The north Sound rivers (snow melt fed) are not faring much better than the Chehalis. While not at 2015 lows the current conditions are concerning. This morning flows on the Sauk at Sauk was 2800 cfs (36% of the historic mean - 7,760).

Things are sitting up for both salmon fry straying and steelhead redd dewatering. All ready seeing fry trapped in dewatered channels. Steelhead peak fry emergences still more than a month away and the river is currently 3.5 feet lower than when the peak spawning occurred.

Curt

That doesn't bode well.

Thank goodness the SE Alaska troll fishery is back on, so all those salmon can get humanely harvested before they have to return to to our low, warm rivers....

Great news tonight!

Well the 90 day forecast is out and it is for above average temperatures July through September and very little rain. The hot then cool cycle we have been in appears to be going away and just the usual hovering below or above average thing. Flows are staying with the same pattern with the Chehalis at Doty near record low flows.

Some folks have been out and about fishing lately. With the closure of night sturgeon fishing things really have not been the same. In the last 20 years the number of fishers I see have drastically declined. Sign of the times I guess but I always enjoyed night sturgeon fishing and until the last few years there was always lights up and down the river with the ocasional period of shouting and hollering. This was ocassionaly followed by a boat kicking free of its anchor and spot lights flying around trying to stay out of the snags and brush.

Things change I guess but not for the better on the Chehalis are my thoughts.

Even though this is Willapa I find this interesting. If you are at Friends Landing on the Chehalis near Montesano and look at the ridge directly across the river at the top of the bluff it is the edge of the North River drainage. Just down the ridge is Little North River which when I was young was one of the best cut fishing spots on the coast but not now. In fact North River was famous for Searun Cutthroat and folks traveled there to fish for them. It was so popular that several companies and individuals had house boats moored up river in tidewater.

For whatever the reason that fishery and the fish are greatly diminished so from my persepctive this is a good thing long overdue.

June 29, 2023
Contact: Nick Vanbuskirk, Montesano (Region 6), 360-490-9372
Media contact: Mark Yuasa, 360-902-2262

WDFW asks anglers to release "stitched" sea-run cutthroat trout in Willapa Bay waters

OLYMPIA – Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologists are asking anglers to release all sea-run cutthroat trout with a suture on the belly in rivers and marine waters of Willapa Bay now through spring of 2024.

WDFW is conducting a study to better understand the pattern of movements as sea-run cutthroat trout in Willapa Bay transition from freshwater to marine water.

Each fish has an acoustic tag inserted in their belly. Anglers are asked to look for stitches on the belly to determine if the fish has a tracking tag and release it immediately. Around 200 adult sea-run cutthroat trout will be captured and tagged in Washington and British Columbia now through spring of 2024.

Studies in areas like Hood Canal suggest migration patterns are restricted to their natal fjord. Other locations such as southern Puget Sound and the Columbia River revealed more distant migration. These conflicting results and an absence of information for the Washington coast are important for management of this native salmonid.

"The study this summer aims to identify inter-habitat (freshwater, estuarine, and nearshore) movements, and the role temperature, salinity, tide, and barriers (dams and culverts) play in determining movement patterns," said Nick Vanbuskirk, a WDFW fish biologist. "Regional biologists will also be exploring fine scale movement of fish in the nearshore marine environments with a focus on improving fishing opportunity."

Anglers who catch and release a tagged sea-run cutthroat trout, should call WDFW at 360-490-9372. For fishing regulations in various Willapa Bay rivers, go to the WDFW webpage.

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.

Those acoustic tags are neat. In the 70s I did research on Cutties in a couple small OP streams. We had one smolts out of a Discovery Bay creek and the overwinter in a Sequim Bay creek.

Considering Grays harbor and the Chehalis Basin have fallen victum to every fruit loop bio's idea that has left the twin harbors ( Willapa also ) hatchery system in shambles I thought this was relevant.


Washington needs to OK co-managing fish hatcheries with tribes

Lisa Wilson Vice Chair

Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission needs to adopt an agreed-upon Co-Manager Hatchery Policy with the state’s tribes and not be influenced by outside groups trying to derail it.

After nearly 15 years of the state taking unilateral actions on salmon hatchery policy, state and tribal experts developed this proposed policy together, reaffirming our commitment to co-manage our shared resources.

