Updated Trap Data

    We finally found a little time to do some analysis, but there's much more to be done and much more to come, so bear with us...

    Short of getting some late additions to the Creel Project, the numbers are pretty much in and there are some very interesting items to note. 2014 is shaping up to be one of the more unusual runs I can remember. Everyone is scratching their heads over the weather, the late ice, the sustained high flows, and the apparent mystery of the disappearing year classes of adults, both Steelhead and Kamloops all across the Big Lake; it is just plain strange.

    I guess I don't want to do too much speculation on the mystery of the missing year-classes because I'm thinking that we just won't know if they are truly missing until we see some reports on trap efficiency. With the sustained high flows, it's entirely possible that quite a few fish simply bypassed the traps, so we'll just have to wait and see what can be gleaned from the capture of down-bound adults. I'm also waiting to see what the 2014 Creel Project numbers have to say when compared to previous year's numbers, hopefully we'll have that for you soon. There's a mountain of data to sift through and a mole-hill's quantity of time to do it in for now. Uninterrupted free time seems to be as elusive as steelhead in August on the Shore.

    What we do have for you right now are the preliminary trap numbers. I say preliminary only because the DNR has stopped reporting on the Spring Creel page and are now focusing on the Summer Creel reporting. Numbers always get adjusted, it is what it is. Even MS had to go back through it all as there were quite a few adjustments to be made to flow on our Lower Shore index stream.

    That being said, here's what we are finding so interesting: When you look at the last three weeks of reported trap numbers, you don't see the typical tapering off of the numbers. There were respectable numbers of fish returning to trap every time there was a hiccup in flows. It's not as apparent in the chart here simply because, as has been previously discussed, the daily's are where you see those granular interactions between temperature, flow and fish. A weekly such as depicted below gives you that overall picture, but trust us, it was unusual.

    So what does it mean? Your guess is as good as ours at this point, but I for one would like to do a little exploring on certain North Shore tribs as it would not surprise me to still find some fish, even at this point in the game. Catchable numbers??? Unknown, but a day on the river beats a day thinking about it.

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