Salmon Season Has Begun - Word on the Street Version...

Damn bluefin, you got me, i never pay that close attention to tv, movies or viedo. Just making a point of none of those fish in the Eel, only squawfish.

ocean_314 - I was only pointing out the species of fish,

I've snorkeled probably about 30 tributaries in the Eel, and most of them were loaded with salmonids, including mostly steelhead.  There aren't many pikeminnow in the tributaries, but the mainstem is ridiculous with them.  I did also see lots of steelhead in the mainstem as well though.

Last fall I came across a tributary to a tributary of the middle fork Eel and I thought wow look all the smolts but on closer exam they were squawfish. Maybe an isolated school but I very much doubt it.

Bluefin thats great! I havent seen a steelhead or a smolt of any kind in the river above and below Van Arsdale Dam and the fork that has the hwy 101 campgrounds on them. I have never dove the main river where it all comes together. Of course i am diving during summer mostly after crab closes in July till about the end of September.

All I see is huge nubmers of squawfish. Maybe the tributaries are where the steelhead hide out but the kings are a main river fish so i wonder how many smolts make it through the squawfish on the way to the sea?

man I need a job that involves snorkeling rivers touring the ocean etc

The trick is to marry a very very smart educated woman, then start a business workin 60 to 70 hours a week for 15 years while she is taking care of babies. Have her get a little bored being housewife so she starts doing really highly specializd mortailty research for a life insurance company. Have that company beg her to work full time and offer her big money AND she can work from the house. Have your wife demand that you sell the business becuase she is sick of you never being home and always being exausted and become housedaddy so she can work full time. And then make sure your wife wants your body in shape and loves fresh seafood.

This happened to me in 2002 and now i dive fish and hunt when the kids are in school. School gets out at 4 and they can wait until 4:30 if i am late. And her business is going great guns making really good money.

Ya its a rough life!

man I need a job that involves snorkeling rivers touring the ocean etc

The grass is always greener blue. I'm sometimes jealous of the money that friends make because they can go fish some amazing places with their free time. And they enjoy their jobs. Fisheries doesn't exactly make life too easy in the financial department, especially living in coastal CA. Also, once you get past your first few years, you're often writing reports and papers, attending meeting after meeting, and trying to figure out statistical packages and new software for conducting your analyses. I think it sometimes sounds more amazing than the reality. 

Sounds like a dream job, next thing your going to tell me is that your on the Shogun fishing for the fish to tag.  Did I hit the nail on the head?  Any room for a "NOAA researcher"?

You're referring to a different group, Barbara Block (Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station) and company perhaps? I think they've done some tuna tagging on the Shogun. A few of our team get to go out for a day or two here and there on the SD fleet boats to do some age and growth stuff, but getting to actually fish is very rare. Sometimes, it's downright painful watching a bite go off and you have to sit there and sample everyone's slayings. On my recent cruise for tagging mako and blue sharks, we were pulling in the longline and only about 15 hooks into the 200 we had out and yellowfin started frothing like crazy just on the other side of the longline! It was VERY hard to keep working and know that was right next to us. We also buzzed by some ridiculous looking kelp paddies, sometimes with visible dorado, because we had to get another set in before the end of the day.

Bluefin thats great! I havent seen a steelhead or a smolt of any kind in the river above and below Van Arsdale Dam and the fork that has the hwy 101 campgrounds on them. I have never dove the main river where it all comes together. Of course i am diving during summer mostly after crab closes in July till about the end of September.

All I see is huge nubmers of squawfish. Maybe the tributaries are where the steelhead hide out but the kings are a main river fish so i wonder how many smolts make it through the squawfish on the way to the sea?

There are definitely a lot of steelhead smolts in the mainstem and SF. You are diving when temps are at their highest and the juveniles don't want to get cooked. You see the same thing in other North Coast rivers. Dive the Trinity mainstem down low or the Mad in summer and it's a ghost town. Squawfish like the warm temps. The salmonids find whatever cold water refugia they can and hunker down there the entire summer. Try diving the Eel when it's colder and has more water and I guarantee you'll see a different scene. Also keep in mind that any smolts on their way to the ocean are out of the system by the time you're diving. They head out starting in winter and peak in spring. The juveniles that aren't leaving stay up in the tribs or migrate to them as the mainstem warms.