Back in the late 70s we had a few sturgeon come up the two creeks I was working on. Thought was that they were following the summer chum for eggs and carcasses. A couple years after I left there were more than 200 that came up one creek a bit, apparently to feed. These guys may be coming up, following the spawners (or hoping there will be some) and this may be a response to the fresh/salt change. I would guess, that if it is a response to that interface, that low flows may make for a very small mixing zone.

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

Question on flows so take a peek. At Porter still some above record lows but Satsop is record low flows as are some of the upper tribs. Also weather forecast ( crystal ball time ) now has Sept staying dry and Oct rather wet.

We pray for dry weather through Oct. 10. Coho are thick off of GH. Lights out on Friday with lake like conditions. Last day is Tuesday at midnight, we pray for good ocean conditions again. Unreal that with a better forecast then last year we lose the last week of Sept. for area below 101 bridge, much less having lost that last week in the river.

9/06/2021



Good for Bay and river, to about South Montesano BUT area above South Montesano, and tributaries could get costly if you have jet boat and are not skilled at running the boat.

If you try to move up or down at the lower part of the tide water influence, as one operator found out, better be skilled at taking lower unit off and "moving shims" from bottom to top of impeller. Gravel bars have changed above South Montesano.

Don't forget hatchery Adult Coho and hatchery/Wild Coho jacks are the only legal fish above South Montesano, after 10/01/2021.

Tributaries and Chehalis above Montesano.....need rain, both to aid fish, in spawning run and fishermen chasing their legal chance.

Stay safe!!!!!!

This should be interesting to say the least. https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/rfc/ From the 18th to the 20th the flows are supposed to double or more from the present 208 cfs to around 500cfs at Porter. https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/weather/10_day.cgi This is not a major event to be sure but it should change things with lower water temps and moving fish inland. Hit the precipitation forecast button and the 240 hrs to see the daily totals. As luck would have we are off the water for a week starting the 24th but it will be interesting to see what happens!

Long range weather forecast says little precipitation through early Oct. in the PNW. We can but hope this holds true. And once again, why would the state hand us further restrictions then last year when the coho run is predicted to be higher? No wild fish above Monte? No Sept. season in marine area much less in the river? You know, when thety don't have to face us in public meetings these a-holes sure know how to screw us over .

Not sure what else could have been done Bob. We had a NT share of only 550 W Chinook and 6,000 W Coho that had to go from Sept to Dec. The GH Policy defines the NT sharing which really came down to go all in early and loosing the vast majority of inland Nov & Dec. Feedback has been consistently that folks would rather have a full season, Sept to Dec, than harvest ourselves off the water in the late summer months. We do not have the hatchery Coho production numbers that reduced the encounter rate and mortality on the wild Coho that we used to. It is a numbers game.

Thought I would add that the water temp mid reach tide water is 65.9 to 66.1 which is warm.

So we continue to have less hatchery fish which means more impact on wild fish since the ratio of wild to hatchery goes up which means more wild fish die due to impact of having to release more wild fish to catch your limit. So the A-holes that decide we don't need hatchery fish get to cut our seasons due to their fuc*ed policies. How are we (and the fish) not getting fuc*ed? Maybe we should just get to keep the 1st 2 fish we catch and fuc* the fin clipped restriction. Just use it for data collection.

If we were truly serious about wild fish recovery we would stop planting any and all hatchery fish UNLESS they can be harvested in a clean fishery. By that, for example, we would wipe out Minter Creek coho and chum and fish adults in Carr Inlet and the creek.

We simply can't have mixed stock fisheries because the release mortality/encounters is too high. If we were willing to have, say 90% of the fish in MS fishery be marked, then it might work. But the proportions used today just kill off the wild fish slower.

How many think that the wild stocks will survive without major changes to climate conditions and commercial harvests unless maybe all fishing stops. Not much chance of that happening.

They have survived worse and would, as a species, survive. They likely will have to move north, until the really cold weather returns.

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

Take a look guys and the rain event is going to be larger than previously thought. It looks to be Friday will be near two inches in the Olympics ( pushing 4 in in three days and less in the upper Chehalis. Simply put the Satsop go above 500 cfs but Porter will from a little over 200 cfs to over 1500 cfs in two days cresting the 20th. Remember it takes around 4 days for upper Chehalis water to reach the bay.

Simply put things are about to change dramatically in the Chehalis Basin. Great for inland and the Oct 1 start but should really suck in the bay and tide water. Mother nature is not a very nice lady.

Another year fuc*ed by the state. What kind of shi*heads do we have "negotiating" for the sportsman? Meanwhile lots of wild fish will die upriver by those trying to find hatchery fish. Just let us keep the 1st two friggin' fish fin or not.

It would probably be better to require all landed fish be retained. But, that still leaves what many would consider too small a fishery. At a 10% mortality (ya gotta model something) you can "kill" through release 1 wild for every 10 caught which means that the allowable kill lets you contact contact 9 for every one killed.

Under the kill 'em all, each encounter counts 1 for 1 and you get to the limit a whole lot faster. That means the surplus hatchery fish either flood the hatchery and spawning grounds or we have traps used.

WDFW should do an intensive educational series to fully demonstrate the how's and why's and impacts of the various ideas folks have.

yeah big rain comming get the fish up river above the nets.

If that's the case what are the difference in numbers of hatchery fish released in the Chehalis basin between this year's run and last year's run (2018 vs. 2019?)

09/14/2021




Above South Monty, hatchery only.....don't like the hatchery only but if it keeps the guide boats going to the Cowlitz then I'm ok with the current rules.

even though i dont fish up DWs way i agree with what he said..

wow guess there's a first for everything.

Staff has been doing that for many years. The virus and zoom bit has left that wanting but frankly almost every question posted recently has been answered by staff many times. Some folks only hear what they want and that usually leads to unnecessary confusion.