WDFW put the river closures near the end of the email on coastal steelhead seasons. Like it was some minor update. A very "sneaky" move by WDFW. It should have been in its own separate email. And WDFW wonders why they are held in such low esteem by recs.

12/01/23

Whom ever writes these WDFW announcements, "must get paid by the word".

Sportspersons really only want to know "what rivers are open and when", if they were put in alphabetical order, that would be a bonus.....

WA has low wild steelhead abundance statewide. But WDFW finds it necessary that "State-managed recreational fishing closes Nov. 30 in the Chehalis, Humptulips, Quinault, and Queets rivers due to chronic low wild steelhead abundance." I think it's worth noting that the rivers closed to recreational fishing due to chronic low wild steelhead abundance are exactly those rivers fished by the Quinault Tribe. Other rivers fished by other tribes have their wild steelhead abundance issues too, but apparently not at the same level as the rivers fished by the Quinault. This has me thinking that the Quinault Tribe doesn't see chronic low wild steelhead abundance as the kind of conservation issue that WDFW does. Could it be that Quinault's significantly lower spawning escapement goals have something to do with this? Or maybe that the Quinault Tribe has adopted the policy - not biological - decision that hatchery and wild fish are the same? With such disparate management concepts, it seems like "chronic low wild steelhead abundance" is by management design. And whichever co-manager has the lowest standards wins - if you can call it that.

That is called a race to the bottom.

Are we winning? Seems like it.

With the river closure announcement coming out so late yesterday, it seems that maybe WDFW and the QIN were discussing seasons and closures late and , at the last minute , could not come to an agreement. So the rivers were closed abruptly. With the rivers flooding in the next few days the flooding was as good as a closure.

That's optimistic lifter, I'd say they closed it late ro get a few tickets today and this weekend

QIN is 100% responsible for the demise of late coho in the Chehalis with the 5 day/week netting schedule that starts in November for "steelhead". Years of it has killed the run.

Just looked at the weather forecast and it is a ugly thing! https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/weather/10_day.cgi Day three which is Monday has Wynoochee Dam getting over 6 inches in 24 hours and upper Satsop getting 6.42 inches. That a lot of rain but the saving grace is that flows are so low that it will get ugly but just ugly! Upper Chehalis gets heavy rain but it is spread out over a week or so with Monday just over 3 inches.

December looks to be rather wet as always but a little above normal for temperatures. If WDFW can come to and understanding with the QIN so folks can fish sometime after the 9th or 10th the rivers should be fishable with tribs first and Chehalis dragging behind 3 or 4 days.

So hopefully the agency can craft and opening for the late timed hatchery Coho in December.

12/02/2023



Not to get in a big pissing match but at one time, over the past 50 years, there were thousands of hatchery steelhead caught in the Chehalis River, November, December, and January. Lots of plunking shacks, plunking areas below the Satsop River and it area way above the Satsop, all the way to Chehalis area.

The tribe did not net steelhead, in the early days of the Bolt Decision, and they never netted the Chehalis or Humptulips during the winter months.

WDFW started cutting back on the amount of hatchery salmon coming out of local hatchery, so tribe started netting started netting November - January for steelhead. WDFW reduced the plants of steelhead, so netting continued but "the late BIG Coho were the targeted fish.

As much as anything WDFW and all the cutting of hatchery steelhead and hatchery salmon are/still are a major part of the problem.

I do remember the really BIG LATE COHO, on the Satsop, the Wynoochee, and the Humptulips. Fishing pressure was nothing like it is today, yea there were others that fished the BIG Native Coho but most sportsperson were chasing steelhead, late November - March.

That's what I remember, and I still hate all gill netting and 99.9% of my fishing is where I don't have to see any netting at all.....

On the Web meeting Monday, WDFW said they were still in talks with the "Co-Managers". If you notice on released Regs it has: " Closed Dec. 1, 2023, until further notice".

Maybe those of you who want the rivers open should call the Quinault and ask them to get the negotiations with WDFW completed.

It's interesting that the Forks area rivers are doing ok & open, but the Grays Harbor rivers are closed & not doing so good. 1 common factor are the Quinault's involvement with those rivers. It seems like WDFW & the tribe are rarely on the same page. The one that sticks out is the Queets where WDFW has no water it's responsible for. River goes from the Pacific, through Tribal Land and into the Pristine National Park where we can't keep a Wild Fish. The Queets should be the Crown Jewel of Coastal fishing. Yet, it's struggled to meet what the Park & State feels is a reasonable Escapement Goal on Coho & Steelhead for years & years. Mostly not making it. Did netting the river for Winter Steelhead 4 & 5 days a week help?

I understand the Tribe has netting Rights & I'm fine with that. But maybe what they have been doing and are doing isn't working.

12/02/23

I'd have more faith in the WDFW and QIN negotiations, IF there was a few members of the public at the meetings.

I remember that it was that way BUT a few big mouth NT personnel "mouthed off", end of open meetings. About the same way WDFW hides behind the current way of dealing with public meetings, no real discussions allowed, no real idea how many are "tuned in"....not a good way to have "open meetings", grrrrrrrrrrr

With the Grays Harbor rivers on the drop and coho fishing technically open until the end of December, it would be nice to know if any progress is being made in the discussions/negotiations between WDFW and the QIN concerning opening coho fishing up again. Or does WDFW just want to "stall it out" until the end of the month and then tell the recs sorry but there was no agreement. I realize that QIN would not agree to any rec opening unless water conditions allowed them resume netting. Also, is there any possibility of a steelhead season? WDFW,in there email closing fishing said fishing would be closed "until further notice" .Are negotiations at a standstill or is there any progress? With the rivers on the drop it would be nice to know.

good ? lifter.. but i doubt that there will be anything happening this yr.. hope I'm wrong!!

Yeah Steely, I am pretty pessimistic about the whole situation. Wishful thinking.

I'm of the understanding that one of the reasons that the Quinaults closed their own season is that the market price for coho was in the toilet. I heard seventy cents per pound and no one wanted to go fishing for that low of price. This rumor is not confirmed but just hearsay from a friend from Amanda Park.

But Tug, the QIN said the reason that they stopped fishing was to protect that wild coho run. You don't believe them? Come on.

QIN I talked to were bemoaning the price, it didn't cover expenses.

I may have mentioned this before but back in the 80s the fishermen were getting 2 cents per pink. Some tribes sold them directly to the public at $2 each and couldn't meet the demand. Here in Olympia chum were available for $10 each, I think, and basically sold out. And they were recorded on fish tickets so there was accounting. It seems some enterprising fishermen could do the same thing. Maybe expenses have gone through the roof but it still seems that there are ways to make it economically viable.

Coho were up early, low prices for Coho what few were there, and Chum prices were about a buck a fish or a little more on average.