Heard that a fish buyer from Canada came to LaPush to buy the fish for $.80 per pound. He saw that they where all wild and backed out of the deal. My god would you not think that if the indians can't sell them, they might be concerened about the recourse and just not exercise there rights. This info came from a good source. Anyone else hear about this.

I wouldn't be too concerned for the lack of redds seen as the wild timing starts March 15th. Redds built prior to the 15th are considered hatchery steelhead. Peak spawning for wild steelhead is April 10-15 thru May 5th.

May be the case down south Letty, but not so up this way.

All the Forks area river used to support large numbers of early season (Nov, Dec, Jan) natives. These fish are seldom seen any longer ... probably as a result of very heavy early-season netting as well as sport take. Many believe that these fish, which usually were far upstream spawners, tend to hold in terminal areas with stcked hatchery fish, increasing the take on these fish.

If we're not able to get a total C&R reg out this way in the future, expect to see a big push for regs that protect these early fish.

The Snider program was created especially to keep this portion of the run going. The Guides' Association does have the okay to expand this to other streams (Bogey, Calawah) ... but as I've mentioned before, we're unsure if we'd be able to get enough broodstock any longer.

I see in the recent article in the PI (Times?) that Mr Freymund said that the Quillayute was the healthiest run in the US if not the world. How could that be if a major portion of your run is nearly extinct? The hatchery fish that now come back in that timeframe are no substitute for the wild ones that once did.

How many of us are there that know and will acknoledge theese fish once existed in large numbers.

Some groups surely dont want to admit they were the downfall of theese fish. Especially the ones that exploit them while persueing their hatchery counterparts!

I know that I have mentioned many times of the robust run of early wild fish that once filled our north coast rivers. I was lucky and got too see the tail end of this which seemed to disappear more than 10 years ago.

Boy oh Boy!!! Do I ever remember those early nates. We used to see em as early as Nov. and bang em all season long on the Green. Funny though, my Dad had the foresight 30 years ago and taught me to catch and release nates far before it was popular, or should I say necessary. I sorely miss those mean darlings!!!!!!!

I do remember reading a fish check report form the Bogey back in 72. I was home on leave in December. It read something like this. 90 fihserman checked with 120 fish and 30 of them over 20 lbs.

Can you imagine a weekend where 30 20lb. fish were caught. Maybe in a season now.

Makes me wonder how much of a hand we really had in bringing on the current situation. 120 dead fish. CNR