Get on wdfw website and get registered for this virtual town hall as they’ll not only be discussing not fishing natives but ending the season on December 1st for hatchery fish as well. Special thanks to the turds who made sure fighting for hatchery fish was a possibility. Today 5pm, be there or lose a fish.

I say they will go with option 4 cause they fkced things up so bad ..

they should do a license buy back

They need to go back to wild steelhead retention, ever since they closed it it’s gone to ***t & they know it. Now they can’t handle 2,000 hatchery fish coming back to the hatchery before they hit the nets. What’s next? Asking anglers to pay retroactive fees for lost opportunity? Everything hit the fan when they eliminated wild harvest... look at the data(& regulations).

Are you fuking dense or something? What part of those wild escapement numbers don't you understand? The Quillayute is marginally holding on, while the smaller tribs they didn't talk about like goodman, mosquito and the dickey have tanked.
Under escapement up and down the whole coast with only the hoh and Quinault barely making the numbers, and a scant 3k fish over in the Quillayute won't make up for all the anglers coming from across the state to pound on it....
Bringing their covid and flat brimmed hats to forks and fuking with a town in ways it, and most of the west end isn't prepared to deal with.

Thought from last nights meeting and a quick review..basically painted a very bleak picture for the next couple years of steelhead.

Main point were that all but 3 of our major watersheds are all under escapement this year..
*Chehalis is 2000 wild steelhead under
*willipa is 500 under
* queets/clearwater 650 under
*hoko is 500 (they have ZERO fish at the hatchery now!!)
Humptulips is 600 under as well!

Hoh and upper Quinault are like 300 above, but I don't feel that's enough to allow a fishery, IMO.
and the Quillayute system is 3300 fish over...which isn't really that much, certain NOT a good year out there, but they have a lot more wiggle room than any of the other coastal streams.

With that being said, they gave us 4 options
1. early closure (like Feb 15th) -this way they could max efforts on hatchery fish before the wild component really shows up.
2. Quillayute only - since this is the only system above escapement more than 10%, open it, and only it for fishing, rest of the coast is closed
3. Gear/harvest restrictions - shifting rules coast wide to no bait, barbless, and close the retention of all trout under adult steelhead size (to protect future populations) and *my fav* close fishing from a floating device on several streams.
#4. Close all coastal streams.

Obvious 1 only shifts out pressure, still has bait and some higher hooking mortality, and disproportionately effects the early part of the wild run.
2 has obvious issues because with the Quillayute system only being over by 3k, it most likely won't support the 80% western washington fisherman flocking to it to recreate, not to mention the large influx of GUIDES that would be there as well.
3 does a good job of evening out pressure and still allowing access, lowers hooking mortality and effectively closes down certain sections of river not fishable on foot...BUT it doesn't take into account how some of the streams like the Chehalis are dangerously under levels and we don't need to be pounding on stocks that are ALREADY under escapement and HAVE BEEN the majority of the last ten years!
#4...well this one is obvious, DEFINITELY the smartest move, but also definitely the one we will get the least public...or guide (shake my goddamn head) for!

So I feel that a heavily modified #3 Should come down the line, closing rivers like the Chehalis and some of its tribs not doing so well, the willipa bay streams, queets/clearwater, and shifting the ones closer to the escapement goal to gear restrictions and on smaller tribs no floating devices.

It's NOT good, and netting has about 1% to do with it, our overwhelming data shows HUGE losses of juvenile steelhead as they outmigrate along the coast...that couple with incredibly poor ocean conditions the last 3 years and it start to make sense... reading between those lines I'll remind you that we still have 3 brood cycles out there maturing that have had to deal with those poor conditions their whole lives, so I would guess the outlook for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 aren't going to look much better. Ocean conditions have improved over the last year but we don't know how long that will last before the PDO(pacific decilosilation) becomes an issue again. With that being said a coastal closure would most likely mean a closure of tribal fishing as well (me personally I'm about 95% confident that would happen honestly)

** I'd like to distance myself from reefskunks comment**


Lol, ya right, I aint no yellow belly like that, what you said is spot on and correct, though I can imagine the amount of support from the guides... local guys get it but the part timers coming out there, the cadys, the lpj's, the chris ashley's ..
None of those tools will get it and will have a fit

Might be a good season to employ my "hookless" flies and just work on learning to cast left handed and making cack-handed casts.

The least they could do is let us fish the hatchery runs, makes the most sense.

Make anglers choose the the one river they are allowed to fish.

One for the whole winter and one for the whole summer.
Period.
Or
Make anglers choose one county to fish.

