My husband and I were at the Chehalis River last year around this time and it seemed pretty good. We were hoping to make it over again this year. Anyone have any reports on how the opener (on the Chehalis) was?

Thanks in advance!

Is it open?

Opened today but I had to spend the day in (gack ) Seattle Going to give it a try tomorrow. Monday we were a fish a rod on the evening high down in the Harbor, all nice silvers Better fish it soon, non-indian commercial gillnets, believe it or not, go in Sunday night. And yes, they get to keep kings even though we don't Something seriously wrong with fish management in this state

The report was 1/2 fish per boat at Cosi.
A lot of kings hook and released at Monte.

The fact that the fishery in the Chehalis system which is not hatchery supported is being gill netting speaks volumes for why our fisheries are so ****ed up....Absolutely unbelieveable to me. The Chinook run was portrayed as so weak that fishing for them was out of the question....and then WDFW allows gill netting. Kind of makes a good case for **** canning the commission and tossing out the old guard at WDFW....I think it is time for a citizen initiative.

Right on Grampy, Kings are as thick as fleas. And the *ricks delayed the opening of the hump till the 16th. Someone needs to be fired.

Grandpa, the Chehalis system is too supported by hatcheries. There's one at Lake Aberdeen, one on the Satsop, one on the Skookumchuck, one on the Humptulips (not on the Chehalis I know), one on the Wishkah (although it might not still be active) and I do believe all the major tribs are planted with smolts. In fact I think the Quinault tribe plants some of those tribs...

Not to defend the state or the tribes, but I might also point out that predicting salmon runs will never be an exact science, and that managers should err on the side of conservation whenever dealing with wild stocks. Furthermore we got to fish those stocks in the ocean for more than two months.

When did they put one in on the Schookumchuck?

Salmonbelly,

Those same chinook now entering the river were available to both the ocean recreational and commercial troll fleet. Now in the inside fishery, chinook are open to commercial take but not recreational take. I think that is the imbalance that G2 is refering to.

I don't know, but here's my guess as to WDFW's rationale: Most of the kings are already in the river, and the commercial fishery will be restricted to the harbor, which should result mostly in gillnetted silvers, not kings. And therefore, we sportfishers are whining about not so much. I don't agree with that rationale; it's just my guess as to how WDFW might consider it to be reasonable fisheries management. Several of the terminal area non-treaty commercial net fisheries have been anachronisms that are functionally obsolete (lower quality fish with little market value), but there are laws on the books - as related in a recent thread - that require WDFW to manage for them whether they make sense or not.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Checked with a state friend and he says only the Satsop and Hump hatcheries still plant salmon. Also, the non-Indian net fishery will open in the bay around Oct. 12, by which time hopefully rain will send the kings upriver. Tribe will go in Oct. 14 or 15. Don't mean to say I wouldn't love to see kings open, but after such an phenomenal salmon season in the ocean and elsewhere this year -- record king catches in the Columbia, too -- I find it hard to complain about one system not being open.

MY point is simple...close waters to all if you must close them at all.

Coho and Chinook are also raised at Lake Aberdeen and Wishkah and Coho at Skookumchuck. Tribal netting opens on the 4th and nontribal on the 7th.

It has been my understanding that the Chehalis Kings are wild.

Some of us can't fish the ocean - boat too small or additionally in my case inner ears are degraded to the point that I get motion sick - no fun. My shot at kings is limited to hatchery fish only in the Straits, 1 a day at B10, and none in Grays Harbor. Great.

Non-Indian nets actually go in Thursday and Friday, 9th and 10th, and then most of the rest of the following weeks have 3 or more day per week Quinault fisheries. I don't begrudge the Q's so much - they don't get a shot at them in the ocean either. But what the hell are we giving them away to the white guys for - they barely make beer money and tank the sport fishery

Oh yeah, caught a nice 10 pound coho yesterday morning, and I'll see some of you at Cosi in the AM tomorrow - fly your flag and say hi

And what the hell, after the nets go in I'm going duck hunting

Agree with you spawnout. When I lived in GH County from '78 to '83, we couldnt' keep kings at all in the rivers. Just jacks. Small boat guy deserves a shot. Do you ever fish Willapa? There were some good days down there this year.