Thankfully someone finally said it, since paker doesn't want to mod anymore and doesn't want to stand by his last post, but i doubt the people you're talking to care..

Region 6 has mismanaged GH fisheries into near extinction. They should change their name to Region Q. Back on track.

One could make the argument that as to Steelhead your right on but with salmon not so much. Our weakest Chehalis salmon run is late Coho but Coho are managed as a single stock as are Chinook with our small run of Springers being the exception. Our reduced Chinook returns are due to AK & BC taking about 80% or so of harvestable with prior intercepts on paper for 2022 at 10500 leaving a terminal runsize of 14957. Add to the mix that the QIN and all other managers except WDFW manage to the aggregate of all Grays Harbor streams and do not separate the Humptulips & Chehalis you end up with some strange math.

As I said with Steelhead it would be difficult to argue the fish have been managed into rather dire circumstances. Extinction might be a bit of a reach at the present time but that said the comanagers are certainly headed down that path.

Rivrguy,

You know far more about the GH basin than I ever will. Given the outright addiction WDFW and QIN have for harvest, I can't help but think the GH wild salmon populations would fare better if there were no hatchery salmon. Don't get me wrong; I am not anti-hatchery. However, it seems like in GH (and Willapa) that hatchery salmon continue to cover, or provide the excuse, for over-harvesting wild salmon. If there were no hatchery salmon to cover the addiction, it seems like it would force both WDFW and QIN to manage the wild salmon for sustainability, or else they both would be out of the salmon business in GH. At the rate things are going, it looks like WDFW, and QIN too, are trying to prop up a failed commercial fishery on the scraps that remain. I think the only way that salmon conservation can succeed is if the commercial fishery goes away. Absent that, I think the commercial fishery will eventually go away when the available catch no longer covers the gas money for the fishing boats.

GH & Willapa are examples of how to manage harvest and not to manage harvest. Willapa in the past and one could argue today is an example of how NOT to manage harvest. It was and is managed for commercial harvest right down to rearing the wrong fish in the wrong hatcheries.

Grays Harbor was and is managed for wild production which means hatchery fish are a bonus. Back some years this resulted in substantial hatchery returns which motivated both commercial and recs screaming more harvest on the "surplus". So the agency just reduced hatchery production because the Chehalis is managed for the natural returns. Now we have a much diminished hatchery production and the returns are more or less managed exactly the same.

All that said in my view it is the use of the aggregate of the tributary returns to enable harvest in the lower river Chehalis that poses the greatest risk for the fish in the individual tributaries. When you have the Satsop at 40% to 50% of escapement in recent years ( other tribs did worse ) and still harvest I think some priorities are miss placed.

“ Absent that, I think the commercial fishery will eventually go away when the available catch no longer covers the gas money for the fishing boats.“


And, with the slightly elevated prices of gas and diesel today, that “eventually goes away “ is right about today. Except for the tribal efforts, and that fuel will be subsidized by a bit of higher taxes. All to plan...

BTW, does anyone here know where the “charging stations” are for the motor boats ?

As always some of us have been chattering about jack season which opened August 1st. Well most anglers regard Coho jacks as insignificant but the other side of the coin is smoked right they are right up with BC Rainbow for taste and BC Rainbow are about as good as it gets.

Now where and how to fish ? Nope not touching that one other than small water is best, they move mostly with incoming tides, and eggs are the best and good eggs are a must. After that nothing here but frankly for the guys that have it down pat it is a great light tackle fishery.

From my seat in the bleachers smoked correctly Coho jacks are a real delicacy worth the effort. Those who do not enjoy this fish make sure you spread the word that jack fishing sucks !

I've rarely been successful when I try to locate harvestable jacks, but I often catch them incidentally while fishing for cutthroat in August/September, and they are fantastic quarry on a 6-wt. fly rod. They eat trout streamers better than trout, and they go berserk when you hook them.

Have harvested a handful over the years, and they are as good as the adults in most applications.

Jacks are cool. Get 'em if you can!

8/03/2022

mmmmm, Silver/Coho jacks are a awesome fishery. I've sat at many NOF meetings, jacks are never mention in the discussions as far as NT or QIN, Bay fishers, are concerned. It's only after the 1st 2 hours of NOF meetings when the "public" gets to speak......"I SPEAK FOR ALL THE PERSONS THAT ENJOY THIS FISHERY", I'm part of a group that enjoys this fishery.

