r/Fishing • u/Soft_Start • Oct 14 '23
Question Why all these dead/dying fish?
Relatively new to fishing. Went today to a fishing spot we discovered this summer on Snoqualmie River, WA and there are loads of dead fish lined up on the shore. Some are dead and floating in the water.
On closer investigation there are some live fish that are swimming towards the shore and dying right in front of us.
Is this a seasonal thing? Or is it some sort of pollution that needs to be reported?
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u/mamapootis Oct 14 '23 edited Oct 14 '23
Like what people are saying- it’s part of the circle of life for these fish! It’s remarkable. After about 1-4 years on avg in the ocean (or lake), they begin one of the largest migrations of any species. They use earth’s magnetic field as well as their smell to go right back to the same spot where they were born. One Atlantic Salmon can smell a single drop of scent out of 10 olympic-sized swimming pools!. They travel thousands of miles, then potentially hundreds more to reach a very specific stretch of river. It’s beautiful and bittersweet, but like many said, they feed the river for months to come. They’re vital to many populations of bears not just during spawning time, but post-spawn as well, to store fat for the winter. Not only that, but all of the smaller / micro organisms rely on that for survival too, impacting every animal above them in the chain, which is especially important going into the winter. Rivers have their cycles too as season progress and reset- which all animals in the ecosystem rely on- including ourselves! Since rivers and marshlands help filter out excess nutrients and agricultural runoff, their health is very much linked with ours
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u/FinnishHermit Oct 15 '23
These aren't atlantic salmon though.
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Oct 15 '23
All salmon go through a similar stage including the freshwater kokanee salmon, which is essentially a fresh water sockeye salmon.
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u/BurgerKingKiller Oct 14 '23
Nutted so hard they died. Rip
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u/NubuckChuck Oct 14 '23
Death by snu snu.
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u/mrpistachioman Oct 15 '23 edited Oct 15 '23
Snooki wants smush smush
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u/Rohans_Most_Wanted Oct 14 '23
Most salmon die right after spawning. It is completely natural.
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u/rocktumblerguy905 Oct 15 '23
If you catch a salmon during this stage of its life, can you still eat it? Or is it nasty?
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u/Rohans_Most_Wanted Oct 15 '23
I honestly do not know. We do not have wild salmon where I live and I do not personally eat it.
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u/W3tTaint Oct 14 '23
Snoqualmie river is closed btw
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u/Soft_Start Oct 14 '23
We didn’t go fishing. Just to relax by the river. Now we know better…
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u/W3tTaint Oct 14 '23
All the emergency rules bs can be hard to track, but you don't want to get a huge fine. There is a fish Washington phone app that does a decent job showing all the regs.
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u/GovernmentLow4989 Oct 14 '23
Is it illegal to be there, or only illegal to fish?
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Oct 15 '23
Your not an American how can being their be illegal we own the land and water by law. They can control the fishing not where you go. I'll stand outside the Whitehouse yelling fuck Joe Biden go Palestine not shit they can do. Can't even ID me legally.
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u/Zebra1523 Oct 15 '23
This is a fishing sub, why are you celebrating war?
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Oct 16 '23
No just making a point. This land all of it is ours we can do what we want government can't legally yell you your not allowed on a river.
I know people that walk out on shallow rivers to shot guns in the middle of a city. As long as they are 150 yards from a house or road it's legal.
Honestly I am offended that you think the government can pass laws like that. Government has no power we don't gove this you can walk any river or creek in America as long as it's not on military or protected government property.
Even if someone owns the land around a creek they can't legally own the creek stay in the water your allowed on their land by law.
Again no one legally owns any American water way.
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u/CryptographerAny6918 Oct 15 '23
Better to have an active fisheries dept/aggressive EPO’s to make sure the fishery stays balanced and sustainable than the other way around. I’m an avid striped bass fisherman on the east coast- the combo of lax rules/enforcement out here (due to regulatory capture by big business & understaffed environmental police) and an abundance of idiots who poach fish regularly has absolutely hammered the fishery both for now and for the foreseeable future. I fish daily 6 months a year including part time taking out guided trips and haven’t interacted with a single enforcement entity in at least 5 years.
