Do you keep wild coho?

[Andrew]

With the recent flurry of coho postings I've gotten to wondering... How many here keep wild/native coho?

To be clear, I'm not planning to launch a tactical anti-fishing strike based on the results of this poll, I am only curious. I gather that there is a growing contingent of anglers who advocate wild coho release, but I am also under the impression that the majority of anglers still feel alright about keeping a fish (or a limit?) where legal to do so. Please answer truthfully, and explain your answer if you like. 

[Chum Man]

i'll admit to keeping wild coho.  there are many rivers that i feel have healthy populations of wild fish and recreational harvest doesn't have a negative impact on escapement.

one river that i think has strange regs however, is the skokomish.  when it's full of hatchery coho, the limit is 1 fish, but when the numbers of hatchery fish thin out and the natives come in, the limit jumps to a mixed bag of 4 adults.  seems kind of puzzling to me, but it also seems that the numbers of natives has been growing.  i can recall that river being closed to coho harvest for many years in the '90s.

[cuttstosteelies]

Yep...... Rarely do I take home a limit though (4 fish is exceedingly strange).  I'll stock the freezer with 6 or 7 each year to smoke for Christmas gifts.  Having fished the skokomish for quite some time now I too, have seen a major increase in the shear number of fish and have traveled above 101 on numerous occasions to see several holes literally "stacked" with wild fish.  I have a hard time believing that the run is in any danger, which is impressive given the tribal netting 7 days per week.  By drawing such a conclusion, I really have no problem killing native coho on specific streams.  Given the state allows anglers to retain 4 it also leads me to believe that they know something I don't.  I do, however, have a hard time keeping them on the upper peninsula streams.  For some odd reason it seems as though those numbers have been steadily declining since 01 or so.  No need to keep those native fish.  I'll keep a hog or two a year early but later begin releasing the majority of the fish (bright or not) to do their thing.  That's an interesting question, Andrew.  Wild steelhead, typically winter fish, are garbage table fare anyway.  Makes no sense why anyone would keep one, when legal, anyhow. 

[Aaron]

I only keep a few fish a year whether clipped or unclipped, as we don't eat much fish at our house. The few fish I do keep for the most part are hens, for obvious reasons. I fillet the few I do keep and give them to my brother-in-law to BBQ. It is quite rewarding for me to release my catch, coho or not. 

[dardevle]

NO!  I'm not an expert at determining run size by peering into a couple holes like some of you guys. (heck a small river could look stuffed with 200 fish yet that is not a good healthy run size necessarily) And I assume the states laws are outdated at best.  I can recall guys keeping native coho in november and december on the Carbon a few years back(legal to do so), when I used to fish it, and I can guarantee the numbers need to be better for the stock to rebuild.  I always error on the side of caution with wild fish.  Another example of outdated laws would be some of our native summer run stalkers that are fishing populations that likely rarely exceed 50-150 fish(yes, I have researched this number) and I can safely say that those runs may be negatively affected by catch and release mortality.

[wannafish]

I usually leave all the fish in the river that were there when I arrived

I release all wild fish.  Healthy runs or not, I think steelhead have taught us not to take the nates for granted.  For me hatchery fish are food and wild fish are for sport.

[Todd]

Most of the coho I keep are of hatchery origin...the few streams that I keep wild coho out of are packed to the gills...no need to worry about the health in those rivers, as they frequently return five to twenty times the necessary escapement in coho.

Fish on...

Todd

[cuttstosteelies]

Out of curiosity, which rivers are in fact well above escapement goals?  As far as steelhead, I have always had a real problem with escapement numbers being set so incredibly low and am curious if rivers that have coho escapement goals are managed the same.....  Now I'm thinking of releasing native coho, thanks Andrew, you big jerk!

[Todd]

Justin,

Pretty much all the northern PS streams...well, pretty much all the PS streams in general...in the recent few years there has been estimated run sizes for the Snohomish system approaching 300,000 fish...even if you're off by huge amount, it's still tens of thousands of fish over escapement needs.

Like with most things, comparing steelhead numbers to salmon numbers is comparing apples to wheelbarrows...when the total run size is 2400 fish, missing the boat by ten or twenty percent is the difference between a few hundred fish over escapement, or a few hundred under...when the total run size is a quarter of a million and escapement is 24,000, it's pretty hard to phuk that up.

Fish on...

Todd

[Brian]

I usually leave all the fish in the river that were there when I arrived 

I release all wild fish.  Healthy runs or not, I think steelhead have taught us not to take the nates for granted.  For me hatchery fish are food and wild fish are for sport.

Great comments wannafish!

I gotta admit I look at salmon a whole lot differently than I do steelhead so I don't worry too much about what others do with their salmon. That being said I release all wild fish I catch these days.  If I need one for the BBQ I usually know where to find hatchery fish.

[Steelie Maniac]

Down here in oregon you cant keep Wild Coho or it is like a $400 fine and they may revoke your license priveliges....


so no i dont never even hooked one before  :'(

cuttstosteelies gave me a great idea for x-mas presents.... lol

[Jeff]

For me it depends on the system.  On the Carbon/Puyallup, no.  Over on the OP, yes.

[Streamer]

It depends. On rivers that consistently meet escapement I will take a nice fish or two but it's usually not of much importance to me to "obtain my limit" of wild coho... especially having a freezer already filled with summer runs. If I want a fresh fish (which is always better) I will wack a ho or two granted the run can sustain a good amount of harvesting with diminutive impacts... but I certainly don't look to fill my freezer with them.

It's really a poignant scene to walk the banks of a few rivers and see stringers loaded with big wild silvers just because "it's legal to do so." 

[Drifterat]

Yep...

[wannafish]

Justin,

Pretty much all the northern PS streams...well, pretty much all the PS streams in general...in the recent few years there has been estimated run sizes for the Snohomish system approaching 300,000 fish...even if you're off by huge amount, it's still tens of thousands of fish over escapement needs.

Like with most things, comparing steelhead numbers to salmon numbers is comparing apples to wheelbarrows...when the total run size is 2400 fish, missing the boat by ten or twenty percent is the difference between a few hundred fish over escapement, or a few hundred under...when the total run size is a quarter of a million and escapement is 24,000, it's pretty hard to phuk that up.

Fish on...

Todd

I do have to agree that while I release the nates, it doesn't really bug me too much to see others harvest them in systems that are healthy.  You're definately right about the massive difference in numbers for escapement.  It's definately a bit apples to oranges.  I just wonder if we'll someday look back at the present and wish we had a no nates harvest rule....and did something about the snagger holes

Stories from my great-grandpa sure make it sound like wild steelhead were reguarded much the same as salmon are now ... back in the day!
Most systems, the sport-angling pressure is a relatively small factor in the run size.  I CAN vouch that about a billion pinks made it up the Green this year (peewww..)