05/01/09

SILETZ FISH TRAP:

WOW

What a great day! Just to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. It started out a little questionable with a few drops of rain hitting the windshield but fortunately that didn't last.
We arrived down at South Beach just before Casey around 8:00 AM. We loaded up and were off Casey had to stop by the office and check in. The truck was fueled up so we were on our way to the trap. The weather had cleared and it was a very pleasant drive up. On the way into the Siletz trap Casey stop at the Mill Creek trap. They have a regular trap similar to the Bohanian trap. and a temporary trap set up catch the smolt that are out bound headed for the ocean. They set up temporary troughs on each side of the stream to direct the flow into through the smolt trap. There was a guy waist deep in the river counting smolt from a bucket He would mark some of them and set aside to be returned up stream to gather further information when they came back through, the rest he released down stream. It is in a very beautiful spot and would be pretty neat duty Casey said that he started out working this trap.

We didn't see any wild critters but it sure was great to see Spring beginning to unfold with new leaves, buds, and blossoms. We arrived at the trap and put on our waders ( Matt has a brand new pair ). We took a couple of minutes just to admire the beauty then it was on the tram and down into the trap.

We found several Steelhead in the trap so we began to remove them. Casey stayed up on top and Matt and I went down in and began herding fish. I gave the net to Matt and told to go for it. Matt did the netting and I just told Casey if the fish were native or hatchery. Casey then went down a couple of ladders and released the wild fish, and dispatched the hatchery fish for stream enhancement. There were 4 wild fish one buck,and 2 hens along with a repeat ( one that had been put down the ladder before ). The hatchery fish were 2 hens, 1 buck, plus two out of basin (SEX?) not a lot of fish but a good experience. Three of the fish had seal bite marks on them, and there was one very nice 3 salt buck in the group that barely fit into the net.

We all then began the task of cleaning out the gravel and sediment which seemed to be at least 10 yards, but by the time we were through more like a hundred. When we left the trap it was nice and clean and flowing well. Casey said that this might be the last time that the trap will need to be cleaned until fall. After we were done in the trap we had lunch on the picnic table by the truck. Casey decided that we could go over and check the Bohanian Fish trap. We were off again enjoying the great day and wonderful scenery. We arrived at the Bohanian Trap and again just admired all of the beauty around. Unfortunately there were no fish in the trap. Casey said that they will continue to check it for a couple of more weeks and then close it for the season. We came back by way of the Beaver Creek Estuary and Casey pointed out a fairly new Stat Park that he said was great Elk habitat. All in all it was a great Day and Casey dropped us off just before 4:00pm at our truck.


MATT & BILL