Since I haven't inked any of my tags yet, I haven't run into this problem

Are Coho the only adopose-clipped Salmon species in the Sandy ? If I understand the regs (I've tried to read them...), these are the only Salmon legal to keep from this system? This is the first time I've targeted Salmon so I am little fuzzy on how my tags etc. work. I shouldn't have to record anything on my tag unless I keep it correct? I assume if I catch and keep a legal (adipose-clipped) Coho, that would go on my Hatchery Harvest tag. If I was in another system, depedning on the season, (say Summer Sockeye up near Bonniville) I could keep a legal wild fish, but would record that on Combined Tag? But either way I have to record the correct species.

-M

 

[osmosis]

You can record the hatchery clipped fish on either tag, the unclipped fish where retainable must be on the combined - you are correct about that.
Only record the fish that you kill on your tag/s.

There could be stray chinook that are fin clipped, coho can be either clipped or not, and you may catch a summer steelhead that is clipped or not - all in the sandy right now.
ID is critical, even if you mean well and tagged wrong they will likely give you a ticket and take the fish.

 

[waco]

Never mind!

 

[troutdude]

Thanks for your remarks above Osmosis.

 

[alm21]

Are Coho the only adopose-clipped Salmon species in the Sandy ? If I understand the regs (I've tried to read them...), these are the only Salmon legal to keep from this system? -M

No, the Sandy has a hatchery Spring Chinook run although you shouldn't be running into those while fishing for fall salmon. The Sandy has hatchery Spring Chinook, Summer/Winter Steelhead and Fall Coho (all of which go on the tag). The Sandy also has a wild run of all of previously mentioned hatchery fish plus a wild Fall Chinook run. There is no hatchery Fall Chinook run. Most wild Fall Chinook spawn around Oxbow and below. Also, you can not retain trout on the Sandy. If you have a hatchery haverst tag, then go ahead and fill that with clipped fish (no wild fish can be tagged on it). Some systems will allow harvesting of wild fish but the Sandy isn't really one of them (some harvesting of wild summer steelhead is available in specific waters on the Sandy during specific time of year but those regs can change mid season).

Like Osmosis pointed out, try to keep the wild fish out of the sand and keep in the water (although it can be tricky on the Sandy). And just in case you don't already know, don't put fingers in the gills of fish that won't be retained. Good-to-know stuff when one is getting into salmon/steelhead fishing.

 

[morglum_s]

Thanks for the education guys.

So I can put adipose clipped fish on my combined tag? Unless I filled that, would there be any reason to get a hatchery tag at all then?

 

[alm21]

Yes, you can put adipose clipped fish on your combined tag. Whether or not you should get you hatchery harvest tag depends on how many fish (both wild & hatchery) you're catching in the season and if you're catching wild fish that are allowed to be retained/tagged. For example, I've been fishing in the in the ocean, NW Zone and Columbia zone which have allowances for retaining wild fish but there are restrictions as to how many you can retain in a zone within the season. If I can retain up to 10 wild chinook in a zone during the season, then there's 10 slots on my combined tag that I would need to "reserve" leaving the remaining 10 slots for hatchery fish or other zone allowances. So, if I expect to catch and retain those quantities then I'd want a hatchery harvest tag for the clipped fish leaving my combined tag open for wild fish.

**I'm using a general example, refer to regs for specifics**

 

[troutmasta]

Ive been fishing the sandy a bunch and It is still stacked up with springers. The actual cedar creek is loaded with them spawning. Also for your first year or two the combined tag would be great. Its tuff to fill just figuring things out.