Originally Posted By: jgreen
Remember the email I got back from Mike Scharpf? The one where he said they can’t/won’t use weather or flow forecasts to reopen rivers? Well, the state just opened up the dungeness and Wallace river.

Under reason for action: With forecasted rain and increasing flows predicted and most of the Chinook salmon spawning complete in the Wallace River conditions are improved for allowing fishing to resume in Wallace River.

So which is it? It’s like they think we are stupid and won’t notice.

The amount of superiority complex at work at the WDFW is staggering. They act like they don’t HAVE to answer for their decisions. They are public SERVANTS and in such are subservient to the people of Washington. If we ask for a number, give us the number..not some BS “we don’t know” or “we assume”, if that’s the case…manage to keep it open, not closed.


The key phrase in their justification is that the Chinook are thought to be done spawning. It was never about flow; it was always about Chinook, specifically numbers of spawners observed in tribs. Given that the Chinook in the Dungeness are endangered, I question the wisdom, but hey, I'm glad someone gets to fish.

I'm encouraged to hear that Scharpf left the door open for an opening; that's encouraging, but for all the reasons you mentioned (plus the fact the Chinook probably won't be there in sufficient numbers when they DO get a chance to do a survey), I have serious doubts. But hey, more positive than I felt yesterday....