Pick a unit bitches.......................Just like Idaho just did with the non-resident deer hunting.

11/25/2020

My take:

1. 1.5 hours of WDFW talking about things most sportsmen already know.

2. After 8 months of C-19 closing of WDFW offices and I expected a plan, nope 4 options. Need to have a strong WDFW to make decisions to protect the wild fish.

My suggestions: Won't be popular

1. 5 year plan....... No fishing from boats on tributaries. Boat only used to get from point A to point B....

2. Cut off points on all tributaries, no fishing above these dead lines.

3. Maybe limit the days of the week......Wednesday - Saturday, rivers open....Sunday - Tuesday rivers closed.

I'm sure there are others but I wanta fish........

Oh to WDFW personnel that use Wild steelhead for spawning, at least put the males back in the river they came from.......yea, some will probably die BUT some might live to return again, for sure when they are surplused, "they die"

On the Wynoochee River, NO wild steelhead should ever be hauled from the trap and placed in the lake..........put all the hatchery ones you want up there.

Something that would help fish which are in the shitter across the board and alleviate pressure from the 206/253 guide crowd..
BE REMINDED that a bit of basic math on guide numbers, # of clients, daily catch average shows that this COMMERCIAL component of our fisheries may routinely encounter up to 70% of the fish needed for escapement (cite greg springer)

But the bigger deal may be for local residents...since there is ZERO advanced medical care facilities anywhere around there and guides have, for the most part, thumbed their nose at the guidelines and any idea of social distancing or coming to town prepared so they don't have to patron local shops for supplies while they *happen to be* asymptomatic.

Recreational fisherman alone are going to be flocking there more this year if we have a season just because of the forecast.. that will surely account for its own problems

If sport fishing is even a meaningful part of the problem (which I doubt), why are the drainages that get hammered THE MOST by guiding the only ones forecast to make escapement? Doesn't seem like anglers are largely responsible to me, but it does seem like extinction is inevitable at this point, so why not just let us flail away to the bitter end?

Option 5: Let us fish until they're gone. I guarantee it won't be a C&R encounter that kills the last one, no matter what they decide. A gillnet, a cormorant, or a "blob" is FAR more likely to deal that blow.

I would like to know why they kept it open for C&K up until a few years ago and now that it went C&R the numbers got worse. I have a feeling the natives just netted harder when they saw increased fish come back that sporties didn’t take because of C&R. As hard as it is to take for some on a C&R fishery it might of kept other factors in check. I really liked when it went to 5 fish a year limit. I didn’t take any but it was fun chasing the big one. Ever since it went C&R, no bait, single hook s*** I said screw it, not even worth the time. I want that fishery back! What were the numbers like when it was 30 fish per season? I understand the guiding pressure is high but what a load of [Bleeeeep!] regulations now. You can’t even fart without somebody taking a picture.

In the town hall WDFW says they are co-managers with the tribes and they don’t manage tribes. As much as I care I think wdfw should needs to allow as much kill as the tribes do. Why be goody 2 shoes when you shouldn’t? Just because we release all fish and use completely stupid methods to angle doesn’t mean the tribes are out there doing the same. The tribes don’t give a [Bleeeeep!] what we do they are out the for themselves, it sounds like were just out there to help them.

Here's what we've come to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LZo9ugJTWQ

figure it's about time to stick a fork in things. i don't know how anyone can consider themselves a serious steelhead fisherman any more, it's just fighting over scraps at this point. getting up early to play bumper boats and deal with crowds to maybe have a shot at a fish just isn't worth it to me any more. especially with the "new generation" of hyper-aggressive anglers chasing youtube glory.

i busted one of my favorite rods 4 years ago. i still haven't replaced it...that's saying something. i seem to end up spending most of my time outdoors with a rifle or shotgun in my hands than a rod these days. i've just reached the point where the crappy hunting in this state is more enjoyable than the crappy fishing.

Word on the street is that #3 will happen soon. Look for the WDFW email soon.

IMO, if steelhead fishing from a boat is going to be that big of an impact to the fishery, it's time to just close it all down - statewide.

Nope.

If this goes through it will mean NO FISHING from a boat, moving or anchored.

Can you gillnet from a boat? Asking for a friend...

I'm fine with no fishing from a boat (with the exception that the wadeable runs will be clogged with spey dudes who don't move their fvkin' feet). It'll make the side drifting, bead "fly" guides learn how to earn their fish. I like a good plug takedown as much as the next guy, but I'd rather grind it out old school than not fish at all,

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