The state Commission supported this two-year effort and should not be influenced now by antihatchery groups. One such group is on record saying the only hatcheries they support are “closed hatcheries.”

These views are scientifically unbalanced and ignore more significant issues that salmon face. They also conflict directly with treaty rights and tribal sovereignty. The state’s economy and population have grown at the expense of tribal communities and salmon.

We now must rely on hatcheries to prevent salmon extinction, preserve fishing opportunities for non-tribal citizens, and exercise the treaty rights that maintain our cultural identity. Hatcheries also are critical to the ecosystem.

Orcas and the multitude of other marine, aquatic and terrestrial species that rely on salmon as part of their diets do not distinguish between hatchery and natural-origin fish. Yet increasingly we see hatchery fish wrongly implicated in the decline of naturalorigin salmon and steelhead populations. A poor understanding of fisheries science and hatchery management proliferates these misconceptions.

The modern management of hatchery programs is supported by geneticists, veterinarians and statisticians. Fisheries biologists closely monitor salmon and steelhead populations, and the staggering volume of data they collect guides decisions on how to integrate hatcheries with other facets of natural resources management.

Hatcheries are an integral part of salmon recovery. They mitigate the historic and ongoing loss and degradation of salmon habitat caused by non-tribal entities and exacerbated by climate change. These are the primary causes of the decline of salmon. Meanwhile, hatcheries provide the vast majority of salmon that return to our region.

Those hatchery fish are treaty fish. We were promised in our treaties that we would always have salmon to harvest, and treaties are “Supreme Law of the Land,” according to the U.S. Constitution. Tribal members depend on salmon for ceremonial, subsistence, spiritual and commercial purposes.

Protecting salmon fisheries is paramount to ensuring treaty-reserved harvest in perpetuity, and the preservation of our heritage. We are salmon people and salmon are sacred to us. They are at the heart of our way of life.

While it is decades overdue, completing this first joint Co-Manager Hatchery Policy will be a strong signal that the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission affirms its legal obligations to co-manage the shared resource, as established in the 1974 Boldt decision and the Puget Sound Salmon Management Plan that followed. It is a step forward in salmon recovery using the best available science.

True co-management requires us to work in lockstep on all technical, policy and legal fronts to effectively manage and conserve salmon in perpetuity for all.

Lisa Wilson is a member of Lummi Indian Business Council and vice chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.

then buck up some cash to help pay to raise the salmon

The treaty tribes don't financially support the state's WDFW hatchery system. Therefore they shouldn't enjoy co-management status of the system. Treaty tribes have the same right to provide input to WDFW regarding hatchery management as every other stakeholder and interested party, and that is as it should be. Allowing treaty tribes to co-manage a state-owned and state funded public resource is an example to allowing the tail to wag the dog, meaning treaty tribes, which number less than 2% of the state's populations, would have 50% of the influence on hatchery management.

While federal treaties reserve the right to harvest up to 50% of the allowable harvest of salmon, there is no legal nor logical extension of that right to manage hatcheries that contribute to providing fish to harvest. Ms. Wilson's editorial makes some allegations as fact that reflect her biased interpretation of the facts and are not equally shared as such by everyone. That is something the WDFW Commission needs to consider before adopting the NWIFC recommendation. And in my opinion, the Commission should not adopt the co-manager hatchery policy.

Although my memory is likely faulty I remember that the original Boldt Decision reserved responsibility for conservation to the State. The Tribes could manage their fisheries but within on conservation standard. Bill Wilkerson gave away that conservation responsibility and allowed it to be shared. How's that working out?

The Port has this work coming to FL. Should be nice improvements.

Friends Landing Boat Launch $117,500

The Port of Grays Harbor will use this grant to design, engineer and permit the redevelopment of the boat launch at Friends Landing, just outside of Montesano. The port’s plans call for construction of a concrete boarding ramp in the existing boat launch parking area and paving of the existing parking area for boat trailer parking.Friends Landing was developed as the first of its kind, universally accessible, outdoor recreation facility in the early 1990s. It is used as a boat launch for recreational boating and fishing in the Chehalis River.

I find this more than a little interesting and good read.

PAT NEAL: The new fishing regulations
By Pat Neal
Wednesday, July 19, 2023 1:30am

OPINION:


IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news. The good news is the 2023 Washington State Sport Fishing rules came out. The bad news is the 2023 Washington State Sport Fishing rules came out.

