400,000 Salmon Smolts Trucked to Rio Vista for Release

Unable to make the journey to the Pacific Ocean due to low river levels, the smolts had to be trucked to Rio Vista for release. We need rain!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/03/26/294416303/what-a-long-strange-trip-salmon-are-trucking-to-the-pacific-ocean

Get ready for a hot striper bite around Rodeo.  Chad/Fishadow said the last time they did that the bite was off-da-hook with 2-3" swimbaits that look like salmon smolts.

Bogus story since there WOULD be enough flows if the river was wild and not dammed up.  We have enough rains and will continue to, for fish to have migrated, but since we control flows, that wasn't gonna happen. 

Before the dams salmon would run up to the 5000'+ elevation in the Sierras. Last year there was a striper feeding frenzy in the rio area around April. It lasted about 2weeks.

Get ready for a hot striper bite around Rodeo.  Chad/Fishadow said the last time they did that the bite was off-da-hook with 2-3" swimbaits that look like salmon smolts.

According to the article, the last time the smolts were just dumped straight into the river in 1991, making them easy pickings for predators while they were still acclimating to the Sacramento River. This time they are dumped into holding pens to acclimatize before being released. Hopefully more will survive this time around.

Bogus story since there WOULD be enough flows if the river was wild and not dammed up.  We have enough rains and will continue to, for fish to have migrated, but since we control flows, that wasn't gonna happen.

Not quite sure why you think the story is bogus. With the political clout of Central Valley farmers and Southern California industries, these dams will be around for a while, and water will continue to be diverted from the Sacramento River. It would take radical rethinking about water usage for those dams to be removed.

I saw this last night on the news. They trucked up baby salmons and taking to an area to release them in rio vista.. They also said that they don't know if the salmon will be coming back to rio vista to spawn because they weren't born there.

How do you control growth, without mandating people quit making babies? Or quit allowing immigrants to move here? Nobody ever thinks of that, and as a result, everything has to adapt to accomodate what we do as humans. Because the population of "US" is out of balance, and remains unchecked, everything else will suffer. I say they open up a hunting season on people! Cull out the dumbasses!

Rich for President!

I approve this message....

Don't mind if I switch gears here.... I like to have fun...

They used to have the holding pens in Crockett. At 11 am teu would release the fry and the stripes would be wide open. I was funnest bite I have ever experienced in my young life. I'm not familiar with the rio vista area, but I would definately travel there to experience that bite again. If any one around that area knows where these pens may be located please post or pm me the info. We can't change the ways of politics but we can distract the line side long enough to give a few more fry a chance..... Do your part, help me do mine.... The salmon fry need it 

There are no pens in the rio area. The smolts last year just came down by the thousands in the sloughs. We would put my friend's boat on drift and cast lures at them. It was funny because the school of stripers should up as a giant red ball on the furuno screen. Just drop a spoon and his away. The pen that got filled yesterday got towed out.

I will show up for the release with some swim baits in hand if I can. And I'll do my part and keep my two stripers

can we start culling humans with the ones that drive 50 miles an hour in the fast lane?

This is the email I got from John McManus:

thought you might want to know about this if you don't already.  Thanks for your help and support getting here! We'd much rather have healthy rivers that support naturally swimming salmon but in this drought, we're forced to go to Plan B. 

John McManus
Executive Director
Golden Gate Salmon Association
650-218-8650



Media Advisory
 
Contacts:
Steve Martarano, USFWS, 916-930-5643; cell 916-335-8841
Harry Morse, CDFW, 916-323-1478, cell-208-220-1169
Jim Milbury, NOAA Fisheries, 562-980-4006, cell 310-245-7114
 
Media Availability to Announce Beginning of 2 ½-months of Salmon Trucking
 From Federal and State Hatcheries and Downstream Releases

 
What: Coleman National Fish Hatchery (NFH) will begin transporting fall Chinook salmon smolts in from the hatchery in Anderson, Calif., to a release site near Rio Vista the morning of Tuesday, March 24, carrying out details of a special drought contingency plan announced by Federal and State agencies earlier this month. Media are invited to observe and photograph salmon release operations and ask questions of representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service and Golden Gate Salmon Association. The media event marks the start of a more than two-month drought-response effort by federal and state hatcheries to transport roughly 30.4 million Chinook salmon to downriver locations to improve the fish’s chances for survival during their migration to the ocean. Additional background is contained in a joint state-federal news release issued March 10: http://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/state-and-federal-agencies-evaluate-new-drought-contingency-plan-to-help-commercial-fishing-and-utilize-trucking-of-salmon-smolts/
 
When: Tuesday, March 25. Media are invited to observe operations at one or both of the locations at times listed below:
 
Coleman National Fish Hatchery.
24411 Coleman Fish Hatchery Road, in Anderson. Gates will open for media at 4 a.m. to observe fish being loaded into four CDFW and USFWS trucks. Once loaded, the trucks will then travel at about 6 a.m. in tandem to Rio Vista, arriving at about 10:15 a.m.
 
Rio Vista at the Old Navy Yard site on Beach Dr. next to Coast Guard Station.
To get to the Rio Vista event, go through the City of Rio Vista, and from Second Street, turn left on the Y, and then turn left on Beach Dr. There’s a blue sign that says Army Facility. Go through the gate and follow the road straight about a quarter-mile to the event site. At Rio Vista, start of the operation will be fluid due to tide conditions and other factors. Media should arrive at Rio Vista around 9:15 a.m.. Representatives will be available from state and federal agencies, and stakeholder groups. A presentation will be followed by the arrival of the trucks and the transfer of fish into net pens. Boats will be available to take media to salmon release sites. Boats will be available between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. If interested in getting on a boat, please give advance notice. Pool video and other materials will be available.

Who: Speakers will include Stafford Lehr, Fisheries Branch Chief, CA Fish and Wildlife; Robert Clarke, Fisheries Program Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Howard Brown, Fisheries Biologist, NOAA Fisheries; John McManus, Executive Director, Golden Gate Salmon Association.
 

--
Steve Martarano, Public Affairs Specialist
Bay-Delta Office, Fish and Wildlife Service
650 Capitol Mall, Eighth Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814

Office -- 916-930-5643
Cell - 916-335-8841

Check out the BDFWO web page at
http://www.fws.gov/sfbaydelta/

Significantly more than 400 000....30 million!