Spring Chinook and Summer Steelhead now Showing on the McKenzie River

Doug was quite happy to land this large Spring Chinook salmon caught yesterday on his trip with RFGS. This hatchery fish tested both gear & skill and will provide an unmitigated delicacy for the barbeque. As he put it, “at the current cost of non-farmed salmon, the filets off this beast are worth several hundred dollars.” Trout fishing on the McKenzie remains very productive and both salmon and steelhead are currently available on the Middle Fork Willamette and on the South Santiam as well. While the wild Spring Chinook run remains viable on the McKenzie River, recent misguided efforts to reduce and/or eliminate hatchery augmentation of the Springer run may eventually threaten the local harvest of Spring Chinook. To date, no objective evidence has been presented that proves that the McKenzie hatchery-reared salmon actually threaten the wild run. Certainly human impacts, dams, roads, culverts, etc all negatively influence habitat and the natural processes. Hatchery salmon however, increase the total number of fish in a system that for all practical purposes, has been permanetly altered by humans and now supports but a mere fraction of the total historic fish population. Humans and other life have benefitted from this incredible food source for eons.