well then i was mistaken. i thought they did meet escapement...i thought that was the reasoning for them having a 1 native limit a year on those certain rivers.

and not every person over there is gonna keep a native fish. i know i sure wont and BUT i dont have a problem with people doing so if they choose. it is legal to do so, be it right or not. that is for each person to decided.

as far as me being stupid abu-loomis. personal comments like that are not needed.

brewer completely concures on the regulation change. what sickens me is how many still go out and target nates period. the steelhead season should close statewide on say jan.15 and not reopen till may 1st.

I'll let the "dout" slide, but it does seem ironic that you can't spell because the above is one of the LEAST educated things said on this thread so far...

The Hoh does not meet escapement (when is the last time it DID?); its "runs" cannot support over harvest.


...Just because you think it does not make it SO. Just because the law says it's OK, doesn't mean it IS.

what sickens me is how many still go out and target nates period. the steelhead season should close statewide on say jan.15 and not reopen till may 1st. being a true nate purists as i am i don't even wet a line during nate season. a self imposed nate steelhead vast. a cleansing. nate abstinance is a great terminology.

The hoh has missed escapement most of the last 10 years so the question I ask to those that are for C & R ( I am myself) how do you justify fishing a river that is underescaped when no doubt a percentage of fish are dying from hooking mortality. Is this in the best interest of the fish?

The hoh has missed escapement most of the last 10 years so the question I ask to those that are for C & R ( I am myself) how do you justify fishing a river that is underescaped when no doubt a percentage of fish are dying from hooking mortality. Is this in the best interest of the fish?

I completely disagree! Yes it’s a blood sport and one out of a hundred may die after being released but not having “nate purists” on the river is the absolute worst thing for native steelhead for many reasons. First off many if not most rivers, once closed for the season, experience brutal poaching efforts and since they are closed there is very little enforcement. Also having us “nate purists” on the river, despite a small mortality rate, is the very best thing for the future of native steelhead. Without us on the river fighting for their future there is no future. Close a river, or all rivers in the spring, and you’ll see these fish attacked from every direction from habitat distruction like logging and mining to housing developments and water use rights and yes netting and etc. etc. etc………. We are the only user group fighting for their future, the future of our State fish, PERIOD!!!! Take us off the river and you’ve thrown in the flag of defeat! Sure we may continue the fight for some time but without a younger generation (think OPfisher, Tbird, Mreyns etc…) to keep up the fight we are done! We simply cannot be the last generation to fight for these fish!!!!!!! If we are not on the river then that is exactly what we will be the last generation!

I like the Ira Spring analogy. Ira’s the guy who wrote the 100 hikes series about Washington’s backcountry trails. At the time, some 50 years ago, the few hikers in the state where pissed that he was writing about all the hikes to their “special” places. Their argument was that the wilderness areas couldn’t take the pounding of the masses. And that is a valid point but DOES NOT offset the fact that there are now millions of hikers who thru their letters and hard work have created hundreds of thousands of new trails and wilderness protection for millions of NEW acres of state wildlands!

In my mind we give up fishing for these amazing fish then we’ve lost the fight!

And if we’re not on the river who’s going to educate this guy, “Damn nice fish dude but that really sucks you bonked him and your going to rightfully get skewered on the bulliten boards!”

First off, let's keep this thread civil or it will die an early death. pro / con, I don't care ... name calling and such needs to be put to bed.

As far as Jo-Jo's thought ... I think it's importnat to note on the Hoh, that in a number of years that the river did not meet escapement (the higher, older goal as well) ... if no kill was allowed and you figured out a 10% for C&R fish (which we know is high, but let's err on the side of the fish for a change) ... the goal would have been met.

The Hoh has no business being open to kill right now, or any other year until we see numbers bounce back (which usually is a long process for steelhead).

The state needs to go in a fight and get the escpament numbers back up to what they used to be ... I belive the number has been dropped twice now ... in order to meet it. But because there is a small surplus available, the tribe wants to take it and the state is afraid to push the envelope on the sporties being able to do with them as they wish. So both sides keep killing and we end up under-escaped, so we just lower the goal again. Then, as is the case in so many streams ... it'll just get shut down to us and the tribe will keep fishing to some degree because it is their right.

Keep killin' them boys, you're digging your own grave of a fishless future!

(think OPfisher, Tbird, Mreyns etc…) to keep up the fight we are done!

Todd

P.S. I think that the people who care the most about wild steelhead are those who enjoy fishing for them...bar none...and those are the people who will work the hardest to protect them.

And.........



I completely disagree! Yes it’s a blood sport and one out of a hundred may die after being released but not having “nate purists” on the river is the absolute worst thing for native steelhead for many reasons. First off many if not most rivers, once closed for the season, experience brutal poaching efforts and since they are closed there is very little enforcement. Also having us “nate purists” on the river, despite a small mortality rate, is the very best thing for the future of native steelhead. Without us on the river fighting for their future there is no future. Close a river, or all rivers in the spring, and you’ll see these fish attacked from every direction from habitat distruction like logging and mining to housing developments and water use rights and yes netting and etc. etc. etc………. We are the only user group fighting for their future, the future of our State fish, PERIOD!!!! Take us off the river and you’ve thrown in the flag of defeat! Sure we may continue the fight for some time but without a younger generation (think OPfisher, Tbird, Mreyns etc…) to keep up the fight we are done! We simply cannot be the last generation to fight for these fish!!!!!!! If we are not on the river then that is exactly what we will be the last generation!

I like the Ira Spring analogy. Ira’s the guy who wrote the 100 hikes series about Washington’s backcountry trails. At the time, some 50 years ago, the few hikers in the state where pissed that he was writing about all the hikes to their “special” places. Their argument was that the wilderness areas couldn’t take the pounding of the masses. And that is a valid point but DOES NOT offset the fact that there are now millions of hikers who thru their letters and hard work have created hundreds of thousands of new trails and wilderness protection for millions of NEW acres of state wildlands!

In my mind we give up fishing for these amazing fish then we’ve lost the fight!

And if we’re not on the river who’s going to educate this guy, “Damn nice fish dude but that really sucks you bonked him and your going to rightfully get skewered on the bulliten boards!”

I saw it, A monster for sure, the guy was holding it up for us to see. He caught it swinging his spey rod from the bank, unguided. I am sure he will regret killing this fish, but it is legal. I think this 1 wild fish per year has created a trophy bonking mentality. It is common in these waters to hear people talking about saving their punch card for a trophy. I saw a 19 and a 22 lb wild fish bonked the day before the 30 was harvested, and have heard of several in the 20-25 lb range bonked in the past month.

The fish stomping was out of control yesterday down at the mouth of the Hoh. A fish checker told me they had about 15-20 fish trying to come up the riffle below Barlows, and about 10 guys were chasing the fish back down into the hole so they could "catch" them.

Matt