I went to Boston Harbor ( a little community north of OLympia ) yesterday to do alittle kayaking. I see this sign, Quinalt Steehead
for sale $3.99lb. I thought as of 1 APRIL all wild steelhead were suppose to be released on the OP for the next 2 years. Does this ONLY apply us neglected sportsfisherman? Now I am assuming these are fresh fish being thats its the 11 APRIL. I cant see anyone selling Steelhead thats 11 days old.

WDFW changed the moritorium to May 1st. Those would be tribal steelhead.

I could be wrong. I doubt if tribes have to abide by that ruling. They can do anything they want.

They can do anything they want.

I'm sure you didn't buy any...but tell ALL your friends, family and folks you work with to please not spend their $ on it. If there is no money to be made, then maybe tribes won't do the work to net them.

Now is when someone like WSC, TU or ? needs to run a TV commercial that "raises awareness" for the wild steelhead harvest imbalance that threatens them.

My two cents..

Mike B

This new WSR ruling now makes it so that the only way you can put a wild steelhead on your dinner table is if you buy it from a commercial fisherman aka tribal fisherman. Licensed WA state sport fishing anglers are now the ONLY user group that is not allowed to harvest wild steelhead, short of buying if from commercial fisherman that is. I personally think the current situation violates the following RCW.

So for now if you want to put a wild steelhead on your dinner table, you can forget about catching it with a rod and reel, you HAVE to go out and pay $3.99 per pound for gillnet caught fish.

Makes a lot of sense heh??

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RCW 77.110.030
Management of natural resources -- State policy.
The people of the state of Washington declare that conservation, enhancement, and proper utilization of the state's natural resources, including but not limited to lands, waters, timber, fish, and game are responsibilities of the state of Washington and shall remain within the express domain of the state of Washington.

While fully respecting private property rights, all resources in the state's domain shall be managed by the state alone such that conservation, enhancement, and proper utilization are the primary considerations. No citizen shall be denied equal access to and use of any resource on the basis of race, sex, origin, cultural heritage, or by and through any treaty based upon the same.

Most of the Quinault is on tribal land and they're all tribal fish. The moratorium will have no effect on that river...the lower river anyway.

Easy solution there Bruce. You put a nice Columbia river spring salmon or hatchery steelhead from your freezer, or an Atlantic salmon from the store there instead.

Fish monger hit the nail on the head.White man no fishy that river.

Mike B. can turn .02 cents into two bits with his words of wisdom.

LT

You might be very surprised how 'sensitive' retailers can be to this type of situation. I'd talk to the store manager and give him a polite update on the situation.

Most won't 'stock' something they know that 'pi..es off' customers.

Bit historical in nature, but a couple of years back Albertsons and Safeway were advertising and selling 'freash caught wild steelhead' in their meat section.

Had a chat with two store managers and advised them it was a major violation of Oregon's fish and game laws to sell this type of fish. (To sell or buy). Couple of days later both stores (and I checked another Safeway) had these out from under the counter ... never to be seen again.