Washington Steelhead Closure 2020

[bbbass]

@Mikej

Soooooo, you don't miss dicks eh???

 

[Mikej]

@Mikej

Soooooo, you don't miss dicks eh???

I'm thinkin', there's NO answer for THAT question. Ask later.

I didn't fish those rivers, but this could have been written by me. This is my experience almost exactly. I never needed a fish every time out, but I needed the "chance" at a fish. I have a hard time with it now and I can way more afford to do it than I did then. While the tribes have an interest, they don't always work in the interest of the entire fishery. I've seen way too many nets closing off all runs and discarded carcasses on the banks harvested for eggs to be unjaded. Addressing habitat and ocean escapement needs to be done, but we can't have indiscriminate fishing in the rivers either. The sportsman cannot carry the burden of saving the runs alone.

I gave up on the salmon, steelhead, sturgeon ( ), halibut ( ) tag last year and this. Most likely never buy another one. After seeing how the runs, and plants, diminished, and my catch rate going to 0 for two years. Yep! The wife and I considered 10, if we were lucky, salmon/steelhead a year. A couple of springers in there, hell, ONE springer! Mmmm. Would have been great. I laugh now about the "people" at ODFW charging me for sturgeon? And halibut? Is that a joke? Get the off-shore guys to pay through the nose. They're the ones with so much more disposable income. Heck, they even want, thing it was $25.00 for a DAY license! Want to fish for trout for a day, or two? Barf.

When it comes down to it. Let the guides pay for it all. They're the one who bring hundreds of fish over their gunnels for clients.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Mike I'd like to reply to your post but I'm about three sheets into the wind after my fishing trip today and the whiskey that I have consumed that will hamper my cognitive thinking and rant. LOL Tomorrow's another day.

 

[Mikej]

Mike I'd like to reply to your post but I'm about three sheets into the wind after my fishing trip today and the whiskey that I have consumed that will hamper my cognitive thinking and rant. LOL Tomorrow's another day.

That's okay Jim. I understand how the days of getting up at 0 dark 30, driving for two hour, fishing for 8 hours, driving home, drinking beer with your buddies 'till 10 pm and doing it AGAIN the next day are looooong gone!

Hope it was a good sleep, with minimal pain when you rise!

 

[Caveman Jim]

Yeah this season sealed the deal for me as far as not buying a salmon/steelhead tag for next year.
It's a shame how for years they have ran our fish runs into the ground and have not been held accountable AT ALL!!!
Folks it is past time to start protesting the F&W offices in Olympia and Salem.

 

[Fishjager]

This is exactly why I sold my boat five years ago. J Inslee gave all the fishing rights to Indians and Commercials, on the salt. They have been closing rivers for the past few years to sporties. Go figure your fishing license fees supports the hatcheries that feed the systems. But those who do not need a license come along throw out a net, go on a drunk, and maybe come back a few days after the fish have started to rot. Yeah, real conservation at work. I don't give Washington State a dime of mine for hunting or fishing. But people voted for him, so they get what they wanted.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Agree. We are working on a departure plan from this politically toxic state, it sickens me to pay them $$$ in fees and taxes to continue with the agenda in all agencies.

 

[xtratoy]

I wonder if they have plans to ban everyone who runs their gear halfway across the river in a kayak then goes back to shore. These people usually have more than one lure on the line since they could never cast it from shore to where they drop it it in. On top of that, they use so much weight to hold their gear in place, when a fish does bite and get hooked it is dragging a couple pounds of lead around plus fighting the fisherman on the shore. How many native fish do think survive this even if they are released? Decades ago they banned using drones to take your bait out In WA and OR. I don't see how this kayak or full size boat type of fishing differs from the drone type .

 

[Mikej]

I wonder if they have plans to ban everyone who runs their gear halfway across the river in a kayak then goes back to shore. These people usually have more than one lure on the line since they could never cast it from shore to where they drop it it in. On top of that, they use so much weight to hold their gear in place, when a fish does bite and get hooked it is dragging a couple pounds of lead around plus fighting the fisherman on the shore. How many native fish do think survive this even if they are released? Decades ago they banned using drones to take your bait out In WA and OR. I don't see how this kayak or full size boat type of fishing differs from the drone type .

I'm betting you used to fish off of Caterpillar Island to below Frenchman's Bar for springers? DANG, I had few enjoyable springs there. Anchoring up at the top of the island/below the Bar when the Big C was kinda' dirty. In fairly close 14'-19' with a wrapped K-14/15. Then the plunkers got to boating to the island and running their lines way out, basically stopping the trollers and the anchor fishermen.

 

[Flymph]

I'm betting you used to fish off of Caterpillar Island to below Frenchman's Bar for springers? DANG, I had few enjoyable springs there. Anchoring up at the top of the island/below the Bar when the Big C was kinda' dirty. In fairly close 14'-19' with a wrapped K-14/15. Then the plunkers got to boating to the island and running their lines way out, basically stopping the trollers and the anchor fishermen.

That's when you run a steel cable on some rebar over their lines and really make some friends.

