Larry Caldwell wrote:
In article ,
writes:
Getting in any fishing yet? Rivers are still as low as late summer up here.
Yeah, we are in the middle of one of the dryest autumns on record. At my
place we have had about 4" of rain since last June 16. I lost a LOT of
trees to the drought this year, about 15% of my 10 to 15 year old reprod
doug fir. The pine seedlings did better, but the big pines did a lot
worse. Bark beetle killed quite a few mature pines. If things continue
dry, I'm thinking I better log the older pines next spring for the
general health of the younger ones. I have one old ponderosa not far
from the house that is a lovely old red belly, about 40" dbh. It's
bleeding bad. It's hard to find any bark that is not covered in pitch.
For all that, we are in the middle of another record salmon run. There
haven't been salmon like this in 70 years. You have to wonder what they
are spawning in, with no water in the rivers, but I guess all they need
are gravel beds and a few inches of water.
The dry season has been hardest in the rainshadow but all the rivers are
abnormally low. A break may come next week. The forecast is for a weak
el nino, so you'll probably get more rain than we will in the north. Enjoy!
The salmon have been piled up at all the river mouths waiting - and
getting nailed by the commercial netters. The season has been very good.
Since 95% of them are hatchery fish it's no loss, however some stocks,
such as the Hoh, are mostly wild. They took a serious hit this year.
Prices were low too, so it didn't make sense, except for the subsistence
fishermen.