Another milestone reached!

As of  the end of Friday, 258 fish were transferred for a grand total of 2001!! Fantastic job!
I'm blown away by the number and varied volunteers for this project. People of all ages, men and women, boys and girls and entire families are chipping in to give nature a little boost.
Today the heavy rains came again which means more repair work to the fencing. Just a minor inconvenience for these dedicated volunteers eager to do whatever it takes to get back at the job at hand of transferring these migrating monsters.

And then the rain came!

Record Day!

A whopping 301 fish were lifted over the dam today for a grand total of 1743!!
Awesome! Congrats to all the volunteers who participated!
Notes:
The sand bags were positioned on the West branch of the island to increase the flow on the East side. It seems to have helped the fish negotiate the East channel although we can't be sure until the creek levels return to normal. The water is still a little high from the heavy rains a couple of days ago.
All in all a fantastic day, but these fish are playing havoc with our landing nets and a lot of repair work is needed.

Taking a break

I'm coming to get you!

Who's fish is this?

Hold the bag still!

Now what do I do?

After the storm

Thanks to mother nature, another good day at the dam. Before the start of the day, we had transferred 1259 Chinook Salmon! Thanks to all the volunteers for a job well done! A good time was had by all!
The heavy rains we had yesterday helped get the fish moving from the East side of the upper dam. Unfortunately the heavy downpour also did significant damage to the fencing that was put in place to corral the fish. Again, thanks to the volunteers who help with the debris cleanup and re-installation of the fencing.
No lifting was done yesterday due to the high and muddy water conditions, but today was another story. The water level had dropped enough to permit "easy" netting of these terrific torpedoes. The water was still roiled  and murky  enough that the fish couldn't see the nets and were very approachable. I don't have the official tally for the day, but I'm guessing there were easily over 200 fish transferred! Quite a mixed bag today as the rainy weather brought up some Brown and Rainbow Trout and a few Coho Salmon.
The group also prepared sand bags in preparation for rerouting the creek when the water level returns to its normal flow. The plan is to slow the flow on the West side above the island thereby increasing the flow on the East side to permit the fish to proceed upstream from the holding pool at the release point above the dam.
As you can see from these images, this transfer has become a family event and quite an attraction.

Are we having any fun?

Treat with tender loving care.

Everybody getting into the act

This is how you bag the salmon

Are you ready with the bag?

Okay, here goes!

The transfer begins

After the fish are corralled, volunteers enter the pool with landing nets to capture these behemoths one at a time where they are then transferred to a bag and hauled to the top of the dam via a cable pulley system. They are then released over the top of the dam.

Wally Seto releases a huge Chinook.

A beautiful behemoth!

Handle with care!

Chinook salmon collecting at the base of the Goodyear dam

An estimated 1000 salmon trying in vain to swim upstream to the spawning grounds. This dam prevents their access so a group of volunteers will assist them accomplish their once in a lifetime goal.

A bypass will be constructed later this year to allow the fish unobstructed access to these spawning grounds, but for this year they'll have to get some added help.