Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2019)
SPORTS Wallowa.com Wednesday, October 30, 2019 B3 Steelhead season begins as fi sh reach Grande Ronde, Imnaha Fish counts low, catch is limited. By Alan Moore For the Wallowa County Chieftain Prized by anglers for its beauty, challenge and raw bursts of power, the Pacifi c steelhead is referred to in fi shing lore as the “fi sh of a thousand casts.” For those fi shing local steelhead streams like the Grande Ronde, Wallowa and Imnaha this year, it might be more like the fi sh of 27 hours. That’s currently about how much time an aver- age angler will fi sh before bringing a steelhead to hand, based on local river sur- veys being done by the Ore- gon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Ten hours per fi sh is pretty decent steelheading around here, says ODFW Acting District Fish Biolo- gist Kyle Bratcher in Enter- prise, with exceptional years being closer to fi ve hours per fi sh or even fewer. “For the most part it’s been pretty slow,” Bratcher said, “We’re not seeing great catch rates.” There’s no magic formula to solving this year’s steel- head fi shing. It boils down to numbers: there just aren’t very many fi sh around. “We’re defi nitely running behind what we were last year,” said Bratcher, “and last year wasn’t a good year either.” Local businesses focused on fi shing fi nd themselves running behind too. Brad Snook, owner of the Sports Corral in Joseph, says receipts on fi shing licensing are run- ning about 40 percent of nor- mal for this time of year. NOAA/BPA Steelhead returns across Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River With an estimated 85 percent of this year’s hatch- ery steelhead run past Lower Granite Dam on the Lower Snake, ODFW estimates that fewer than 3,000 are heading back to a Grande Ronde or Imnaha basin hatchery facility. In the 2014-15 season, the total of hatchery arriv- als was closer to 12,000. {span}ODFW does not nor- mally project wild steelhead returns to the Grande Ronde and Imnaha basins, but said a rough estimate would be about 25 percent of the wild steelhead total crossing Lower Granite headed for the Grande Ronde Basin, and about 8 percent headed to the Imnaha. With 10,866 “unclipped,” meaning pre- sumably wild, steelhead past Lower Granite so far this year, that estimate would have about 2,717 headed for the Grande Ronde and 869 Imnaha-bound. Notably, total counts at Lower Gran- ite show hatchery steelhead outnumbering wild fi sh by nearly 2:1.{/span} With numbers that low, all wild steelhead caught must be released. Fish populations over- all in the Grande Ronde, Wallowa and Imnaha riv- ers are co-managed by the Nez Perce Tribe, the Con- federated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reserva- tion, and the fi sh and wild- life departments of Ore- gon, Washington and Idaho. For his district the decision of whether or not to have a sport steelhead season falls to Bratcher. As of now, the answer is yes, there will be a season. “Numbers are looking like we can still support a fi shery,” Bratcher said. His decision must ensure that enough adult hatchery steelhead return to hatchery facilities to produce the next generation. That means that about 600 fi sh, total, must return to the Wallowa and Imnaha hatcheries. It’s also important to reduce impacts to wild steelhead from fi sh- ing. The daily bag limit of three hatchery fi sh per per- son has been reduced to one. As in past years, anglers must stop fi shing once they reach their bag limit “A one-fi sh limit is one of the most conservative strategies besides just clos- ing the season,” Bratcher said. “By having a one-fi sh limit it actually gets people off the river quicker.” Reducing angler time on the river will limit the num- ber of wild steelhead caught, handled and released, Bratcher said, reducing mortality among those fi sh. Bratcher said an estimated fi ve percent of steelhead caught and released will die. How the fi sh is handled can swing that number sig- nifi cantly either way. Land- ing fi sh quickly, leaving them in the water, handling using wet hands or a rub- ber net (not nylon) are all good practices. If you want a quick