I was wondering when the final seasons were to be set.


WDFW PUBLIC NOTICE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
1111 Washington St. SE, Olympia, WA 98501
wdfw.wa.gov


June 21, 2021

Contact: Fish Program, 360-902-2700
WDFW Director to adopt state salmon fishing regulations
OLYMPIA – Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind is scheduled to adopt 2021-2022 state salmon season fishing regulations at 3 p.m. Thursday, July 1.

The event will be conducted virtually; the public may tune in at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZAX26jCoT0aZXOGDWbx3VQ.

This follows a June 22 public hearing and marks the final step in the annual salmon season setting process, commonly referred to as North of Falcon. For more information about the North of Falcon process, and to see tentative season summaries, visit wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/management/north-falcon.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife works to preserve, protect and perpetuate fish, wildlife and ecosystems while providing sustainable fish and wildlife recreational and commercial opportunities.

Such fanfare...

Sort of strange considering ocean salmon already opened 2 days ago.

Gee... can anyone spell I-R-R-E-L-E-V-A-N-T?

06/22/2021




Its like, I haven't gotten any press lately......Oh here's my chance !!!!!!!

Wonder how opening a season before the regs are "legally" filed is a legal opening. But, I digress...

No idea CM. It was just a few years back that it became clear that the NOF process violated the laws of the APA requirements. In other words they filed the CR 102 and 102 for public comment and processes after setting the seasons ( unofficially sorta/kinda/what the he--) which is ass backwards from what the law requires. I guess they came up with another innovative way to pull it off that they regard as good enough .........until somebody sues their collective butts.

Until somebody sues. That's what they are betting on. They have very deep pockets while the folks affected by the regs are not interested in paying to sue.

Yes, they are violating the law. But they have set up a process that seems to have state and federal support, regardless of legality. It gives seasons, the fishermen are happy. They might piss and moan, but they'll drink the kool-aid and buy licenses.

Last November I sold the boat, December traded the truck in for a car and after a garage sale and Craigslist I sold the last of my fishing gear yesterday. The two notices I got from them about sending in my catch card for last year just got sent back with "Deceased" written on it. I've had some great pictures and memories but time to move on.

Some folks have asked how the river is this year and it has been a bit different. One would think the river stays somewhat the same but it doesn't, not at all. Some years it can actually stink mid summer and other years not so much. This spring the river has been happy which may sound a bit weird but is pretty much right on. Birds have been hanging out in much larger numbers than usual. From eagles to ducks and geese just a lot of them. Bears, otter, racoons, just everybody are down right fat already so whatever is going on wildlife are just a bunch of happy guys.

Fish no idea! Sturgeon are not showing well but the eagles and other preparator birds have been kicking the crap out of something that is 5 to 6 inches moving up and down the river. Seeing some large fish jumping off and on nothing to right home about.

So this year so far the river and wild life have been not just happy but in a pig out mode. Water quality must be rather good because geese and ducks love to take baths on the island gravel bar when the water is clean and fresh which they have been doing daily.

So again the river is happy this year but we wait to see just how this translates for fish.

Interesting.

Thanks for the info.

Your welcome DS. On flows as the yearly panic on water flows has sets in with the Chehalis is about half way between average 420 cfs and record low flows of 300 cfs sitting at 380 cfs and dropping at Porter. For the Chehalis this is normal as it is a rain driven watershed not snow melt run off. This pattern will stay the same until November. Our risk in the basin for fish is if it does not rain around the first week of Nov and that causes fish to return and spawn differently.

Frankly right now the river is looking fine, flows will drop as usual but we are hanging out in good flow territory. Could be better but much better than the dry years of the early 90's. We seldom have summer rains in Sept that alter this pattern much other than little events that bounce the river some but only temporarily.

So what we will likely see is the salmon will start in normally, ( unless they decide differently ) move upstream to stage up and wait for rain. The one thing that is always the same is they will not move to spawning areas until the beaver ponds and swamps get enough water to keep them full. On the East Satsop it is rather dramatic as you get a rise you will get the browning of the water but it is just run with dust and crap. When the ponds dump the East Satsop actually turns a golden black color for about a day or so depending on the size of the rain event. Then Coho from the bay up will move rapidly upstream.

So flows and temperatures are normal ( water temp hit 70 during the heat wave but dropped back down ) for now and as I said the river is happy.

Got a couple of unusual things for ya! First part of the week we had several flocks of birds running around the river. After doing a search for pics and video it appears they were Terns and I have not seen that before up here. River was full of a fish maybe 5 in or so that came from the bay which I have seen many years just not the Terns, no idea.

Then the strangest thing. I found a bunch of salmon jumping around and it seemed like the river was full of them. After playing around for a while a guy the has been fishing jacks also came down and anchored up next to me and we compared notes. Seems that in a ¼ mile of the river you see nothing until last couple of hours of incoming then fish jumping all over. The tides in the day time are really soft now so there is not much of a push. Don put me on to what was going on as it appears that the river was not full of fish but rather they are down deep ( 25 to 45 ft ) until toward slack then they simply start swimming all around in a school or two jumping like crazy. This conclusion came from simply setting and drawing a mental line following the jumpers. The pattern was pretty clear but a bit confusing as they did not seem to have any particular direction just back and forth & around the river. Tide turns to outgoing and nothing again. We saw bright fish along with some color plus some seriously colored guys but they looked to be small Chinook. I have seen all sorts of strange things with salmon but I have never seen them act like a trout in the river. I mean they were going all over the reach of the river like planted trout in Lake Sylvia! Oh to ease your mind jumping yes but no biting as I would have better odds of shooting one out of the air on the jump than hooking one. Lock jaw time which is OK for now. One thing for sure is it was fun to watch as it was like a play ground for fish just having a good time !

