Is there a site that gives us how much of the quota has been met for kings in the marine areas? Thanks

The upper right on the following page has MA 9 and MA 10 quotas and updates.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/reports_plants.html

given what I experienced, saw, and heard on the radio, this may be closed before the next weekend (23-24).

Same in Port Townsend Boat Haven - no fish checker counting while we were there and this was right around 10:30 am. Prime time

The on the water law enforcement and WDFW presence seemed appropriate in the areas of MA-9 in which I fished Saturday and Sunday. Although salmon seasons are too short this year, I don't think it's terribly fair to be getting on the State for the way in which it is administering the seasons that are in effect. Got to just enjoy it while we can.

If there is a "hard" quota then conservation demands that the fishery be monitored. If the numbers are a "guideline" or "expectation" then auto-pilot works just fine.

The Chinook catch in the summer marked selective fisheries for MA 9 and MA 10 are developed using what is called the full Murthy design. Here is link to a short description of the method.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01580/wdfw1580.pdf

This is a well developed method that has been reviewed and accepted. It does not require that every angler (or boat launch) be monitored; an impossibility.

A more detailed discussion of the method is available if anyone is interested.

Curt

Thanks for the link Curt. Great info.

We let go a dozen fish that were legal, but within an inch or two, at most, of not...but saw a ton of those little fish bonked.

That is how your quota gets used up fast.

Fish on...

Todd

Todd -
The concerning thing about those smaller fish is that so many are mature fish. From scale samples for those 22 to 25 inch fish most were 3 year old fish and a surprising number were 4 year old fish.

As an illustration of the shrinking Puget Sound Chinook for the years 2012 to 2014 in the summer Mark Selective Fisheries for Chinook for Marine areas, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11 the port samplers measured 17,188 fish and none of them were more than a meter (40 inches). There were a few plus 40 inch fish checked in 2011 and 2010 (11 out of 10,000 fish). The median size of the fish check for those years was between 28 and 29 inches.

While understandable release those smaller Chinook to harvest larger fish only compounds the problem of the fisheries selecting against those faster growing and older fish.

It has been apparent for sometime that our Chinook have been shrinking and with the advent of the mark selective fisheries the situation with the hatchery Chinook has been highlighted. Of equal concern is that both WDFW and the sport fishers leadership have been unwilling to even discuss potentially addressing that situation. And in fact have gone so far as to propose reducing minimum size limits during winter blackmouth season. To the extent that those fish contribute to hatchery brood stock such a move would compound the selection problem.

The issue with reaching Chinook quotas so quickly is largely driven by the increasing power of the recreational fleet. Today we collectively can catch a quota in a couple weeks that would have taken as much as 4 weeks a few years ago. I agree that part of that is driven by folks rushing to get on the water to get some fish before the seasons close. But in addition todays angler is better equipped (larger boats, better electronics, better downriggers, better information, etc.) than ever before. Again neither WDFW and the salmon angler leadership are anxious to attempt to address that issue.

Curt

Gee, I remember reading in WDFW's Chinook recovery/management report that there was no evidence that fishing reduced adult Chinook size.

As to the gear improvements, the first Lake WA sockeye fishery I was involved in managing was open for weeks. Now they last days.

CM -
40 years ago a Chinook Jack on Puget Sound was considered to be any fish under 28 inches and it was extremely rare to find an adult female Chinook of less than 28. Today it is 24 inches and now it is not unusual to see adult female Chinook of less than 24 inches and rarely less than 22 inches. Kind of sounds smaller to me.


I remember those old sockeye fisheries; in 1988 the sport quota was 55,000 sockeye and the sport fleet was not able to catch that full share in a 6 week seasons with a 6 fish bag limit. A decade ago that last time we fished LW the fleet daily catch was in excess of 10,000/day with a two fish limit.

If anglers want a longer season (bigger quota ) for central sound waters (MA 9 & 10) we are going to either change how we fish or move fish from other fisheries - winter blackmouth or other MAs in the summer.

curt

I say it's time to make MA 10 and MA 9 a "no down riggers, no divers, and a herring mooching only" fishery!

...as long as they open up the area near Salmon Bay (Magnolia bluffs out in front of Rays), I'm in!

Smalma

The shrinking of Chinook and the other species was well known 30-40 years ago. But, when push came to shove WDFW said they aren't getting smaller.

When the draft document circulated in WDFW the initial intent (we were told) was that this would be part of the public comments and responded to as it was a Fed document. After getting comments like "the fish are shrinking" and such it was decided that WDFW was one of authors, so these were internal comments that didn't need to be publicly admitted to or responded to. Fisheries need to be protected.

The weekend catch estimates for MA 9 and MA 10 are up on WDFW's web site!

The preliminary estimate for MA9 was 902 Chinook or 29.5% of the 3,056 quota.

Estimate for MA 10 was 106 or 7.5% of the 1,395 quota.

Curt

Smaller mature Chinook means reds aren't as deep and subject to scour--- like watching a turd swirl in the bowl.

Absolutely Jerry. And, smaller females mens fewer eggs per female. So, as fish shrink, you need to put more on the grounds to maintain the same numerical production.

not many of us moochers left. Ya have to go to no point to see a few. I look around any were else and many times I am the only one waiting for that slacker. Ya cant even find a direct drive reel any more. My son and i had some guys troll by us and asked us what we were doing. They actually didnt know there was another way to fish salmon than with a downrigger. I couldnt believe they were serious...I launched out of Ballard mon. Not many trailers in the lot. I fished the trees and docks, and had to go elsewere th get my fish.

I remember those days out front. Been a while. The 5 min ballard bite. Most times I would travel when it got daylight.

Be nice to get a few more weeks fishing in 9. I have put back a lot of sm fish like everyone else.

Than you remember John (always had his dog on the boat with him) and Casey. Ballard High Liners!

The 5 minute bite. So true.....

Used to pick up a ton of fish from Rays to the black train bride. Mooching in amongst the boat traffic coming in/out of the Locks! Fun times!

As a young kid, I hooked, played, and landed a nice king directly out in front of Rays. I can still remember the drunk diners up on the deck at Rays hootin' and hollerin' as this 11 year old kid was battling a 20+lb. King!

Apparently Captain Q and his friend used to fish off of our dock in Magnolia.

Found this photo in my archives. Not too sure what the numbered labels are for, but here's my guess......



1) Where I used to live.
2) Where I used to take my boat in the winter and find L9 and U20 flatfish lost by the plunkers at the Locks. Also where we hand lined in a king after snagging the broken off line with our mooching gear.
3) Where I ran across a poacher with a net strung from the beach to the lumber. He threatened to kill me if I never told anyone.
4) Where I got spooled by a king swinging spoons
5) Where we would plunk for steelhead using L9 and U20 flatfish
6) Where my brother would sneak over and swing spoons for kings.
7) ? Besides a bridge? I think the homeless and tweakers would also be hiding out under neath it.
8) Where the tweakers would stash our stolen fishing gear.