Bass and Walleye Rule change on the Columbia and tributaries-CRAZY

[B.G.hunter]

What really needs to happen is 4 of the Snake River dams should be breached.

agreed
[/quote]
I think that is a terrible idea.  Do you know the mess that would cause over here.  For the last 4-5 years excluding this year we have seen record steelhead returns and salmon runs reviving. So how does this support removing the dams. I wasn't here before they put them in but I was here in mid 90's when they did the drawdown.  And it was a huge mess with millions of dollars of damage to the roads and other infrastructure.  We have 40 years of silt behind these dams and it would probably kill all the salmon and steelhead runs if the were removed all at once.  It would take BILLIONS of dollars to this and maybe Tens of BILLIONS of dollars.  Most of the people I talk to didn't want the dams in the first place but almost all don't want them removed.  So you can keep you dam removal ideas on your side of the mountains a leave us alone. 

[Curly]

Well, if native steelhead runs are ever going to be viable, damn removal should happen sooner than later.  From what I've read, it can be done responsibly. 

If not dam breaching, then at least sealion removal from the Columbia along with the gillnet ban.  That would be much more helpful than the band-aid approach of removing a limit on bass and walleye.

[Special T]

I kill my fair share of mergansers each year, just wish there was a seperate bag limit... if there was i'd make a special hunt just for them...

[lokidog]

I kill my fair share of mergansers each year, just wish there was a seperate bag limit... if there was i'd make a special hunt just for them...

There's a flock of about 80 of them on the bay on the west side of the island the last few days.  Wonder how many herring and surf perch they eat.     I pulled a 10" spiny ray out of one on the Chehalis many years ago, the thing could hardly get off the water, hence Boom, Splash.   

[B.G.hunter]

Well, if native steelhead runs are ever going to be viable, damn removal should happen sooner than later.  From what I've read, it can be done responsibly. 

If not damn breaching, then at least sealion removal from the Columbia along with the gillnet ban.  That would be much more helpful than the band-aid approach of removing a limit on bass and walleye.

You have been reading the liberal/hippie press haven't you.  Almost all of the fisherman on the snake/clearwater have been catching 3 to 1  unclipped (or native) to every hatchery fish.  There is no difference in DNA between a wild fish over and hatchery fish.  If you took a 100 hatchery DNA's and 100 wild fish DNA's and mixed them up no bio in world could tell the difference.

[Scottystyle]

Anyone have a link to the actual rule change?

[PolarBear]

Don't worry folks, the Russians and such will have them all wiped out in no time.

[bearpaw]

In Roosevelt it's not about salmon and steelhead, there are none here, they don't get past the dams below us on the Columbia. 

The way I understand it, they built a hatchery to produce Kokanee, a native specie that I used to catch fairly often as a kid here in Stevens County on Roosevelt before there were any walleye. I also used to catch Dolly Varden (bull trout) when I was a kid. This kokanee hatchery was built with BPA money to replenish native fisheries. It failed because all the kokanee are being eaten by walleye, in fact many of the native trout and most of the native scrap fish are mostly gone too. The majority of fish that's in Roosevelt are walleye to the point that they are eating themselves. By liberalizing limits they hope to bring walleye numbers in line so that some of these other native species can recover.

I am not saying we should eliminate all walleye, a lot of people like catching them and they are good for our local economy. But I can tell you this, when the walleye first got going good the average fish was 24 inches and fat, there was plenty of food for them to grow. Now you can fish and you are lucky to catch a 24 inch walleye because they don't have enough to eat. I firmly beleive the walleye fishery in Roosevelt will actually benefit from this rule.

[sakoshooter]

More smoke and mirrors from the state. If they really wanted to save the salmon and steelhead they would outlaw ALL Nets in Wa State waters.

X2

[Ridgeratt]

In Roosevelt it's not about salmon and steelhead, there are none here, they don't get past the dams below us on the Columbia. 

The way I understand it, they built a hatchery to produce Kokanee, a native specie that I used to catch fairly often as a kid here in Stevens County on Roosevelt before there were any walleye. I also used to catch Dolly Varden (bull trout) when I was a kid. This kokanee hatchery was built with BPA money to replenish native fisheries. It failed because all the kokanee are being eaten by walleye, in fact many of the native trout and most of the native scrap fish are mostly gone too. The majority of fish that's in Roosevelt are walleye to the point that they are eating themselves. By liberalizing limits they hope to bring walleye numbers in line so that some of these other native species can recover.

I am not saying we should eliminate all walleye, a lot of people like catching them and they are good for our local economy. But I can tell you this, when the walleye first got going good the average fish was 24 inches and fat, there was plenty of food for them to grow. Now you can fish and you are lucky to catch a 24 inch walleye because they don't have enough to eat. I firmly beleive the walleye fishery in Roosevelt will actually benefit from this rule.

When they were first brought into Roosevelt they were considered scrap fish!!! We fished them and when checked by WDFW they said is that all you have. They would tells to catch all we wanted.
Then somebody figured out these could make them some mony!

Last spring they opened up the arm to the tribes and they were paying them a bounty to catch them but it was by hook and line. So they weren't able to net them and remove and non targeted fish.
I for one am glad to see this so the sportsman can get a chance to harvest some of them. They also have upped the limits on the Small mouths as well a few years ago.

