Head Recovery Pins

[Fish Assassin]

I have not seem a single 2011 head recovery pin. As anyone else gotten thiers? Any extra's kicking around? I collect them. I just need one.

I had them dating back to 1976 but they were stolen. I have the last 10+ years now.

 

[Theb55]

Probably on their way. Got 4 clipped in Rene first of August. Got my pin yesterday. Of the 4 not one had wire tag so location UK. Bummer. One wonders why I should submit.

 

[Dave S]

What do you guys mean by pin? Is there some special pin they send you every time you drop a head? If thats the case, then where the heck are mine? Probably dropped 10 heads in the last 2 years.

And what do you mean by wire tag?

Still learning......

 

[Dave H]

http://www.rmpc.org/files/Nandor_CWT_Overview.pdf

One source of info.
Many more out there.

Take care.

 

[Theb55]

DFO serves out a pin with the year the head was submitted. Fish with the adipose fin used to have a very small cosed wire tag inserted into the fishes nose which contains info on hatchery, release river, date, etc. Info read under microscope. DFO then sends you that information. It has been years since an adipose clipped fish had an inserted wire tag.

 

[banger17]

I received a pin a few weeks ago from a clipped spring I caught off Nanaimo in early July. Fish was from the Chehalis River, according to the paperwork they sent out.

 

[hud52]

Got my pin today for a coho I caught in Nootka back in July. No tag in the fish so no information on where it was from.

 

[Dave H]

As I understand it, nowadays all US origin chinook and coho are "clipped" but don't necassarily have a CWT inserted.
We also clip all hatchery coho but again, few CWT's are used, whereas chinook that are clipped here all supposedly have a CWT in them.

This means then:

Should you catch a chinook with a clip but without a CWT it will be from a US hatchery program somewhere most likely.
Should you catch a chinook with a clip and a CWT in it it will be from a Canadian hatchery most of the time.
Only a small percentage of Canadian coho have a CWT inserted but enough to draw information from.

The last North-Islander insert in the Courier-Islander has a good article by Jeremy Maynard that explains most of this too.
It doesn't appear to be available online yet but should show up soon.
Hope this helps a bit.

Take care.

 

[Jockey]

I have gotten 3 (yes 3) letters from the DFO regarding head submissions this year. Good use of tax payer money sending out 3 ltrs (two with pins) to one person but thats just a drop in the tub if we are talking about government waste.

Anyways I think I sent in 5 heads and only 1 had a tag. It was from the upper columbia river. The fish was a feeder spring caught in renfrew at the end of july. Fishing was slow for us so I bonked a small hatch chinook for the bbq. A special thanks goes out to the canadian but especially the american hatchery programs. We wouldn't be fishing without them.

Does anyone in the renfrew, sooke or victoria area catch many mature hatch springs? I have gotten 3 in recent years, one 17 pounder a few years ago (again from the columbia) and 2 about 13lb each this year. Unfortunatly I forgot to send in one of the heads and a friend sent the other so not sure where they were from. I am curious because in the winter I catch mostly hatch springs but in the summer they are a rare breed (excpet for the smaller feaders if they stick around). This makes me think the majority of the columbian run bypasses sooke because lots of those fish are marked and we catch them all winter but not so much in the summer.

 

[Copper Moon]

I have not seem a single 2011 head recovery pin. As anyone else gotten thiers? Any extra's kicking around? I collect them. I just need one.

I had them dating back to 1976 but they were stolen. I have the last 10+ years now.

If you are passing by Nanoose Bay sometime, you can have the one I got.

 

[Charlie]

The goal is 100% of Puget Sound hatchery be clipped regardless of species. It has to do with the ESA. ALL Puget Sound hatchery Coho, Steelhead, and Chinook are required to be clipped. That is happening with few exceptions, with a small percentage having CWT. The the few exceptions to the clipping has to do with a hatchery not wanting to clip any of their salmon. They still might be fighting the 100% policy, but to my knowlege they are now complying? That is why in just recent years you have seen an increase in clipped Chinook off VI. It doesn't take much to realize why the ones objected. In Pugest Sound, if a salmon is not clipped it is deemed "wild" and cannot be retained by the sport sector. If a hatchery ran by a tribe doesn't clip a particular "very" large hatchery program there are more unclipped hatchery returning to be havested.

Less than 40% of the Columbia River Chinook is clipped. Which means you have somewhre around 80,000,000 (yes million) Chinook released every year from the Columbia River hatcheries. Very small percentage have CWT. In relation to number CWT very small percentage.

It really depends on the time of year and where the fish is harvested. The only way to really tell where a salmon is from is by that CWT or DNA. Off the WCVI during the summer months now well over 80% of the Chinook harvested is from the U.S. mostly from the Columbia. Those "feeders" are mostly Puget Sound as that is their feeding grounds. The Puget Sound Chinook also feed during the winter months in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so if you catch a Chinook off Victoria or Sooke in the winter and it is clipped it is probably from Pugest Sound - CWT or not. Where as if you catch a Chinook off the mouth of the Fraser in early spring - it will likely have come from the Fraser, with only a small percentage having CWT's. Just think Nicola 4-2 there, approximately 150 - 200,000 Nicola Chinook are clipped each year.

They actually publish the number released every year, with the number that are both clipped and have CWT. I can dig up that website if wanted?

 

[Fish Assassin]

If you are passing by Nanoose Bay sometime, you can have the one I got.

Thank you Copper Moon, I will keep it in mind next time I am heading down south. Hopefully one will still show up at my door. Somehow....

 

[Fish-Hunter]

I have not seem a single 2011 head recovery pin. As anyone else gotten thiers? Any extra's kicking around? I collect them. I just need one.

I had them dating back to 1976 but they were stolen. I have the last 10+ years now.

Owen we haven't met yet, You can have the one I got this year (I don't need it, I was more interested in the info on the wire tags but none of my fish had wire tags). I will be in Courtenay on Tuesday on business, I could drop it by if you PM me directions to your place if you will be around.

Cheers, Jay.