I'd say (guess) terns following baitfish upriver and jumping jacks (not just an exercise anymore!) are good indicators for the ecosystem. Hope it's a harbinger of things to come this fall....

More adults jumping than jacks but the jacks were the colored ones.

8/22/2021

Glad to hear some areas of the Chehalis River has fish jumping and rolling around.

My area, above South Montesano, has "nothing" going on....not even people that are normally nosey around, trying fishing for Coho and Chinook jacks.

I've not been fishing, having balance problems so walking and fishing from shore is not a option for me. That leaves my boat to access the jack fishery, there might be lots of water in the Aberdeen area BUT in the area toward the end of tide water, it is not a boat show. I do drive to areas where I can view the normal jack fishing areas, no one is around while I'm there.

Some major gravel movement has areas that have gotten "very skinny". Even with some rain, I predict "filled pumps or torn off lower units". Please be careful or it could get costly, nothing like "running up on a gravel bar, then having to wait 4 or 5 hours to float boat again"......wonder how I know that??????

I'm really enjoying reading about the happenings on the Chehalis in this thread, so thank you guys for taking the time to fill us in!

Much appreciated!

https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/rfc/

Well now we are entering new territory with flows in the Chehalis as summer flows kick in. Use Porter to get a clear picture of things but flows are getting down to near record lows. Keep in mind that very low summer flows are normal and it does not mean much to fishing unless we get to a low oxygen levels but it has to have an impact on rearing areas. Years back it was not uncommon to have Chinook adults die above Fuller Hill due to water conditions but we have not seen that in many years.

What we know presently is the Chinook are moving pretty much normal in timing but in greater numbers than one normally sees early on. The other side is Coho seem to be performing just the opposite. They are around to be sure but not that many which is normal but what is not normal is usually you have the smaller adults with the jacks and not so now. This time of year normally one can be on the river in the evening and for whatever the reasons Coho Jacks like to jump around in the evening but not so much at this time.

Nothing I see at this time would indicate that the water volume or quality is of much concern to the fish but it is the last of Sept through the first week of Nov that things can get a little strange out if it does not rain. So the fish are going to do what fish do !

The long range weather forecast is similar to what we have have now through Sept with five or six showery days. Oct is shaping up much differently with 18 days of showers and some rather substantial amounts of rain on some with Nov looking to be wet. Now I have little faith in day to day long range forecast but I do pay attention to trends in the weather. In general terms it is likely to rain early and simply get wet with rising flows through Oct. In river guys should love this trend but bay / tide water it is 100% the opposite of good which will likely suck...... big time.

What sucks big time is getting hosed with an Oct 1 opener.

Got that one right! The problem was that the last two weeks of Sept are, as staff stated, expensive. Rec catches are high because your not ( normally ) fishing behind the nets. So we fish those weeks we would get fish but loose much of Nov and Dec. Input from many folks in recent years has been that an restricted catch full season, or what can be put together, is better than a short wide open keep fishery. Simple fact is that the cuts in hatchery production means we are a minimum 25K on hatchery adults short from the past driving the encounter / mortality rate on wild Coho way up. So now a days on low wild return years means substantial restrictions and as much as I would like to offer an alternative there are really none that I can think of. If Bingham went back to full production it changes everything but I would not hold my breath on that one.

Update time, Jack fishing has been spotty either really good or really bad from my spot in the cheap seats. Seeing more fish all the time as one should just not many Coho of any size. Water temp is hanging out a little above or below 64 degrees very clear. Should get the murky spots in the tide once we are done with this set of shallow tides.

Now for something totally different. A couple of days back while fishing George came by and we chatted a bit. Then this he was fishing a mile or so above and he said ( with a straight face ) that as he was fishing the river erupted with sturgeon coming out of the water everywhere and some huge guys in the mix and he had never seen that before. Not sturgeon doing the rise and falling like a tree but that many of them. George has been fishing this river longer than most of us have been alive so it had to be something to see. Nothing when I headed back to the dock.

Well yesterday I fished a bit but decided to move upstream a bit and stopped to mess with my Lowrance settings and all of a sudden one hell of a splash right next to my boat. I could not figure what had hit the water and was busy making sure nothing was wrong then it happened. Sturgeon from a couple of real monsters to five / six footers plus a assortment smaller guys doing the straight up rise and just falling over like a tree. Now I know what George was talking about and I am with him, I have never seen Sturgeon in the numbers do that. One or two here there yes but damn this was much more than that by a mile. I am with George on this it was pretty amazing to see! As I said before the river is happy and everything from birds to bears are doing well and evidently fish also. No idea at all on what's up.

The usual warning, watch out for dead heads there are several new guys between Friends Landing and the Muck and they disappear toward high tide. Nothing to mess with guys so be aware of your surroundings and take care.

Little edit: Far more than usual seal bites on released fish. Most I have seen were in the back 30% of the body which usually means they were swimming like all dickens with Mr. Seal in hot pursuit. Presumably a Beaufort T Justice moment!

I witnessed the sturgeon event you described at the Mary's River corner a few years back. Full moon, so we could see them all over the river. Really cool, strange spectacle. It was that same night I hooked my only sturgeon. It slammed a chunk of tuna while I was reeling in to check bait. Felt like my lead was hung up on something until the headshakes started. The fish swirled and took off for the deeper water after that. Got a good look at what must have been about an 8-footer. I stayed tight to it for about 15 minutes, but I never had a chance once it got out into the current, and the 80-lb. leader eventually broke. Most fun I ever had getting my butt kicked by a fish.

So: if you see the sturgeon jumping around, as long as it's legal, it's time to go fishin'!