I have spent years studying our fishing regulations in an attempt to translate them into English. To understand our fishing laws, it might be helpful to understand how they are made in the first place.

The fisheries resource is divided between competing groups of tribal, commercial and sport fisheries who can only agree on one thing: banning the other guy’s gear.

This is done with a cabal of bought-and-paid-for biologists and the plundering rhetoric of greed-bloated lobbyists who stack the deck for a self-serving staff of anonymous career opportunists, who don’t fish themselves.

The end result is an erosion of our fishing opportunities.

For example, on page 2 of this year’s regulations, there is an update that says that fish requiring a punch card and all shellfish now require a license to be harvested on Free Fishing Weekend, June 8-9 in 2024.

These species could previously be harvested without a license on Free Fishing Weekend.

In other words, the Free Fishing Weekend is no longer free.

What if you are fishing for cutthroat on the Free Fishing Weekend, a species that does not require a punch card, and accidentally hook a steelhead, a species that does require a punch card? Are you in legal jeopardy?

It might be a good idea to consult an attorney before you risk fishing.

You may need a legal opinion to decipher the fine print in our fishing regulations.

Did you know that from Sept. 4 to Oct. 17, the Quileute River is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and also closed Sept. 27, Oct. 4 and 11? Did you know that the Hoh River, a stream only 50 miles long, is divided into eight different zones, each with its own seasons, gear restrictions and catch limits? None of these zones are on a map. There are few signs that would indicate what zone you are in.

If you cannot afford an attorney, you probably can’t afford to go fishing. Fishing, as a recreational activity, has been compared to throwing your wallet in the water.

It gets even more expensive when you are ticketed for breaking a law you did not know existed.

For example, Washington’s green crab regulations are insane.

We are not allowed to possess this invasive species. Green crabs are trouble. They can dig down 6 inches and eat 40 half-inch clams a day.

While they can’t crack open a mature oyster, green crabs can kill the small ones while digging up the eelgrass beds that are critical habitat for our seafood — from salmon to Dungeness Crab.

In January 2022, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee declared war on the green crab.

The state Legislature forked over almost $9 million to fund a committee to study the problem.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife admitted it was “counterintuitive” to not allow people to collect, remove and eat green crab on their own.

They insisted people in Washington are too ignorant to tell the difference between a green crab and a Dungeness crab.

Oregonians are a whole lot smarter than Washingtonians.

In Oregon, it is illegal to return green crab to Oregon waters.

They let you keep 35 a day.

Oregon suggests cooking green crab.

It appears that the goal of Washington’s fishing regulations is to limit fishing opportunities, while funneling money into bureaucracies for gratuitous studies and boondoggle projects that do nothing to protect and preserve our angling heritage.

_________

Pat Neal is a Hoh River fishing and rafting guide and “wilderness gossip columnist” whose column appears here every Wednesday.

He can be reached at 360-683-9867 or by email via patnealproductions@gmail.com.

There was a time when Washington's fishing regulations were purposefully complex in order to maximize opportunity following ESA listing. The simplest reg is "closed" if a threatened or endangered species is present. I do agree that what seems to be going on with "management" now is to drive anglers out of state or out of country.

WAIT... I thought the average Orygoogan wasn't smart enough to pump their own gas? SO confused....

Most Washingtonians think you should use Kwell to kill Green Crabs.

Rivers bumped a little from yesterdays weather. I can't remember when the last time that happened this time of year. Might get some fish moving early?

Timing was off is my guess. Springers are up out of tide water into staging areas and to early for fall Chinook. Another three weeks down the road I think you might have something. It had to help in the rearing areas though but low summer flows are the norm for the Chehalis Basin. The Satsop bounce was a good one but the upper Chehalis not so much and at Porter the river is forecast to break the record low flows by August 4th. Nice summer for us but not so much for fish.

Gonna be a bad summer for juveniles for sure.

I took a look and the October forecast is changing. September is just 7 days with showers / rain and not much to the rain thing. October looks for 14 days of showers / rain and maybe several actual rain events. Nightime temps above average but several hot spells but mostly around average highs.

From my seat in the bleachers long range forecast day to day are mostly guesses but I do pay atention to patterns. October looks to be where this warm dry summer turns to a wetter period. It would be nice if that happens!