On a side note the Kalispells and the WDGW are starting the netting of the Northens on the Pend Orielle this spring as well.





March 05, 2013
Contact: Commission Office, (360) 902-2267



Commission adopts new sportfishing
rules, approves land transactions


MOSES LAKE – The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted numerous changes to sportfishing rules and approved three land transactions during a public meeting March 1 in Moses Lake.

Nearly 70 sportfishing rules were adopted by the commission, a nine-member citizen panel appointed by the governor to set policy for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

Rules approved by the commission include:

•Increasing the daily catch limit for walleye from eight to 16 fish in Lake Roosevelt and a portion of the Spokane River – waters where there is an overabundance of walleye. The rule is designed to bring the walleye population back into balance with other fish populations, improving the quality of the fisheries. The rule also opens that portion of the Spokane River to the harvest of walleye year round.

•Limiting anglers to one white sturgeon per year in Washington’s waters beginning May 1. Starting Jan. 1, 2014, the new rule will also require anglers to release all white sturgeon in the lower Columbia River below Bonneville Dam, the Washington coast, Puget Sound and their tributaries. However, catch-and-release fishing for the species will be allowed in those areas. The rule is designed to address ongoing concerns about declines in the lower Columbia River white sturgeon population.

•Removing the daily catch limit for channel catfish and the daily catch and size limits for bass and walleye in portions of the Columbia and Snake rivers and their tributaries to assist recovery efforts for salmon and steelhead. The changes are designed to increase the harvest of abundant bass, walleye and channel catfish, which prey on juvenile salmon and steelhead that are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

•Reducing the daily catch limit of cabezon to one fish in marine areas 4-11 and 13 and prohibiting the retention of cabezon measuring less than 18 inches in length. The rule, designed to provide additional protection for the species, also reduces the fishing season for cabezon in those areas to May 1 through June 15.
Most new rules take effect May 1. Summaries of the rule changes, as adopted, will be available on WDFW’s website in the next two weeks.

In other action, the commission approved three land transactions, including the purchase of 1,614 acres in Asotin County. The acquisition is phase two of a multi-year project to secure a total of nearly 12,000 acres of riparian habitat for steelhead and bull trout and terrestrial habitat for deer, bighorn sheep and elk.

The commission also approved the purchase of 195 acres of lowlands in the Chinook River Estuary in Pacific County to increase salmon habitat, and an easement across four properties along Issaquah Creek in King County for the construction of a replacement intake system upstream from the WDFW Issaquah Fish Hatchery.

In other business, the commission held a public hearing on proposed changes to hunting rules. The 17 adjustments proposed by WDFW include allowing the use of illuminated arrow nocks for archery equipment and restoring antlerless elk opportunities for archery hunters in Yakima County, specifically in Game Management Units 352 (Nile) and 356 (Bumping).

The proposed adjustments are available on WDFW’s website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/about/regulations/development.html#12-19-007. The commission will consider final adoption of the proposed changes to hunting rules at its April 12-13 meeting in Olympia.

 

[Curly]

OR how about taking away the protection of sea lions, Cormorants, and mergansers? Don't think "enough" people would shoot them? I would kill a limit of each if there was a separate one from my normal duck limit. 

 

Salmon recovery is hindered by conflicting policies, practices and laws. For example: Federal law protects migratory birds that are major salmon predators — yet up to 40 percent of some salmon stocks are consumed by birds, according to National Marine Fisheries Service research. There are conflicts between hatchery and wild fish, between protecting endangered salmon and maintaining harvest. These and other conflicting policies must be resolved.

The above quote says 40% of some salmon stocks are eaten by birds.  Isn't it crazy to protect cormorants when they eat so much fish?  Also, protecting the CA Sealions is simply CRAZY.  Sealions and cormorant populations are very high.........there is no logical reason to protect them, especially at the expense of other endangered species.

[MtnMuley]

This rule proposal is ridiculous.  I fish for salmon, steelhead, bass, and walleye.  We've seem record/near record runs recently in the upper Columbia on salmon and steelhead.  There are millions and millions of dollars each year spend on protecting these runs.  These runs are doing just fine, so why create a negative impact on these other fisheries by making them limitless.   F#&*%g stupid, at best.

[wildmanoutdoors]

This rule proposal is ridiculous.  I fish for salmon, steelhead, bass, and walleye.  We've seem record/near record runs recently in the upper Columbia on salmon and steelhead.  There are millions and millions of dollars each year spend on protecting these runs.  These runs are doing just fine, so why create a negative impact on these other fisheries by making them limitless.   F#&*%g stupid, at best.

Only someone looking at the big picture and there own agenda could possibly say this.

[BLUEBULLS]

How many smolts do walleye really eat? I only know one person on here that might be able to give me an educated answer. Basically I'm saying that the WDFW is guesssing that walleye hurt the smolts. Smolts live on top, walleye live on bottom, bass move to backwaters when the smolt are coming down, smolt try to stay with the current. It's the birds that they should try to crack down on.

[Special T]

Curly, Where did you get that quote?