1/18/2023

Well, I got on it........ the following it what I found out..... will keep people posted, as I get information.

I can tell you, 1 fisher will be in the Willapa area and the other in the Forks area.

Here is what I got..... should answer a few questions...

1/18/2023

Hi Bill,

I am helping supervise these positions and lead the recreational test fishing pilot study. We recruited for two positions, one stationed in Montesano working in the Willapa Bay area and another stationed in Forks working in the north coast area. I am managing the south cost position and can update you on where we are at, but the north coast position will be managed by my coworker Colt Holley. He would be the best person to reach out to about updates for north coast test fishing and can be reached at Colt.holley@dfw.wa.gov.

It did take us longer than expected to complete the recruitment and hiring for these positions. I selected a candidate for the south coast position in Montesano and they are scheduled to start work this coming Monday. So no data or results to share yet. These positions will run through the end of March and in the future we hope to start them around the beginning of December. Please feel free to reach out if you have any more questions.

Amy Edwards

Oh man, only two positions? I'd hate to be the person who got the Willapa job. Can you imagine 40 hours or more a week working the Willapa system? If the job requires a scientific approach with stratified random sampling, then you can't just spend your time fishing the choice sections of the Willapa and Naselle. I've actually fished the Naselle once decades ago and the Willapa a few times. The Willapa is a nice little stream, especially if there are some fish in it, but I think it would get old. Then imagine, you have to spend an equal amount of time fishing the Nemah, a creek with about a total of 200 feet of fishable water above tide and below the weir. And then there's the North - anybody ever tried to fish the North? Oh man! The pain. Unless you just sit in one of the plunker shacks, if they're still around. Oh, jeeze, so glad I did not apply!

Nemah and Willapa were awesome 25-30 years ago when man was really starting to screw up the resource.


"It did take us longer than expected to complete the recruitment and hiring for these positions."
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Typical WA State Bureaucracy!!!!!

I fished the Naselle into the mid-2000’s. Fishing was great at times.

My old man started fishing it and the Gray(s) about 1970 through the early 90’s. He and his buddy had some fantastic trips over there through the decades.

Pops hit the Nemah around March-81 and had his most memorable afternoon of big native winter fishing ever. Only landed the smallest fish he hooked (and saw) and it was 17-1/2. Had both a hen over 20# and a buck over 24# both beach themselves on the opposite side of the creek, flip/flop and tangle-up in a root wad and break the leader before he could get across the creek and recover them! He ran out of leaders in his Pip’s from the fish taking his straight drifted eggs and burning into a brush pile or log jag. The fish were fine bright, having just came in on the tide. He was physically exhausted after 4hrs and 15 leaders he said. I experienced a similar situation in the late 90’s on the Dickey, but the fish weren’t big.

Hey, I'm not saying that the WB rivers don't have any steelhead in them, but the fishing is nothing, NOTHING, like it was in the 1970s. And then, with most of the wild fish gone, those loads of steelhead that did return were nearly all hatchery fish. (The last lick of old growth timber hadn't yet been removed from the Willapa Hills, but they were working hard at it.) Lest we forget that the state used to stock the hell out of those streams and the SAR (smolt to adult return) rate was 5 to 10 times greater than it is now. My point is that I'd rather not be the person assigned to fish the WB streams in 2023. This job notice did not include a "way back time machine" that could transport the angler to the fish abundance of yesteryear.

Speaking of planting fish all over. Used too fish the Lyre in the late 70s. I was not a good steel header but got into fish every day. My coworker went on the last day (2/28) of the season and lost something like 8 or 10 before finally bringing one to hand. This was all hatchery fish but it was actually fishing and not just casting to vacant water.

Don't beat yourself up to bad. The Lyre is tough one for evn the experienced angler. There, you need to be young and nimble to chase after hookup to give yourself a chance. Very seldom would a fish stay in those short swift pockets after hookup. Back then limits abound if you could chase them down.

Yeah. It seems to me, based on myself and my coworkers (3) that you should always get into fish there. Maybe not land, but there were fish.

I was drift fishing. My first encounter was a rather nice-sized male. I sort of hooked him. As I pulled, his head came up out of the water and threw the hook. I think he was playing with me.

2/18/2023

1st report from Southern fishery.....

Hi Bill,

Our test fisher program is progressing. The Willapa Bay test fisher officially started on January 23rd and spent the first week and a half going through training and getting familiar with the area.

He is splitting time between the Naselle and the Willapa rivers. For the month of February, he has fish 5 days in the Willapa and 4 days in the Naselle so far.

He has been fishing both gear and fly techniques. The low and clear water has made fishing challenging the past week.

He sampled one unmarked steelhead in the Willapa last week and hooked a couple other fish. Currently, this project as well as the creel monitoring is slated to go through the end of March, so more information will be collected over the coming weeks.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.