HH,

I'd be glad to hook up with you. PM me some time.

Probably wouldn't go for it any more than the sporties would go for shutting down their own fishing season(Though I know some would in the name of conservation)

You're right on one count......by the time they sort it out it will be too late. Always is around here.

yea well all this may be true. and its ruining our fishing. not only for sport fisherman, but the tribes, and comercial.

sure there may be ocean affects taking place. warmer waters and all that good stuff. well bad stuff anyway.

but come one, nets in the rivers for 5 days a week, i cant believe the tribes even allow that. they are killing their own fisheries to. but as soon as they arent catching fish they are quick to cry for more netting "fishing" time. its a joke.

the way its going all the rivers are gonna end up like the cedar. closed for 10 year then open for catch and release.
the way this coutry is with its resourses i wouldnt dout there be no salmon fishing in 10 years.

I believe we will still get the coho in once it rains. Some fish will attempt to run in low water however I believe most are waiting for some moderate river flows. Give us rain and the salmon will come!!

lets hope so. my buddy does say that there are lots of silvers in the straits and in the ocean still. i kinda dout it though. reports should be better in the sound. at least i would think so.

deer slayer- I agree that nets in any river system 5 days a week is crazy. I however disagree with you about not having any salmon in 10 years. What were you saying in 1994 when only 38,817 coho showed to the harbor? Or how about in 1997 when only 41,206 coho returned? In 1991 we had 292,513 coho return!!! We must have had coho coming out our gords! 01,02,03,04 had coho returns averaging 166,130.

So in all reality our fish runs are all over the map. We've been spoiled that past few years and now feel that 150,000 coho is benchmark. I don't disagree that 150,000 is a good benchmark it's just not that easy. I don't know if you remember the Cowlitz river summer run fishery of 99,00,01 but it was crazy! The fishing was by far the best summer run fishing I have ever experienced. The past two years I have had my worst summer run fishing down there. Everyone is screaming bloody murder because there isn't as many fish as there were then.

Bottom line is, just because the fishing sucks, lets not give up on the resource as a whole. That is the least we could do. Lets work as a whole to better our resources instead of complaining about the lack of. This resource is to precious to just lay to rest. I guess we can use this year as an eye opener and learn from it.

Harbor-Hog

yea agreed for sure. but just talking about it doesnt do anything. if we complain about the resources enough maybe someone with that has an affect on the fisheries will see that they are truely suffering. and do someting about it.

yes i do remember the cowlitz summer run, AWESOME. but i also remember the steelhead ont he green, and even the duckabush back in the day. where have they went??? its poor managment that ruined those fisheries. may it be the tribes, or the sport fishers, or commercial, or whoever. we the sportsman can do everyhting to help the runs, but it wont matter unless we get EVERYONE on board. you can release 7 million smolts into a river sysytem. but lets face it that isnt gonna make a run better if there are outa hand comercial fisheries, or tribes having their nets in the rivers 5 days a week.

i know the forcasts are never exact, and the runs always go up and down from eyar to year. but this is the first year in 15 years i havent limited out a salmon punch card and steelhead punch card on the green river. its sad really. and other rivers arent doing so well either.

sure there are few that are catching fish in good numbers, true. but the reports for every river this year have sucked. sure they are big pushes of fish here and there. heck my buddy caught 15 silvers in 2 days last week on the carbon, and they were chrome. but i highly dout fish are late. they just plain arent there this year. and something is to blame other then bad forecasts and ocean temps.

that my op in this whole thing. this season has been far from minimul catching.

time to look forward to winter steelhead

Well spoken Andy...

Harbor-Hog, you were right about the fact I was talking about hatchery returns.Unfortunitly the hatchery numbers are the only way I have to guage how many fish make it back to the system. On the rivers I fish the netting is done by white commercial netters. The coho (early run) may still be coming with the rains later this week,but the nets go in Willapa Harbor on the 6th of November and stay in until the 30th of November. Most of the steelhead(hatchery) have been coming in to the lower rivers around or before Thanksgiving. Guess we know what this schedule is going to do to this part of the run. I caught several last season while fishing for hooknose coho,none were over 6#. With this liberal net schedule it looks pretty grim for the late coho as well. I was hoping for a really big rain just prior to the 6th to flush some fish up above the netting area,but doesn't look like it is going to happen.