Nisqually update

oknow · Oct 22, 2016

WDFW FISHING RULE CHANGE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov

October 21, 2016

Nisqually River open to retention of hatchery coho and gamefish

Action: Retention of hatchery coho and gamefish is permitted. Salmon, trout and other gamefish fishing open on the mainstem Nisqually River from mouth to the military tank crossing bridge.

Effective dates: Oct. 22, 2016, until further notice.

Species affected: Coho salmon and gamefish

Location: Mainstem Nisqually from mouth to the military tank crossing bridge.

Reasons for action: The Nisqually River was originally closed to all fishing under a state and tribal co-manager agreement to protect coho salmon.

Egg-take goals for coho have been met at Kalama and Clear Creek hatcheries, allowing the co-managers to open fisheries for coho and gamefish.

Other information: Anglers can retain 2 hatchery adult coho only and must release all chinook, all chum, wild coho and wild steelhead. Trout minimum size 14", daily limit 2. Other gamefish statewide minimum size/daily limits apply.

Sport anglers should be aware that tribal fisheries will also be occurring and should avoid interfering with those fisheries.

Information Contact: James P. Losee, (360) 902-2741, [email protected]

Caveman Jim · Oct 22, 2016

Thanks for the update Bro.
I quit fishing the Squally some 20+ years ago when the tribe netted the steelhead to near extinction in the late 80's.

Good luck to those who do plan to partake in this fishery.

Slobray · Oct 24, 2016

[U][B]WDFW[/B][/U] said:
Other information: Anglers can retain 2 hatchery adult coho only and must release all chinook, all chum, wild coho and wild steelhead. Trout minimum size 14", daily limit 2. Other gamefish statewide minimum size/daily limits apply.

Sport anglers should be aware that tribal fisheries will also be occurring and should avoid interfering with those fisheries.

So, no hatchery Kings or chum for us sporties, hunh? But, God forbid that we should interfere with the tribe killing every fish in the river........

Unless somethings happened, while I've been away, the Nisqually has always had a great run of chum. Did the tribe finally decimate the run?

Ray

Caveman Jim · Nov 1, 2016

Slobray said:
So, no hatchery Kings or chum for us sporties, hunh? But, God forbid that we should interfere with the tribe killing every fish in the river........

Unless somethings happened, while I've been away, the Nisqually has always had a great run of chum. Did the tribe finally decimate the run?

Ray

Last year it was poor returns, I wonder why????

POOR MANAGEMENT or should I am MISMANAGEMENT????

No_Regerts · Nov 1, 2016

Caveman Jim said:
Thanks for the update Bro.
I quit fishing the Squally some 20+ years ago when the tribe netted the steelhead to near extinction in the late 80's.

Good luck to those who do plan to partake in this fishery.

A few summers ago I was drifting a nightcrawler for giggles and landed a small hen and it surprised the heck out of me. I turned her loose and tried to think of the last time I saw a steelhead in the squally.

Caveman Jim · Nov 1, 2016

I hear ya, it was so bad that I moved on to the next tribal influenced reduction river, the Green river.... then to the next...... and the next...
HEII, they all have been getting more than their 50%!!!!

No_Regerts · Nov 1, 2016

Caveman Jim said:
I hear ya, it was so bad that I moved on to the next tribal influenced reduction river, the Green river.... then to the next...... and the next...
HEII, they all have been getting more than their 50%!!!!

You're more than welcome to fish for smallmouth with me on American or Summit lake. Not much to eat, but they are a hoot.

Brutus57 · Nov 1, 2016

I fell in love with bass fishing in Texas in the service. my buddy and I would take turns turning in our rental MWR jon boat & motor. He was doing this while I had walked over to the side of the big embankment and road leading down to the ramp. I had a small medium running plug....some kids were fishing from the dock about 150 feet away. I casted a few times near the drowned sage bushes and the 3rd time BOOM, I saw the 12 inch bigmouth hit my lure about 15 feet from the shore....at that point I was hooked.

Brutus Out

Slobray · Nov 1, 2016

Caveman Jim said:
Last year it was poor returns, I wonder why????
POOR MANAGEMENT or should I am MISMANAGEMENT????

Eight or nine years ago, my grandson and I were fishing for chum in the Nisqually on the Ft. Lewis side. I'm trying to teach him fishing etiquette and the importance of not killing fish that we weren't going eat (only taking the bright fish and letting the dark or questionable fish go on their way to spawn, so there would always be fish for us to harvest for years to come). Along comes one of the tribal um..... fisherman?, he beached his boat about 20 feet from us and proceeded to sort through the catch from his nets; he took the eggs from the hens then immediately threw them overboard. There were probably 50+ hens and all of them were bright fish. He didn't have any bucks aboard, so I think he just dumped them in the river after taking them from his net.

My grandson looked at me and said "Papa, that guy is just throwing all those fish away, we need to stop him". You know how hard is was to try to explain to a 9-10 year old that we aren't allowed to try to stop him from wasting all those fish, that a tribal member could kill as many fish as he wanted and just dump them back in the river, while we were only allowed only two fish a day and if we were caught wasting fish, we could be fined or go to jail?

So, yeah, I would say "mismanagement" is the proper word.

Ray

No_Regerts · Nov 1, 2016

My dad was a helicopter pilot in the army from 1966 to 1990. He is a fisherman and a hunter who taught me a lot about nature and conservation. He would come home beet red, ranting about all the fish he saw rotting on the bank of the nisqually. He would fly a route to the training ares that took him along the river. He still rants about it to this day.

Diamondback · Nov 1, 2016

And people like to praise "Indians are so much better because they used the whole animal for everything they took..." *snort*

Only one thing to say to that... *turns, drops trou and blasts arse-gas*

(Full disclosure, I don't even LIKE fish--CAN'T eat them, hereditary seafood allergy.)

Caveman Jim · Nov 1, 2016

Diamondback said:
And people like to praise "Indians are so much better because they used the whole animal for everything they took..." *snort*

Only one thing to say to that... *turns, drops trou and blasts arse-gas*

(Full disclosure, I don't even LIKE fish--CAN'T eat them, hereditary seafood allergy.)

Or shoot 1/2 a herd of elk and take 5 bulls & leave the rest lay, some were still kickin!!!