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Looks to me like the water conditions are perfect. Miraculously they have re-populated in two seasons.
Quote from: wildmanoutdoors on May 28, 2015, 03:34:35 PMThey almost opened it this year but rumer is there waiting till next...If you fished the estuary for the last few years youd know how the run has declined over the last 15 years. I dont know if the fish Paul is fishing are the ones comming from the ocean or not? This is the time though.This would be awesome but where did you hear this from?
They almost opened it this year but rumer is there waiting till next...If you fished the estuary for the last few years youd know how the run has declined over the last 15 years. I dont know if the fish Paul is fishing are the ones comming from the ocean or not? This is the time though.
I think a fourty fish 1/2 day tells all. I have never been close to that. Our camp at deep river for the last twenty years out fished most by far. I would agree the pools and lakes above all of our dams have been pounded pretty hard.Im wondering if keeper size sturgeon can use the fish ladders during their spawning migration? Maybe those should be the areas shut down.
It was the guide influx of the 90's after the salmon crash. There are still plenty of fish, they just can't take the hurt of the guide fleet limiting out every day. Yeah I grew up fishing sturgeon, still remember the three fish a day limit 36"-72", didn't even need a license to fish for them then, but there was not the same pressure as now, seemed nobody fished for sturgeon and most even considered them trash. Then in the 80's the columbia river salmon runs took a dive and more and more started targeting sturgeon. Throw in how easy it became to get an Oregon guide license and the pressure increased 10 fold. There are still plenty of fish, last time the Willamette was opened the quota was caught in one day, that doesn't happen with no fish in the river, but it is the pressure on the fishery that it cannot sustain. The last year it was open in the estuary all I heard from the guides was how there weren't any fish, well no @#$%! the same guys were fishing the same spots over and over day in and out limiting full boats. I was fishing solo as far from the guide fleet as I could get and had no problem getting my two and releasing many keeper sized fish. The lower Cowlitz was stuffed with fish this year, Ive seen lots of them hooked on salmon gear as bycatch, just because they aren't always in the same hole doesn't mean they don't exist.
Quote from: TONTO on May 31, 2015, 07:08:26 PM It was the guide influx of the 90's after the salmon crash. There are still plenty of fish, they just can't take the hurt of the guide fleet limiting out every day. Yeah I grew up fishing sturgeon, still remember the three fish a day limit 36"-72", didn't even need a license to fish for them then, but there was not the same pressure as now, seemed nobody fished for sturgeon and most even considered them trash. Then in the 80's the columbia river salmon runs took a dive and more and more started targeting sturgeon. Throw in how easy it became to get an Oregon guide license and the pressure increased 10 fold. There are still plenty of fish, last time the Willamette was opened the quota was caught in one day, that doesn't happen with no fish in the river, but it is the pressure on the fishery that it cannot sustain. The last year it was open in the estuary all I heard from the guides was how there weren't any fish, well no @#$%! the same guys were fishing the same spots over and over day in and out limiting full boats. I was fishing solo as far from the guide fleet as I could get and had no problem getting my two and releasing many keeper sized fish. The lower Cowlitz was stuffed with fish this year, Ive seen lots of them hooked on salmon gear as bycatch, just because they aren't always in the same hole doesn't mean they don't exist. that too has put a major dent in it. They've been exploited and commercialized drastically for the last ten years. Doesn't take long between that and the black market poachers.Jumpin ?? but having a real hard time seeing where you're coming from?
I think there is a lot of poaching going on. I saw it on the news of people hooking up and tying the fish up until it gets dark. They showed pictures of a dude who was laying down on the bank and the fish was at least 7 - 8 feet long. THey were cutting the roe out and selling it for 50,000 dollars.[/quotI have no doubts it goes on, but that does not effect the keeper and shaker numbers.