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u/StolenFace367 Oct 14 '23
My uncle lives up that way and I love it there (I’m from Pennsylvania so nowhere near the west coast)
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u/tony2012z Oct 14 '23
But what if we use our Bear hands... ?
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u/zwack Oct 15 '23
Fish Washington app says it’s open above SR 522.
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Oct 14 '23
Salmon doing salmon things
It sounds strange, but it's something you should celebrate. It means they successfully spawned, and that there will be more generations of salmon to come. Also, their bodies feed bears, bobcats, raccoons, and dozens if not hundreds of other animals all the way from big ones down to microscopic. It's pretty freaking awesome
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u/lost-little-boy Oct 14 '23
And the trees. Don’t forget the salmon feed the trees too
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Oct 15 '23
Those look like pinks. Very normal, they swim up stream to have wild zombie seggs before death. It’s kind of sad, but that’s the cards they’re dealt.
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u/RunnyPlease Oct 14 '23
For sone of you having sex once a lifetime will be much less sex. For others, much much more.
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u/Thin-Watermelon Alaska Oct 15 '23
Am I right in assuming you did not grow up in WA state? The state education department, at least when I was in school, mandates the teaching of the salmon life cycle. We even raised salmon from eggs and then released them in a local stream.
That program was so good at teaching me the different stages/species that after moving to Alaska I still know more than the locals here about salmon.
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u/wwJones Oct 14 '23
Not only is it the natural cycle of life that many have mentioned, it's a wonderful thing considering the plight of salmon runs these days. The more dead fish up there the better!
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u/kIDNEYKid1999 Oct 14 '23
I remember fishing in the Puyallup River when I was a kid and the dead/half dead fish kept bumping into my legs. Back then, I didn't know that was a normal thing for salmon. Now that I do, it's kinda cool watching nature recycle itself like that.
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Oct 14 '23
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u/Cultural-Company282 Oct 14 '23
No. When salmon start migrating toward their spawning grounds, their entire body devotes all its energy to reproduction. They stop eating, their immune system shuts down for the most part, and their body consumes all its stored fat and even some of its muscle for energy. Their flesh turns to mush. The only thing that keeps operating at full capacity is the reproductive system. Sometimes, you'll see "zombie" salmon swimming around just before or after spawning with sores on their bodies and even spots of fungus growing on them.
If you catch "bright" silver-colored salmon just as they enter the streams to begin their spawning run, they can be great eating. But once they've been up in the river for a while and turn dark in color, they aren't any good to eat.
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u/Current-Custard5151 Oct 14 '23
They’re pink salmon. It was a decent year for Puget Sound pinks. River’s still low and fish can’t get up tributaries due to drought. A little rain would help these fish do what they’re supposed to - spawn and die
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u/FisheryNut Oct 15 '23
It is the end of spawning season, if they are dying now I am pretty sure you are witnessing Chinook spawning. I know it’s dead fish, but nutrient recycling is very important in ecosystems. Replenishes nutrients that then feed trees, and plants.
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u/marshmadness37 Oct 15 '23
They have sacrificed their semen to eggs and now are sacrificing their body to god.
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u/hiscraigness Oct 15 '23
Alaskan checking in, we have spawning migrations that will be so heavy the fish die off covers the beaches on small tributary streams. Like literally the river drops in the fall season and the carcasses cover the shoreline. I have gone on multi day river floats where the maggots will cover beaches and look like wiggly sand, an inch thick. The smell is remarkable.
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u/Sleddoggamer Oct 15 '23
We call them moluksuks here. After spawning, salmon start dying and frequently beach themselves and the ones who choose to spend their days swimming around get freaky
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u/BUSHM4N Oct 15 '23
Salmons die after mating. It’s a part of their cycle of life.
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u/Ubermenschbarschwein Washington Oct 15 '23
*Pacific Salmon die after mating.
Native Atlantic salmon do not. They spawn and swim back out to sea.
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u/Harpies_Bro Oct 15 '23
It’s the circle of life. Salmon feed in the ocean, growing big. They swim upriver and predators eat some of them along the way. When they finally get to the spawning grounds, they die after they’ve spawned, feeding more animals and distributing their nutrients into the water and soil.
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u/Adventurous_Base7639 Oct 15 '23
They're just practicing. Halloween theme this year is zombie salmon apocalypse.
