FishwithJD

The web's best fishing magazine

Columbia River sea lions: Time to pay the Piper!

By 15 Comments

State and federal biologists estimate that California sea lions have eaten between 1.5 and 4 percent of all returning adult Columbia River salmon at Bonneville Dam each year during the past eight years. But as of March 16, NOAA Fisheries has authorized the use of Lethal Force to curb predation.

I’m sure PETA and others will raise hell, but in my mind, those folks don’t have a leg to stand on until the start actually doing something that helps the animals…like restore habitat, etc. When was the last time you saw a member of PETA buying raffle tickets or auction items at a Ducks Unlimited, Rocky MOuntain Elk Foundation, Costal Conservation Association or Trout Unlimited dinner? Those cats are all the real animal advocates, not kooks who spray paint fur coats. But, alas, I digress…

Read more about the removal of Columbia sea lions at Underwater Times.com

Largest sockeye run since 1947 swimming up the Columbia River

By Leave a Comment

Something good’s up with the Columbia River. I’m not sure if it has to do with those spring pulse flows to flush out smolts that they’ve been doing recently…good ocean conditions…or a combination thereof, but the river’s been stuffed with fish the past couple years. If you’ll recall, the summer run steelhead numbers were through the roof in 2009 and the coho run was also massive. Now you can add sockeye to the list.

So far this year, over 350,000 sockeye salmon have made it over Bonneville Dam, three times the amount predicted by biologists and a modern-day record. And the run’s not over yet. Read more HERE