April 26th - Back to the Basics and Parasites

Today, we headed out to one of the tributaries that drain into the estuary, Elliott Slough and the Wynoochee river.  I have finally started to not only get the hang of bringing in the nets after and between each set but I have started to figure out ways I should of been doing it.  Bringing in the nets is a technique where there is a wrong and a right way; if the net is brought on to wide it gets snagged every other foot, to close and it wont set correctly.

We have been catching mostly Chinook juveniles this week which is what is expected due to their later arrival times but also Cutt-Throat trout every other set.  This provides an opportunity to collect a fin sample from each fish with which are being sent to Fish and Wildlife to begin a project database on the life history, locations, etc of trout in the region.

All of these photos and many more can be seen in the albums section to the right.

Below Left: A yearling coho salmon with a parasitic snail larvae in its caudal fin, notice the black spots on the fin and below the lateral line.  The black spots are actually small cysts that are formed by the parasite in this transient part of its life history.  This parasite will wont kill this fish and will eventually leave as it heads into higher salinity water.

Below:  A parasitic larvae (not related to above photo) is attached to the gill of a coho salmon.

Below Right:  A fly nymph , not sure on the species but it does have a distinguishable trident tail.