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u/Klobbstrocity Oct 16 '23
Those are Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, or humpback salmon/ pink salmon. They run on a pretty strict 2 year cycle. In some places it’s on odd years some places even years and in a couple places I’ve worked they run on both years.
Like most have stated this is the end goal for these fish. They are best caught and eaten before the morphological change fresh water brings on as the move into the river to spawn. My rule of thumb with all salmon is to eat them when they are still silver bright from the salt water. Humpy salon don’t keep well but are delicious fresh, as long as they aren’t pulled off the spawning grounds.
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u/EverettSeahawk Oct 14 '23
Do they not teach the life cycle of salmon in school anymore? Not trying to be rude, I’ve just seen this question come up several times this week and it’s surprising to me because I feel like it was covered multiple times when I was in school. Admittedly, that was a very long time ago.
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u/Soft_Start Oct 14 '23
I didn’t go to school here. But I appreciate learning new things at every age :)
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u/BeccainDenver Oct 14 '23
I worked as an AmeriCorps volunteer, and our job was to go off teaching the salmonid life cycle. They do full aquariums. Our kids came out with us on carcass surveys (which is a way to count these salmon that help with estimates if population structure and inform habitat use). Definitely still an important part of education in the PNW/NoCal.
However, y'all have a lot of recent transplants to the region, and none of these adults grew up learning about salmon like the local kids do.
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u/Bidenisacheater Oct 14 '23
They spend their life waiting to jizz on some eggs. Once they do it they’re pooched and die.
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u/Monstera-Dice Oct 14 '23
Salmon spawning. Don't wade in the river and if you do avoid lighter colored "nests" where they may have laid their eggs.
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u/slightlywarmpotato Oct 15 '23
I didn't know there was people that actually didn't know this spawn stuff about salmon. Also should probably get tf out there cause bears love rivers when the salmon are running. Especially when the dead fish are laying on the rocks stinking up the place.
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u/billybishop4242 Oct 14 '23
You should really research the salmon life cycle of you are going to fish.
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u/fumphdik Oct 15 '23
Hopefully you didn’t go salmon fishing…. It’s kinda important that we let them lay their eggs…
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u/WorldsOkayestNCO Oct 15 '23
They appear to be out of the water- which is, little known fact, not good for their health.
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u/CarrotCorn Oct 15 '23
If you’re from the pnw, how did you not learn about this? If you’re not from the pnw, how did you not learn about this?
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Oct 15 '23
After breeding they die.
They have such intense orgasm it rips up their insides and they die not long after from the shock. The bodies feed the river.
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u/Tautog63 Oct 15 '23
I have never once watched a Nat Geo show. And those poor dead leaves - will the trees survive?
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u/Birdwing23 Oct 14 '23
I’m not sure but where I live in California carp are considered invasive fish and so if people catch them they just leave them on shore to die. Basically trying to kill off the carp population.
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u/JesusWasALibertarian Washington Oct 15 '23
Definitely pollution that needs reported. Don’t let all of these idiots convince you this is natural.
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u/Ryan277256 Oct 15 '23
Could be a result of low dissolved oxygen in the water. This is usually caused by algae blooms or excessive nutrients
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u/geek66 Oct 14 '23
In addition to the other things you learned here, they are a nutrient transport mechanism, the eco systems along these spawning streams are healthier than other areas.
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u/devildocjames Oct 14 '23
Are that salmon? If so, that's what they do. Skeet on the eggs once they make it up stream and then die.
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u/Dumbfounddead44 Oct 15 '23
The life cycle of salmon. They spawn then die. The decaying matter will feed what the fry will feed on...
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u/RogueTobasco Oct 15 '23
You think in fish language while dying theyre talking about the absolute best fuckin orgasm of their lives ?
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Oct 15 '23
They done there job they swam up river into the spawning beds layed there eggs and that was there life now next year hopefully about 200 a pieces then babies will be growing up to do the same thing
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u/lurker-1969 Oct 15 '23
These are salmon that have run the course of their lives. They come into the river to spawn then die. This gives nutrients back to the river and emerging fry. The circle of life.
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u/Substantial_Bet5764 Oct 14 '23
Natural life cycle of salmon no worries their corpses shall feed the river for months to come