My question to all the guides and sportsman who fish the big Nate's in our State. Will the moratorium and the fact that you will not be able to remove the Wild fish from the river for pics cause a reduction in bookings and trips in pursuit of trophy fish?
My opinion is yes and I also feel it will give WDFW an easy in for closing all of the impact Rivers from March through May. I do not guide in the rivers that would be impacted but feel it could have devastating effects on the economics of small coastal towns such as Forks.
What brings me to this opinion is I have seen WDFW take advantage of situations similar to this to close down a fishery because it is to difficult and costly to enforce and I feel the door would be wide open for a State wide closure of any river for Steelhead during this time of year,

I own a guide company that only fishes the OP rivers and I can say that I expect business to pick up with the moratorium. Most of my clients are thrilled by the prospect of fishing for the most special resource our rivers hold. In fact many were very surprised and dissapointed that WDFW allowed harvest of wild fish in the first place. No one needs to eat one of these magnificant fish. I would gladly buy them a salmon if they want meat. Getting a photo and experiencing the thrill is enough. Besides, you can now get a great mount for your wall without bonking the fish.

I couldn't disagree with you any more RiverLevel. Neither of these two regulations will change the way I fish, or who I book a guided trip with.

Forks won't be losing any of my money because of these two regulations.

The Forks leadership is way off base on their claims on this one. Too bad the blinders are pulled down way deep over their eyes.

The moraturium will not effect my choiceof where to fish. The Tribal netters do though. Its not worth it to me fish a river that has nets in it. If I want to fish for big nates I will go elsewhere. Ive fished 1 river on the Oly Penn and it gets netted alot. That was a complete and total waste of my time and money. I will not be going there again. I will stay on the eastside of the sound if I really want to fish in WA. With the way things are up there now I think I will just stay in Oregon to fish. In the last few years Ive taken 3 guided trips up in WA. 2 were east of the Penn, and they were great trips. The one trip on the Oly Pen sucked. We got one little skanky fish and it had net marks??

As for Sparkeys Law. If I want a picture of a fish, Im taking the thing out of the water to do it.

How do you expect to get a great trophy mount without removing the fish from the water for accurate measurements and photos. As I understand the law you can NOT remove the fish from the water, without being in violation.

The economy in Forks is goign to suffer if they fight WSR more than if they support it. I for one will stop buying tackle in Forks, sleep in my camper rather than a hotel room, and also bring all my own food from home. The only thing I am going to spend money on will be gass for my rig.

Before they took this stance against WSR, I used to spend a bunch of money when I came out, specifically to do my part to support the local economy. I guarentee you I brought many "city $$$" into the forks economy in the past.

SA

RG ... Not really hard to do. People think this is the end of the world and it really shouldn't be any different from what we've all been doing for years with the exception of leaving a fish's fin in the water when taking the picture.

There is no reason to remove the fish from the water to get pix or measurements.

I've been working with this very same regulation in Alaska for ten years now ... and it's not that hard to do!

I expect my biz to increase as I've never let them be bonked anyhow and fishing will improve as a result of this. I don't expect the "great" days to get more frequent as this is more of a factor of freshet fishing and such, but in the times where there is a small stream of fishign coming and they're being let go, the leaner days should become a little better.

A more stable fishery with more ops to catch fish ... sounds like a winning propisition to potential clients to me!

If the wild fish populations were to rebound, there would be so many opportunities for fishing that it would be the "go to" option for people all accross america. Instead of heading to the great lakes for good steelheading, they'd be heading to Forks.

Many of the "Blue Ribbon" trout rivers are mostly "C & R". People are drawn to them because they enjoy the fishing.

While I like a piece of salmon as much as the next guy, I would rather have an excellent day of fishing, catching, and releasing than watch a valuable resource dwindle away like they have on rivers throughout the PNW.

There isn't a person I know that would rather catch hatchery fish...

SteelAddict,

I appreciate your position, it's hard to want to give your hard earned cash to people who act and think the way that some folks are acting and thinking over there.

I wonder, though, wouldn't not spending money there just make them right? I've thought about it for myself, and I think I'll handle it this way;

I'll spend just as much money there as usual, but as I hand over my check, cash, or credit slip, I'll tell each and every person that I hand it to that I'm here to specifically fish and not keep any wild fish...and tell them that I'm more likely to continue to do so as long as WSR is a reality.

While the idea of showing displeasure by not giving up the $$ sounds attractive, it would tend to make us look wrong and them look right...there would be a negative economic impact.

Fish on...

Todd

Thats right Todd.

I was wondering if you were going to figure that out after reading JJ's post yesterday. If I were a supporter of the WSR policy I would do exactly as Todd says.

See Todd we can agree on some things

Uh oh! Does that mean I should change my mind now?

I actually agree with CFM's point..... uh oh!

I know several locals there who are already sick of all the "seattlites" forcing rules on them. I was out fishing the OP today and the topic came up at one of the greasy spoons.... it isn't being well received.

I walked down a road to fish and saw what looked to be at least 5 deer carcasses to the side. The gameys cant even stop the rampant deer/elk poaching out there, I doubt they'll be able to make sure fish fins stay in the water during photos.... let alone keep locals from bonking nates while the rivers are full of nets.... but, I'll guess we'll find out!

Certainly a mixed response. More against it of course. Many a Forks local has never stepped foot on rivers elsewhere to see how bad things can be or in some cases, how good it can be from the business end of things.

Frankly, I think many people here are afraid of change and are very "take-oriented" when it comes to any number of resources. And that's not just some of the people from Forks. While they're considered "outsiders" to Forks residents ... a number of Port Angeles people fall into the same category.

I see it as short-sighted and make a buck while I can today and the hell with tomorrow attitude.

On the other hand, I also know of a number of local people that are just fine with the decision and many think it actually didn't go far enough.

There is much talk of selective regulations being proposed and fought for ... and much of it is coming from the very oldest members of the guide community here.

Todd,

I like your idea of telling the folks I give my money to that I am coming out there to fish and I support 100% CnR of wild steelhead.

My real point is that it is frustrating that the locals are so afraid of the change. I think there is a very good opportunity to market the fishery out there as a world class fishing destination. This kind of image would require CnR of wild steelhead to support the added pressure better fishing will bring.


SA

SA,

I'm right there with ya, brother.

If we're talkin' business with the businesses out there, then we're talkin' money.

If they're afraid they're going to lose money, prove 'em wrong by giving them some, and let 'em know why you're doin' it.

Change is really easy to take if it puts more $$ in their pockets, so that's what I expect to do.

Fish on...

Todd