Speaking of WDFW Failures....

[No_Regerts]

I was thinking about how poorly WDFW manages our fisheries and it dawned on me.....How are they managing to kill off salmon and steelhead fisheries regardless of their "efforts" to preserve them? But here is the funnier question.....How are the warmwater fisheries thriving regardless of WDFWs efforts to kill them off? Cant they do anything right?

If it were me, I'd look at a lake and think about what would thrive in those conditions. Lakes age and get shallower and warmer with more weeds. Use those lakes to grow big bass, crappies and maybe some catfish. Use the cooler reservoirs with feeder streams that trout can spawn in. In both cases, you get bigger and healthier fish.

Lakes like American Lake, can use more predators to thin out overpopulated and stunted panfish populations. Maybe some Walleyes?

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[11Charlie]

Sounds logical to me maybe you should apply for a job and get there heads straightened out.

 

[HappyRoman]

LIKE THIS YEARS SMELT SEASON..OMG

 

[Silver Hand]

Feed the seals.
Silver Hand

 

[No_Regerts]

Sounds logical to me maybe you should apply for a job and get there heads straightened out.

I tried, but I don't have a biological sciences degree. Dont know why it matters, they dont listen to their biologists anyway.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I remember a saying about the GOV & a wet dream that comes to mind that fits the description perfectly.....
Anything that the GOV touches turns to chit.

 

[Caveman Jim]

LIKE THIS YEARS SMELT SEASON..OMG

Yeah, all 5 hours of it.... Just pitiful. If there are so few left then why not STOP ALL HARVEST!!! In the name of conservation or are they putting this out as an opportunity that we have been asking for???

 

[jrd541280]

They won't stop all harvests in the name of recovery because, that would stop all the sportsmans licenses dollars to fund all of the netters to keep all of the same bs that's been going on for years. I can release a fish unharmed to carry on its legacy. Can a gillnetter release an endangered fish unharmed?

 

[No_Regerts]

They won't stop all harvests in the name of recovery because, that would stop all the sportsmans licenses dollars to fund all of the netters to keep all of the same bs that's been going on for years. I can release a fish unharmed to carry on its legacy. Can a gillnetter release an endangered fish unharmed?

The gill netter cant even avoid endangered fish when they are fishing for something else.

 

[jbett98]

Gill netters are required to have a fish recovery tank on board, but that doesn't always mean that they utilize it.

 

[Mikej]

Gill netters are required to have a fish recovery tank on board, but that doesn't always mean that they utilize it.

For the people that don't know the specifics...The recovery tank is an oblong shaped tank mounted somewhere in the netters boat that has river water being pumped through it. They are only required when the commercial netter is using a small mesh net "Tooth tangle net" that catches the salmon, presumably, by the teeth only, not the gill plates. "Gill Nets" have a larger mesh which allows the salmon to swim part way into it and will be caught by the gill plates. These tangle nets have to be pulled in after less time "Soaking" than regular gill nets. The idea is, when a wild (not of hatchery production) salmon is pulled in by the teeth, still alive but needing some TLC, the salmon will be put in the recovery tank to, recover, before being released back into the river.

The key is to get the tangle net to do the job, get it in quick, and revive/release any wild fish. The regular gill net is meant to trap salmon, by the gills, and not reel it back into the boat until it has trapped as many fish as possible. The tangle nets, as far as I know, are ONLY used in the spring salmon fishery in the Columbia.

I have to wonder, being as the Columbia is home to thousands of seals/sea lions, how many salmon are pulled from their nets by the fur bags? From what I've heard there are times 50% of the salmon hooked in the Oregon City area get taken by the fur bags. Hog liners in the Columbia can have seals/sea lions spending the day with them, waiting below their anchored boats, taking fish off their line before they can get them to the boat. Personally, I don't participate in fisheries where odds are high I'd have a fish taken from me.

 

[jbett98]

There's no sport anymore in Springer salmon fishing.
You set the hook and haul the fish in as fast as you can without breaking the line.
Gone are the days of playing the fish in a sportsmanship like manner.

 

[Mikej]

I don't/won't fish those places. I've fished some pretty crowded fisheries in the past, enjoyed the hell out of it too. People changed though. I'm sure there were always "Those " types around, but now there's too many of those types.

 

[Alexx1401]

I remember a saying about the GOV & a wet dream that comes to mind that fits the description perfectly.....
Anything that the GOV touches turns to chit.

LOL, there are a few, and I mean a very few, things Government does well. Problem is people in Gov. want them to run everything. Many fall into this trap thinking it's better. Even though it is proven over and over again wrong. My favorite was the cat house in NV. IRIS took it for taxes. Gov. managed to make a cat house lose money. Now that is real talent. Then people who laugh at this vote for more Gov. control on everything. When it of course becomes a mess the people who voted for it scream for Gov. to "fix it".

 

[Caveman Jim]

Gill netters are required to have a fish recovery tank on board, but that doesn't always mean that they utilize it.

And they are SUPPOSED to use them....
Up here on the Chehalis river they yank em out of the net by the tail, drop em on the deck a few times then grab em by the gills & throw em overboard!!! They have been filmed doing it with WDFW employees on board watching!!!!

 

[jsparks747]

And they are SUPPOSED to use them....
Up here on the Chehalis river they yank em out of the net by the tail, drop em on the deck a few timesand then grab em by the gills & throw em overboard!!! They have been filmed doing it!!!!

That's awful! I say a strange looking fishing boat on Puget Sound that had rudely gone past us 4 times the previous day at about 20 knots while I was on a dock.(did I mention that a $5 million yacht was tied up there) I glassed him with a set of binos (crazy high power) and saw them catch a wild salmon and clip the adipose fin off. I put a camera to the binos and caught them on camera and called WDFW. They sent out a boat and arrested them. They got out with a $5,000 fine each and revoking of their ability to ever get a Washington fishing license and not being able to get a salmon tag in any of the states. It was quite the scene to watch.

 

[fatboy044]

The smelt were here in droves, wdfw just didnt allow dipping when they were here. The last week of duck season I was in the columbia and the edge of where I was hunting was black with smelt constant flow and we had seals within throwing range the whole time because of it. Took my kids down to the cowlitz for 3 hours and we got 2 smelt. Rediculous

 

[11Charlie]

That's awful! I say a strange looking fishing boat on Puget Sound that had rudely gone past us 4 times the previous day at about 20 knots while I was on a dock.(did I mention that a $5 million yacht was tied up there) I glassed him with a set of binos (crazy high power) and saw them catch a wild salmon and clip the adipose fin off. I put a camera to the binos and caught them on camera and called WDFW. They sent out a boat and arrested them. They got out with a $5,000 fine each and revoking of their ability to ever get a Washington fishing license and not being able to get a salmon tag in any of the states. It was quite the scene to watch.

Good on you man. Its nice to see people step up and help catch these jerk offs.

 

[Alexx1401]

Good on you man. Its nice to see people step up and help catch these jerk offs.

YES YES YES!!! A couple morons like that ruin it for everyone else. They should have the book not only thrown at them but shoved down their throat.

 

[jsparks747]

Good on you man. Its nice to see people step up and help catch these jerk offs.

Thank you. It should be featured on "Somebody's gotta do it"