14 Comments

Such an enlightening and enjoyable read. My dear man and I are travelling down the interstate, heading to our granddaughter who is a homing beacon of her own sort. I read this to him aloud on the I-81 outside of Scranton. He was vindicated by your explanation of Kokanee, a fish he delighted in as a young lad. I had to eat crow. Thanks, from him, for answering a long debated topic. Loved it all the same you brilliant lass, you.

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Congratulations on homing towards your granddaughter once again. Such a blessing. That is a Valentine's gift worth everything in the world. My love to you and your entire family.

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As is this comment. I-81 outside Scranton is a homing beacon to me, but I resist it with all my might. I'm one of those happy kokanee who found an equally lost mate in a new pool. Thank God!

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Enlightening, as always. Thanks

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As a dweller upon the Olympic Peninsula, I enjoyed this very much. We had a major dam removal project a few years ago, after decades of wrangling,--2 dams, actually--on the Elwha River, in hopes of restoring a once magnificent salmon river; and kokanee, that used to access Lake Crescent via the Elwha, trapped by an earthquake and landslide a mere 8,000 years ago. By latest measure in 2017 the long narrow lake is about 600 feet deep. It is thought to have been made 50 or so feet deeper by the event, which created two lakes, the other the much smaller Lake Sutherland which still drains east into the Elwha, and with the dam removal is regaining anadromous salmon. Lake Crescent 'discovered' a new drainage to the northwest directly into the Straits creating the 5 mile long Lyre River which becomes impassably steep for returning salmon about halfway up.

Anyway, did I detect a touch of anthropomorphism regarding such terms as "choices", "mistakes", and "inquisitiveness"? I suspect (no, wrong word :-) appreciate the poetic license in service to your theme.

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I hadn't realized that Pacific and Atlantic salmon were not the same species nor even the same genus. The story of the landlocked Sockeyes was amazing.

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We caught our first one in the Apostles a couple of years ago. We knew he was different (from the kings) by the black 'x's down the sides of his silvery torpedo body.

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May I recommend to you all a book called River Teeth by David James Duncan?

Heather, I would love to see you test the waters of fiction. I think your writing style and unique outlook would be an engaging read.

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Those were healthy-sized salmon they were netting, hence the need for a bat, I suppose… I’ve seen them used on much bigger fish, like halibut (Kenai Peninsula, Alaska), and it seems like 3 knocks is a lot for a salmon. They can be fiesty, tho. Dip netting is an amazing experience, and salmon are an amazing fish…

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That was fun. Well done again. A little jealous. You (the Pacific coast and Alaska) have more and larger salmon than we on the great lakes do, but ours are still quite enjoyable.

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But they act very much the same, don't they? I remember my brother telling me of the salmon that would swim upstream from Lake Ontario into the smallest of creeks behind his home where they could be caught by hand. Possible he was exaggerating :-)

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As a fellow dweller of salmon land/waters, i enjoyed your article. That we know less than we think about fish habitats obvious from the depletion of cod one the east coast and significant problems on this coast, both areas overmanaged by bureaucrats in land-locked Ottawa.

Some years ago, I did my own non-scientific, 'fishy evaluation' of salmon depletion. For a smile, https://gseine.com/2008/10/19/disapearing-fish/

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This comment is on today's Q&A: on dietary guidelines - start by reading Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz. She is trying to force the agency guidelines be based on actual science. A big piece of this is that the guidelines aren't just recommendations. They are required to be followed by our military, in schools and hospitals, in any agency receiving government funds. Nina recently started a Substack. Her book was foundational in my introduction to the corruption within Big Food, Pharma, and the mess we call Public Health.

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So interesting! Thank you, yet again 🤗

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