 

[clearconscience]

We should follows all these rules as much as the politicians follow their lockdown restrictions.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I wonder if they have plans to ban everyone who runs their gear halfway across the river in a kayak then goes back to shore. These people usually have more than one lure on the line since they could never cast it from shore to where they drop it it in. On top of that, they use so much weight to hold their gear in place, when a fish does bite and get hooked it is dragging a couple pounds of lead around plus fighting the fisherman on the shore. How many native fish do think survive this even if they are released? Decades ago they banned using drones to take your bait out In WA and OR. I don't see how this kayak or full size boat type of fishing differs from the drone type .

They'll find a way to ticket anyone for an infraction that is in the gray area. I don't think that they have our best interest at hand even though it is their JOB!!!

 

[No_Regerts]

Tribal fishermen do not manage the resource. They take the allotment that they were granted after we destroyed their way of life and penned them up on crappy soil.

Not trying to start a beef, but offering a little perspective. FWIW

Sovereignty is not a right. If you can't keep it, it's not yours anymore.

 

[Fishjager]

Some tribes do manage their fisheries. I think of the Makah in Neah Bay. They have a beautiful hatchery, and I personally have seen some very big Kings coming back to that hatchery. I know a couple of guys that work there. Really nice folks.

 

[Caveman Jim]

The thing about the tribal hatcheries is that a major majority do not clip their smolts thus insuring they get theirs and NT's have to let them go...

 

[DisplacedTexan]

Floated a jig on one of the few stretches of river that's not blown out...nothing.

Anyone had any luck with the steelies this winter?

 

[Cj60]

Tribal fishermen do not manage the resource. They take the allotment that they were granted after we destroyed their way of life and penned them up on crappy soil.

Not trying to start a beef, but offering a little perspective. FWIW

Surely spoken by a transplant....
I now own a small ranch surrounded by, what you call, "Crappy soil".... What a stupid thing to say.
I am surrounded by some of the most beautiful (Tribal) land that is chock full of cougars, bear, deer, and also Columbia River frontage. Every time I go get my mail at the PO on the "Rez", I am so saddened by the yard after yard of junk, garbage, and (to me) unlivable homes. They have no utility bills, no taxes on their property, get quite big Casino payouts, yet live like that?
And before you draw your guns, my son is 1/4 Klamath. BUT... His grandpa (full blood) had a saying "If it's good enough for the White man, it's good enough for us". He never hunted on the Rez, and he refused to sign his kids up for the goodies associated with Tribal Enrollment. My son went to College on our dime, while ALL of his Indian school buddies quit when they started getting their big casino checks every month.
What the USA did to them in the old days was as bad as it gets, until they decided to make them feel like they couldn't survive or prosper without the Govt giving them everything.
Now if you want to talk about getting screwed on land, that would be East of the Mississippi. Those Reservations are pathetic and worthless. In the PNW? Even the Umatilla Tribes got some of the choicest land in their Reservations....

 

[Cj60]

I have a disabled sticker for my car, will that work?

LMAO!!!
After a spinal injury, I can now walk/drive again although I still fall a lot. I have a sticker, but rarely use it as there are those more deserving. But, at least 80% of the people I see using them get out of their rigs and sprint into the store. As with "Aid Dogs", 90% of those who now take their pets everywhere (i.e. Comfort Animals) are not actually using animals as the law intends. Same thing with Disabled Parking permits. A doctor will give them to any elderly person that asks for them. Likely the same for everybody now as most I see are driving very expensive rigs and are in the 30-50 yr old range.... It would be the same on the river, why wouldn't it?

 

[CRBMoA]

Surely spoken by a transplant....
I now own a small ranch surrounded by, what you call, "Crappy soil".... What a stupid thing to say.
I am surrounded by some of the most beautiful (Tribal) land that is chock full of cougars, bear, deer, and also Columbia River frontage. Every time I go get my mail at the PO on the "Rez", I am so saddened by the yard after yard of junk, garbage, and (to me) unlivable homes. They have no utility bills, no taxes on their property, get quite big Casino payouts, yet live like that?
And before you draw your guns, my son is 1/4 Klamath. BUT... His grandpa (full blood) had a saying "If it's good enough for the White man, it's good enough for us". He never hunted on the Rez, and he refused to sign his kids up for the goodies associated with Tribal Enrollment. My son went to College on our dime, while ALL of his Indian school buddies quit when they started getting their big casino checks every month.
What the USA did to them in the old days was as bad as it gets, until they decided to make them feel like they couldn't survive or prosper without the Govt giving them everything.
Now if you want to talk about getting screwed on land, that would be East of the Mississippi. Those Reservations are pathetic and worthless. In the PNW? Even the Umatilla Tribes got some of the choicest land in their Reservations....

You would do well to put me on ignore, as I am about to do to you. I have been here for several years and no one has accused me of being either a transplant OR stupid in all that time. Have a nice day, or not. I don't care.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Back on topic, with all this rain we've been having and rivers flowing through the fields it's time to get out there and plunk a gob of eggs. No boat needed in these heavy flows.