Monterrey Bay Salmon

[BumpBailey]

Hi All,

Like all of you I am doing the right thing and only dreaming of fishing these days. I really want to get out and self-isolate on a river but, I know it isn't the right thing to do. So, with all of extra time on my hands to ponder all things fishing. And, with the Salmon season about to open(maybe), I got to wondering about the salmon in the Monterrey Bay.

Question for the salmonid experts out there. Where do these salmon of the Monterrey Bay originate? They can't all be of San Lorenzo, Salinas, Carmel, Big Sur originations, can they? Are they Central Valley Fish? Are they from our northern coastal rivers? Or, is it all of the above and they are all just migratory fish chasing bait down the coast in the spring and early summer?

Be well all. We'll get through this.

J.K.

[Bob Smith]

Most Monterey Bay chinook originate from Central Valley stocks, however there are many stocks that mix together and may be present including Klamath, Northern California Coast and Southern Oregon Coast.

[Fishtopher]

Bob is correct. Various Chinook stocks intermingle with one another along the entire West Coast. Generally, the fish off Monterey are CV origin, but they could be from anywhere from CA to AK.

If you're really interested, there should be some CDFW reports that describe the coded wire tag (CWT) results at each major port. CWT's are small tags with unique IDs that are implanted in 25% of the hatchery-origin Chinook in CA and in 100% in the other states and BC. They do this to find out the exact question you are asking about.

[John Sv]

What’s the skinny on the silver salmon? Every once in a while they seem to be incidentally caught in some numbers there

[Fishtopher]

What’s the skinny on the silver salmon? Every once in a while they seem to be incidentally caught in some numbers there

Coho generally stay closer to home compared to Chinook. Incidental catches are more common the further north you get. I'd wager that Coho caught in Monterey are most likely Scott Creek origin, since there is a hatchery.

[John Sv]

Thanks for that

[avidangler]

" They can't all be of San Lorenzo, Salinas, Carmel, Big Sur originations, can they?" Nope. Klamath basin/Sac system fish,mostly Sac. There are resident silver populations in the San Lorenzo,and Scott Creek systems ,with hatchery supplementation.