HMB salmon question

I’ve been to HMB once this year. Early august. Got a bite, nothing more. Other members caught fish there, but very few for the amount of effort and skunk. This begs a question. HMB salmon are hatchery fish. There’s supposed to be more and more of them as they return to HMB. So where are they? Here are some options:
1. Only a few of them have arrived. More to come.
2. They have arrived but are scattered outside of the bay in deeper water
3. They have arrived and been caught by tight lipped anglers
4. They have arrived and been eaten by seals
5. They got confused and swam to shelter cove, where Darius slayed them by the thousands

Did I miss something?

If you are talking about the fish from the pen, probably the best way to gauge the fish mass is to co-relate the amount of fish to the release dates (probably the GGSA folks know).  So it would be 2-4 years after the dates with the later years to start toward decline.


But that didnt quite answer your questions.  I would say there are two migration patterns.  One from southwest (i.e. deep reef or further south toward santa cruz) and the other is straight west (farallon islands).  The deep reef ends up toward HMB harbor going north, the farallon ends up either north or south (the south being toward linda mar/rockaway/pacifica).


So, to answer your questions, IMHO, it is 1, 2 and 4.  I would even go further and say the temperatures toward shore are warmer than usual in HMB area, so they stay further off shore.  But then again, we have seen bites and limits.  Keep in mind, there is nothing scientific and it is just my opinion.

All of the above, probably (hopefully) 1. I've had early limit days between the jaws and green can in October.

If you are talking about the fish from the pen, probably the best way to gauge the fish mass is to co-relate the amount of fish to the release dates (probably the GGSA folks know).  So it would be 2-4 years after the dates with the later years to start toward decline.


But that didnt quite answer your questions.  I would say there are two migration patterns.  One from southwest (i.e. deep reef or further south toward santa cruz) and the other is straight west (farallon islands).  The deep reef ends up toward HMB harbor going north, the farallon ends up either north or south (the south being toward linda mar/rockaway/pacifica).


So, to answer your questions, IMHO, it is 1, 2 and 4.  I would even go further and say the temperatures toward shore are warmer than usual in HMB area, so they stay further off shore.  But then again, we have seen bites and limits.  Keep in mind, there is nothing scientific and it is just my opinion.

Thanks! I haven’t thought about that. Maybe we should give them time then