This one might be bigger than salmon, since there's no artifical propagation.

Yet we continue protect the furbags!

I have dip netted smelt for years this was one of the best years I have had in a long time

So a good question here would be does this listing apply to the smelt in puget sound. I would imagine these are the fish Sod Farmer was talking about.....our season at Ross Point in Sinclair inlet was also better than last year.........

Anacortes area is where I fish

Columbia River smelt are a different specie than Puget Sound or Ocean smelt. Anyone who has eaten both of them can vouch for the difference.

Years and years of over harvest in the Columbia and Cowlitz by both commercials and sports led to this.

I know they are different and ours are better tasting, but I wonder if our overharvesting managers know or care. Smoked and canned, outstanding, might rival salmon..........

ACTUALLY, this listing impacts those smelt in the Ocean and Puget Sound as well. It impacts all smelt from the Mad River in Cali up to Canada...

Ya think?

JFC! When is too much TOO MUCH?

I was watching KIRO 7 news the other night when they had a short segment on the smelt problem. At the end the female newscaster exclaimed;

"The decline in Columbia River smelt populations is a direct effect of global warming." - or something very similar to that.

No mention of the obvious over fishing. I about fell out of my chair.

This is what gets passed off as "reporting" these days.

Seems it was about 4 years ago that there was a big increase in smelt in the ocean off the Columbia and commercials were gearing up to net the excess fish.

Used to be a big run that would hit the beach off Yachats Oregon. No commercial just sport dipping, its gone too.


http://www.el.com/to/yachats/


http://sealioncaves.com/home/

Kalaloch....Wa coast used to have great runs, right there......mmmmm, were they ever great eating. Pretty hard to beat, smelt right out of the ocean....

Just South of Coos Bay there were great opportunities to dip smelt out of the surf.
To bad we over harvested them, because now they are gone.

Back in the 60's and 70' the smelt runs in Laconner were the best ever we would fish at San Juan pea cannery dock Both the cannery and moore clark were dumping all the waste right in the channel Now since both places have closed it never has picked up there . But out at the point this year was the best in years not sure why