Dear Tweeters,

Yesterday I stopped at the Martin Road fishing access, which is now tiny, most of the land having been taken by the river. This spot is just up from Rockport.

I smelled something, and took the little trail to the river (a 15-meter walk). In the water was a fish a good yard long. It was mangled, or had perhaps been filleted? This fish was as big as a big salmon, but was NOT a salmon, NOT a steelhead, NOT a sturgeon. It had what appeared to be a long second dorsal fin--not an adipose fin. The shape of the head was somewhat reminiscent of that of a grouper or sea bass. The pectoral fins were large and rounded, and of a brownish-orange color. Since the fish was under a foot of water, I fished it out with a stick. I took some wretched photos; let me know if you think you could ID the fish, and I will send one. I don't have a website.

I soon noticed a 2nd specimen of the same species lying in the water nearby; the second one was only about a foot and a half long. There were lots of shrimp corpses lying on the bank here, too.

Do such fish exist in the Skagit? Or could someone have cut it up here at Rockport for bait? Were the shrimp bait, too, or did somebody have a fish cookout at this unlikely spot (no bathroom, no picnic table, and several parks close by with such facilities) and leave the dead fish here? Or did someone throw it in the water as a prank maybe? I just want to know what sort of fish it is! Please let me know if you think you can figure this out.

Yours truly,





Gary Bletsch? ?? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA? ?? garybletsch at yahoo.com? ?? ?