Rivrguy is correct....smoked, and eaten fresh, they are excellent. Caught on 9 - 13' rods, in fast water, can be fun.

I check the amount of jacks that get back to many hatcheries, there are enough, that the limit should be raised. The limit is 6, no one knows or remembers when that number became the standard....I tried to get it raised to 12, fell on deaf ears.

Chinook jacks are, for the most part, released, by me......while good eating fresh or smoked, they have a smell that I don't want in my boat. If a Chinook jack is hooked by me, I hand rod off to a "young person", let them enjoy the fight or release them, MOST of the time.

Eggs catch the vast majority.......GOOD EGGS are a must!!!!! If you have xhit eggs be prepared to have a loooooooong day of watching others catch fish.

1 last comment...13' rod, if in a boat, by yourself, a silver jack, can be a real challenge to get into a net, especially in fast water......

I look forward every year to catching Jacks. A very wise Fisherman once told me to be successful you must have good eggs. I followed his advice and always have good Jack fishing and good company on the river, with exception of that one day a few years ago when the smoke was so thick from Canadian fires "EH" that it was difficult to find my way down the river. See you on the river soon !

I totally forgot about the smoke thing! What made it soooo much worse was two really foggy mornings that mixed with the smoke and was something to see. Well I guess not see is likely the correct way to describe that lovely experience . Frankly the use of the word lovely is a rather substantial abuse of the English language when describing that ugly mess !

Was fishing the 7400 line of the Wynoochee one of those mornings in very early September. Smoke was incredible. Came home and smelled my clothing as I threw it in the washer, could actually smell the wildfire smoke as if I’d been standing next to a campfire.

Does anyone know when the 2022 tribal net schedule will be up on WDFW site?

it should be up id say right around labor day at the earliest..

looks like the cowboys got 9 days starting sept 28, 2022..

you can bet that between the indians and cowboys there wont be more than 3or4 days in OCT without nets.

At the end of NOF the Nation started the week of 9-28 and fish 3-4-3 days for the next three weeks and out a week. 10-1 start again with one day and 2 the next and 3 days each week the last two weeks of November. They always start Sunday noon and pull at noon on the end of a set.
9/25 - 10/1 40 3
10/2 - 10/8 41 4
10/9 - 10/15 42 3
10/16- 10/22 43 2
10/23- 10/29 44 0

The NT nets dates are:
42 9-Oct-22 cheh 1
43 16-Oct-22 cheh 2
44 23-Oct-22 cheh 3
45 30-Oct-22 cheh 2

The total days of a week with nets in by the GH Policy is 4 in a calendar week which does restrict the NT Commercials but not the Nation if they choose otherwise.

on wdfw site ..this is cowboys 2A 2D

7:00am-7:00pm sept 28th,,2022

oct-12,19,20,24,25,26

nov 1st,2nd

Had to look but this is what is posted for NTs.

Chehalis
7:00 AM through 7:00 PM October 19, 2022
7:00 AM through 7:00 PM October 20, 2022
7:00 AM through 7:00 PM October 24, 2022
7:00 AM through 7:00 PM October 25, 2022
7:00 AM through 7:00 PM October 26, 2022
7:00 AM through 7:00 PM November 1, 2022
AND
7:00 AM through 7:00 PM November 2, 2022

Hump ( Area C )
7:00 AM, Oct. 17, 2022
through
7:00 PM, Oct. 18, 2022
AND
7:00 AM through 7:00 PM Oct. 27, 2022

they have the sept 28th and oct 12th just above the other dates.. its kinda screwed up..

these two days are 12:01pm to 7:00pm and they are using 4 1/2 tangle

net.

Your right I totally missed that, my bad! They must be days where the tribe pulls at noon and are 3 1/2 days of a calendar week. That leaves the remainder of the day for NT's. Tangle nets are about releasing wild Chinook and any Steelhead. When the Nation starts at noon it counts as a day ( any net in does ) so when they do three days they are doing 24 hr sets not calendar days. That means with no NT's getting Chinook at night ( high movement time ) it does leave that 7 hour window. The GH Policy was written that way to keep games from being played with 7 week days. I am told NT commercials hate it and some staff are less than fond of it. It is how the Grays Harbor streams can only be netted four days a week. It is called the 4/3 rule.

NT gets to keep hatchery chinook again?