Very good observation. Nobody can do in-season adjustments while the fish are in the ocean since you can't tell where those fish will eventually be spawning. Only when the fish begin their freshwater migration can WDFW, or anyone else, determine the ultimate run-size. That means only a select group of anglers (those in freshwater) would benefit from the new forecast, if it comes in high.
However, the opposite is also true. If the run-size ends up being smaller than predicted, the freshwater angler will get shut down, but the saltwater angler will have already gotten his/her fish.
So that door swings both ways.....
Give that man a GOLD star!
Unless you actually fish the fishery.
Anyone who fished Puget Sound in July can tell you the forecast was looking way off.
Tons of nice size hatchery coho that had to be released....aren't they all supposed to die?
SF
This surprises me? You would think the WDFW sport sample guys on the water would have been catching those tons of nice size hatchery coho. Then reporting the results that an in season change is warrented. This happened this last Blackmouth season in area 10, when the samplers were catching to many undersized kings. Area 10 did not open until those numbers went down. That's an in season adjustment!
Are you sure samplers were fishing beginning July 1st?
I'm just telling you what I saw. Myself and others caught a bunch of nice hatchery coho we had to release, with some up to 6 lbs before mid July.
That doesn't happen every year. I wasn't fishing out of a boat either.
It sounds like Piper and others I know had similar success.
It wasn't just July either. Both MA 9 & 10 fished well for coho until the August closures.
I've also been seeing lots of silvers moving through the sound since then while cutthroat fishing.
There are also currently a ton of very nice size resident hatchery coho around. Based on the numbers I've been encountering and their size, next July looks really promising as well. The same was true last fall through spring. We were catching nice resident coho, some in places we've never caught them before.
Will we get screwed again next year?
I've fished the sound since the mid 60's and fish it over 100 days annually. I'm not blind and I know what I saw and experienced this summer. I could tell the forecasts were off some.
Perhaps WDFW samplers were the blind ones if they are fishing.
SF
Previous Topic
Index
