Thanks for the update. I am for healthy runs of native fish however we need to go about getting them back.
Keep me educated.

Well, maybe the town, resturants and hotels can make up the money lossed due to lack of hatchery fish latley with the many hundreds, if not thousands of people who might attend the Bogachiel Annual Garden Club Tea scheduled on the 19th of January.

I just looked up the City of Forks website to send an email/letter to the Mayor. While carousing the web site, I checked out the calender of events on "what's happening" for the big town of Forks, seems the Bogey Garden Club Annual Tea is the only item listed in the month of January. Checked out the "Economic Development Oppurtunities" section of the web site and noticed a lot of vacant land and spaces available at very cheap prices. Hmmm.... Imagine even less fish, even less fishing oppurtinities there, after all, logging is going well. I'm sure lots of tourists will flock to Forks for the beauty and weather as soon as all the fisherman leave. Especially after they can just drive by on the highway and see the beautifull fishless, driftboatless rivers directly from the comfort of their vehicles over the tops of the large stumps and stump piles on the ex, has-been forests. There might even be a monument put up for personal viewing and history to see how the town prospered back in the day by cutting down the tall stands of trees and eliminating the once mighty runs of fish in order to get what they could in a short amount of time for a small portion of the population.

FISHOG YOU TELL ME WHEN YOU WANT TO RALLEY THE TROOPS AND ILL GET THE SLED IN TOW AND BE IN LINE WITH YA! SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE!!!!!!!!!

I'm in!

Oh, I'm definitely in, but it needs to be ORGANIZED. Every forum needs to be put on notice, flyers need to be placed at sporting goods stores, marine centers, fishing buddies, etc... from border to border. The more the merrier. It won't be an easy undertaking.

The biggest downfall in gaing some sort of recognition is our lack of organization. The commies have never had to sweat us, because we are not a unified front.
Oh we vent our spleens on the net, to our fishing buddies, but nothing ever becomes of it. Think about it.

Like I said, organization is the key and it may result in possibly getting the cuffs slapped on some. Hopefully not. It also needs to be a PEACEFULL demonstration. If we come across as a bunch of rednecks, we wouldn't carry much weight in the eyes of the public. Show up in nice clothes, driving your 40K pickup towing your 50K boat. If you have a beater pickup and a cartopper, that works too. Numbers is the point I'm making. I'd hate to think of the money I spend annually for my sport.

People need to be aware of what is really going on. Like an undercover story by the media for example. People need to see piles of rotting fish (Yeah it happens) or nets left unattended or forgotten hanging in a rootwad with rotting fish in it.
Think of it this way, if the general public see's what's happening then they will be less likely to say buy a steelhead at pikes place market. Restaurants need to be boycotted if they serve it, etc.... Lots of ideas.

But like I said, if a rally happens, it can't just be a raw raw go team kind of thing. That's fine, but it can't just be a flash in the pan. Otherwise, the powers that be, will take notice to take the heat off, then back to business as usual. The annual rearending of us sporties.
Seems to me that the biggest thing politicians are concerned with are votes and/or getting re-elected.
I'm sure this has been mulled over time and time again. But It really pisses me off when I spend my hard earned money and take a day or two to fish, only to hear the nets were in and THATS the reason there are no fish in the system. Not global warming, not habitat, not logging (there all play a role), but having a friggin net strung bank to bank indescrimitly catching fish.
I've witnessed the mouth of the nooksack netted this way. I've also seen nets run 3/4 of the way across, then another from the opposite bank and on and on. The fish need to run a literal gauntlet of nets. FYI the average sized coho on the nutsack is about a 2# netsquirter covered with net marks.

Enough of my ramblings. I gotta go dust off the Birkenstocks.

I hate rally's, usually becuase they are stupid and useless. But, in this case, I'm all for it, it would be a new thing for them to see sport fisherman united.

I'm usually pretty darn positive about the fisheries and the future, now and then though a good rant feels good.

As always, it's a few who ruin everything for the rest. And the rest do nothing about it, which is the main problem.

It will probably be a good thing. This system has had a severe amount of
over pressurse the last three years or so do too overexposure. Been drifting
up there since 94 and the number of people has increased to an ludacris level. Its just another sign of the times as the reality of the sad shape
of our rivers and its managers rears its ugly head. Talk about it and they
will always come!
Chrome

JoJo, Im sure you want to save the fish, but compare to the old days, when my Dad use to fish with Bud Meyer, the skagit is a different river. It was so good before Boldt, they didnt have limits in the early days. I think he told me, they also had a silver run in january. They took seventeen fish out of one drift, on gear that, would be considered collector vintage.

If we dont make drastic changes, you wont have the crumbs you have now.
No farmer would replant 80% of his field. Control the commercial harvest and then you might have something to trade with the tribes. Like salmon for steelhead.

Pick the heaviest gill netted river on the OP and park every drift boat and jet sled there is in the State in every hole. You will get plenty of press then.

But be ready, because the spin doctors will tell the world "Indians don't kill wild Steelhead unless there are plenty to take", been hearing that for 35 years, it is old and is wrong but the State and Tribe protectors have been BS'ing the people for so long many now believe it. All they have to do is tell a lie to the press and you have lost all the ground you may have made trying to do the right thing.

DAMN........I should have brought some popcorn in this morning. This is good stuff.

I think this is the end for the peninsula rivers, They were in bad shape 10 years ago, and the numbers were skewed then. People that remember when I posted then know my background. There is a reason I dont fish anymore.

Comercial harvest numbers which were reported were probably 25% of actual. Run size which was predicted and reported escapement was probably 75% over estimated. This equals no more wild steelhead in the very short future.

Dude thats pretty lame, if I could'nt fish here anymore I would be moving either back to Florida or to another state where there were still salmon and steelhead fishing oppourtunities. Fishing is not just a way of life it is much more important than that!-TBJ

I would be more than happy to participate in a mass demonstration/meeting IF someone could tell me exactly what we are protesting and how we think a protest might be beneficial.

I am in with Sol, going to buy a board.........
Also going to start planning more Florida trips where this is no netting of any kind.

Peace
Fly

I may start spending lots more time & money up north and to the state south of us.Save all my money all year long for two or three week long trips to Alaska / Cabo etc.I love the taste of grouper from Florida were my Aunt lives in Ft.Meyers.In between trips I'll take up hiking / physical training Yah,right.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

If the fish are on the ESA then we don't need to fish them anyway. They are at least trying to get them off the ESA. They just need to close it now if they are going to close it and get the nets out now, not later.

Are any of you who are excited about attending a protest in Olympia interested in going to the WDFW Commission meeting in Vancouver this Saturday? So far it's looking like only two from here are planning to attend.

Sg

All those skamania hatchery fish we shipped off to Michigan and great lake states would be a good place to start a new guiding career. Maybe Cabela's and Bass Pro shop here can start selling bowling equipment.

4Salt I thik your right, it was right around that time and we have decent runs since then. I think its about time they open the Sky back up during March & April, I think it has met escapement the last copuple of years.

I'd like to attend. Would you "two" like to meet for coffee or something before hand?...