Coho in the slough

[Big Lew]

The coho are running in the slough, but so far they seem to be mostly 'wild' ones. While walking the dykes with my dog I've seen a couple of hatchery caught the last 2 days, but most people I've talked to have only caught the wild ones.
I went out to the estuary this morning before the tide started coming in and only caught 2 small trout. As soon as the tide started to rise, I caught and released the first of 4 wild coho. I had another one on briefly, but couldn't tell if it also was wild or not. A fellow fly fishing from a boat near me also caught and released a wild one, so it seems that there's a pretty healthy return so far of the wild stock. Hopefully the hatchery fish begin returning in large numbers in the next few days.

[steel_ram]

Not all hatchery fish are clipped. Hopefully the wild are truly wild fish.

[Big Lew]

Not all hatchery fish are clipped. Hopefully the wild are truly wild fish.

Yeh, I know, but if they're not clipped you're obligated to let them go. I'm pretty sure the four I released were truly wild stock though because of their larger size. A fellow I talked to yesterday estimated the weight to be around 14 lbs. on one he released that day.

[Crazy_Farmer]

Yep dad and grandpa have been out. And lots of trucks parked

Lots of wild ones. I think my dad caught 4 wild and grandpa had 7. He got one keeper though so the cleaned and going in the smoker.

[Big Lew]

The coho fishing has been great this year so far. There seems to be a very good return of wild ones. I've talked to several other fisherpersons during the last 2 weeks and the common consensus has been 3 wilds to 1 hatchery. Most of those I've talked to are suspicious that Fisheries haven't been clipping as many of the hatchery releases as in previous years, although no one has any specific proof or data. I can say from my observance that there seems to be a distinct difference between most of the wild ones and the hatcherys that I've caught. Having said that though, several of the ones that looked like hatchery (by size and colouration) were not clipped. The largest wild coho I've caught was estimated to be 14-16 lbs. and I've seen a couple at least as big being released. I've also seen 1 spring caught. I've also released several chum that were in really good shape.
All in all, it's been a much better than average year so far. A decent rain is needed now to bring more into the slough.