photo, Bratcher said, support your fi sh with two wet hands and return it to the water as quickly as possible. Ten seconds of air exposure can cause serious problems for fi sh. Some wild steelhead advocates would likely argue for a more conser- vative range of changes in order to reduce or elimi- nate impacts on wild steel- head from fi shing, and from hatcheries, in area rivers. Some might argue for shut- ting the season down. Other steelheaders might object to the changes already made. “If we have to go more conservative it’ll be to close the season,” Bratcher said. “But I don’t anticipate that being the case right now. People are catching fi sh and it’s a great time of year to be down on the river,” Bratcher said, “a great time of year to be fi shing.” How piranha fi sh regrow their teeth, swap old teeth for new simultaneously Michelle Ma University of Washington Piranha fi sh have a pow- erful bite. Their teeth help them shred through the fl esh of their prey or even scrape plants off rocks to supple- ment their diet. Years ago, scientists dis- covered that piranhas lose all of the teeth on one side of their mouth at once and regrow them, presumably to replace dulled teeth with brand new sharp spears for gnawing on prey. But no museum specimens have ever shown this theory to be true, and there’s no docu- mentation of piranhas miss- ing an entire block of teeth. With the help of new technologies, a team led by the University of Washing- ton has confi rmed that pira- nhas — and their plant-eat- ing cousins, pacus — do in fact lose and regrow all the teeth on one side of their face multiple times through- out their lives. How they do it may help explain why the fi sh go to such efforts to replace their teeth. “I think in a sense we found a solution to a prob- lem that’s obvious, but no one had articulated before,” University of Washington Piranha’s replace all the teeth on one side of their head at the same time. said senior author Adam Summers, a professor of biology and of aquatic and fi shery sciences at UW Fri- day Harbor Laboratories on San Juan Island. “The teeth form a solid battery that is locked together, and they are all lost at once on one side of the face. The new teeth wear the old ones as ‘hats’ until they are ready to erupt. So, piranhas are never toothless even though they are con- stantly replacing dull teeth with brand new sharp ones.” With new teeth waiting in the wings, the fi sh are never missing a full set of pearly whites. Once the researchers dis- covered how the teeth were being replaced, they began to understand why the fi sh likely employ this tactic. They found that the teeth on ELECTRICAL & PLUMBING SUPPLIES each side were interlocked together, forming two strong blocks within each mouth. “When one tooth wears down, it becomes hard to replace just one,” lead author Matthew Kolmann, a post- doctoral researcher at George Washington University. You’re Invited! 24 th Annual Healthy Futures Dinner Auction Help us raise money for a new 4x4 transfer ambulance with greater capability to evacuate critically ill or injured patients ELECTRICAL & WATER SYSTEM CONTRACTOR PUMPS • IRRIGATION HARDWARE• APPLIANCE PARTS Tickets on Sale Now! Saturday, November 9, 2019 Cloverleaf Hall, Enterprise Doors open 5:00 pm 208 S. RIVER ST. • ENTERPRISE, OR www.jbbane.com • 541-426-3344 Free Veterans Dinner Emcee Randy Morgan Auctioneer Jake Musser Special musical entertainment Doors open 5:00 pm with Silent Auction & Social Hour Elegant Dinner by Backyard Gardens, choice of prime rib, chicken or vegetarian Bar by La Laguna Wine bar Live Auction at 7:30 pm To purchase tickets — $60 per person Saturday November 9 th 2019 Stop by the Foundation Office at Wallowa Memorial Hospital Or mail check made out to WVHCF to PO Box 53, Enterprise 97828 Please specify prime rib, chicken or vegetarian entree Dinner 5-8PM Space is limited, reserve your seats today! Doors open at 4:30 ● BBQ Smoked Chicken ● Mashed Potatoes Veterans: Free Non-Veterans: $10 ● Vegetables ● Rolls Dinner provided by Enterprise Elks Lodge. All proceeds to benefit local veterans programs. Your support is greatly appreciated The Wallowa Valley Health Care Foundation