Harvesting native fish

OnTheFly · Jan 25, 2010

With all the hatcheries that have been put into place decades ago, the release of unclipped fish, the interspawning and, fish not necessarily returning to the waters they were born in, we are left scratching our heads on what exactly a native or wild fish is. Some of us may consider a wild or native fish is something that is part of the strain that originated there before humans came on the scene. Or is it just a fish that has no sign of man made phyisical alteration. Without some sort of DNA testing we'll never know. This is material best discussed on another thread so instead of micro anylizing what a native is, let's just say, for the sake of argument, that a 'native' fish is what ODFW says it is.

OnTheFly · Jan 25, 2010

Being one who respects this sport as much as everyone on this forum, I would consider myself a fisherman who would release any native fish. The Coho salmon I brought back from AK last September all had adipose fin attached pictured in My Albums 'Dos Cohos. I would like to invite Halibuthitman and Flymstr who have first hand fishing experience in Alaska to expand on the regs up there. Thanks.

JeannaJigs · Jan 25, 2010

It depends on the river. For instance the McKenzie has "wild" fish, but they're not really. They were all introduced. So they now allow the retention of non clipped steelhead. In which case, yes, I will take it home because the river is over run with steelhead, not endangered at all. And they have special coho regs in effect on a couple lakes and rivers, and in that case, I take a few too. The only chinook I got this year was a non clipped fish, but was it a native? probably not, and the regs allow the retention of one a day, and after numerous weekends of being skunked, you bet that fish went home, and it was the only one.

But yeah it just all depends.

Got One! · Feb 3, 2010

It really depends on the strength of the run....Although we really need to save all those Natives for the gill nets

ClearCreek · Feb 3, 2010

JeannaJigs said:
It depends on the river. For instance the McKenzie has "wild" fish, but they're not really. They were all introduced. So they now allow the retention of non clipped steelhead. In which case, yes, I will take it home because the river is over run with steelhead, not endangered at all. And they have special coho regs in effect on a couple lakes and rivers, and in that case, I take a few too. The only chinook I got this year was a non clipped fish, but was it a native? probably not, and the regs allow the retention of one a day, and after numerous weekends of being skunked, you bet that fish went home, and it was the only one.

But yeah it just all depends.

Jeanna - I think you are confused as to what a "wild" fish is and what a "native" is.

A "wild" fish is a fish that has spawned naturally in a stream (or lake for lake spawning fish) - no hatchery influence. Native fish are ones whose ancestors existed in this country prior to the Europeans showing up. Steelhead would always be "native" to Washington, but may be "wild" or hatchery fish. Brown trout are not native (and never will be) to North America and can be "wild" or hatchery.

Just because a fish has an adipose fin does not determine if it is native or not, but it can be an indication if the fish is of hatchery or wild origin.

ClearCreek

colbypearson · Feb 3, 2010

i throw the hatcheries back most of the time and natives are that much better whatever species it may if i did keep one it would be seldome i like eating fish but i like catching them more

steelhead_stalkers · Feb 3, 2010

From what I have been told most all native fish were killed off by canneries on rivers like the Rogue and many others. So none of them really have true NATIVE fish in them. They are descendants of fish that were reintroduced in the 1800s. Something like that. :lol:

OnTheFly · Feb 3, 2010

Thuggin4Life said:
If the river is sustainable and the law allows then yes. I like fishing and I like fish so its always nice to take one home. Something better about eating your catch than buying from the store. As for the coho they did open up some a bit but there were way more coho where i was fishing for nooks last fall. Wouldn't suprise me if they open up some rivers again this year. Many "native" fish aren't real native's but if they are spawning in the wild and there aren't many of or the run is depleting and odfw is trying to keep the run alive then we should help keep it alive. Now when there is an abundance of wild fish being able to keep a few a year should be ok esspecially when they can't get it together with the hatchery fish.

Good call Andy

Harvesting native fish

Harvesting native fish

Under no circumstances would I ever keep a native fish

I would keep a native if the law allowed

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