20-21 salmon seasons

[Stein]

Anyone else see the shellacking we just took?

I have to finish digesting it, but anyone that says the new director is turning the corner is welcome to explain how that could possibly be true.   The projections are fairly close to last year, but the seasons are toast.  Maybe he can post some salmon recipes in his section of the new regulations book.

The former closures seem to be permanent now as everyone is only considering the NEW closures on top of what we saw last year including no blackmouth at all in 8-1, 8-2, 9 and 10 only from Jan-March.

Area 7 August chinook closure is now the norm.

I have to finish reading to see if anything will be open in 8-1, 8-2 or 9, the closures are wide and deep.  It would probably be easier to list the few things open than to read about everything closed.

I'm sure glad I didn't buy the entire family all of the licenses this year.

[WSU]

Get used to it.

[fishngamereaper]

Most all blackmouth is going away. 6-9 anyway. So say good by to all the good derbies.

Area 9 gets it's usual short window season that may last a week.

Coho are apparently down this year so that's a driving force, especially on the ocean...but I remember a few years ago when coho where predicted down, they showed up in droves..so will see.

And this is all assuming big brother let's us fish anytime soon.

[95powersmoker]

Is it really up to the director? Or does NOAA and PfMC, Canadians, Native americans, etc pretty much just tell us what portion they are going to take and we get to make something out of whatever’s left? Listening to outdoor gps this morning sure makes it sound like Canadians are determining our Columbia River fisheries now.

[skidynastar33]

What are the area 9 and 10 summer quotas?

[fishngamereaper]

What are the area 9 and 10 summer quotas?
[/quote
Not finalized yet but pretty much the same as last year.

[skidynastar33]

So what your saying is they will cut the quotas in half at the last minute?

4 years in a row of this crap.
And the salmon runs the last 4 years have been about the same

[MADMAX]

heres what I got last night

DFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
1111 Washington St. SE, Olympia, WA 98501
http://wdfw.wa.gov/

April 10, 2020
Contact: Kyle Adicks, 360-902-2664
Media inquiries: Ben Anderson, 360-480-4465

Washington's salmon seasons tentatively set for 2020-21

OLYMPIA – Continued low returns of some key Chinook salmon stocks are expected to limit numerous Washington salmon fisheries in the upcoming season, state fishery managers announced today.

The state's 2020-21 salmon fishing seasons, developed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and treaty tribal co-managers, were tentatively set today during the Pacific Fishery Management Council's (PFMC) meeting, which was held via webinar due to concerns related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"These seasons were determined with the goal of meeting conservation objectives while offering opportunities whenever possible, but we had some tough decisions to make this year," said WDFW Director Kelly Susewind. "We appreciate the hard work of co-managers and everyone else who sat through long teleconferences and webinars to determine these seasons."

"This was another difficult year with so many depressed stocks as a result of lost and damaged habitat," said Lorraine Loomis, Chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. "I am especially encouraged by efforts this year to include habitat recovery in fisheries planning. Salmon continue to decline because their habitat is being lost faster than it can be restored and protected. Working together to change that trend is the most important thing we can do for salmon recovery."

Season recommendations now move forward for approval by the National Marine Fisheries Service and final rulemaking, including additional opportunity for public comment and consideration of those comments.

Puget Sound

Low returns of Stillaguamish and mid-Hood Canal Chinook, as well as Snohomish coho limited a number of Puget Sound fisheries in 2019, and created even greater constraints in 2020. That includes closing fishing for winter Chinook in East Juan De Fuca Strait (Marine Area 6), the San Juan Islands (Marine Area 7), Deception Pass and Port Gardner (areas 8-1 and 8-2), Admiralty Inlet (Marine Area 9), Tacoma-Vashon Island (Marine Area 11) and Hood Canal (Marine Area 12), with some exceptions for Chinook non-retention in Hood Canal in November and December. Summer seasons in Deception Pass and Port Gardner are also closed to protect coho.

Susewind said the department recognizes that many of these fisheries have seen continued declines in opportunity in recent years.

"This is never the outcome we hope for, but until these stocks rebound, this is an unfortunate reality," Susewind said. "We continue working alongside the public and tribal, state, and federal partners to address all the factors impacting these critical runs."

This summer, Chinook fisheries are expected to be largely similar to last year, with most Puget Sound marine areas opening for Chinook retention beginning in July or August. Summer Chinook fisheries are expected to begin July 1 in marine areas 5, 6, 7, and 11.

Columbia River

The summer salmon fishery will again be closed to summer Chinook retention (including jacks), though stronger forecasts allow for sockeye retention in 2020, a change from last year. That fishery will need to be closely monitored in-season if returns come in lower than expected, said Kyle Adicks, salmon fisheries policy lead for WDFW.

Fall Chinook fisheries will be open under various regulations. Waters from Buoy 10 upstream to the Puget Island will be open Aug. 16-27 for Chinook, and will remain open for coho afterwards. Most of the waters upstream will open Aug. 1, but Warrior Rock to Bonneville Dam will open Fri., Sat., and Sun. from Aug. 7 through Sept. 6.

Steelhead fisheries in the Columbia and Snake rivers this season will again be very limited and additional protective measures will be in place due to continued low returns of steelhead.

Washington's ocean waters

Initial ocean fisheries reflect a reduced coho quota due to significantly lower projected returns in 2020. All four of Washington's marine areas are scheduled to open June 20 for a Chinook-only fishery, then transition to a Chinook and coho fishery beginning June 29. Daily limits and days of the week open to salmon fishing vary between areas.

More information

COVID-19 remains a factor going into the upcoming summer and fall fishing seasons, with the potential to continue impacting fisheries as the year continues, said WDFW Director Susewind. Many of the conversations during this week's PFMC meeting included consideration of ongoing coronavirus impacts.

"The coronavirus remains the biggest unknown as we move ahead in the 2020 and 2021 fishing seasons," Susewind said. As with every aspect of life these days, we'll have to be flexible to respond to any public health concerns."

Additional information about this year's sport salmon fisheries and the North of Falcon process can be found on WDFW's website at https://wdfw.wa.gov/nof.

For information on tribal fisheries, contact the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (http://nwifc.org).

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is the primary state agency tasked with preserving, protecting, and perpetuating fish, wildlife, and ecosystems, while providing sustainable fishing, hunting, and other recreation opportunities.



Persons with disabilities who need to receive this information in an alternative format or who need reasonable accommodations to participate in WDFW-sponsored public meetings or other activities may contact Dolores Noyes by phone (360-902-2349), TTY (360-902-2207), or email (dolores.noyes@dfw.wa.gov). For more information, see http://wdfw.wa.gov/accessibility/reasonable_request.html.

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Visit the WDFW News Release Archive at: http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/
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[fishngamereaper]

What's sad is the driving force behind some of this, the mid hood canal run, gets a few hundred fish and is projected down..but the skok and hoodsport are projecting better than average return's...

[fishngamereaper]

 

[CP]

8-1 & 8-2 are closed all year except for the bubble?  Do I have that right?

[Stein]

Is it really up to the director? Or does NOAA and PfMC, Canadians, Native americans, etc pretty much just tell us what portion they are going to take and we get to make something out of whatever’s left? Listening to outdoor gps this morning sure makes it sound like Canadians are determining our Columbia River fisheries now.

If WDFW doesn't play a role in managing fish, then why do they exist?  It's pretty easy to lay the blame on others, but you can look one border north or south and you don't see the same story.

I'm honestly thinking about switching my vacations from the Columbia and San Juans and just go up to BC for 7-10 days and do all my salmon fishing there.  Back home, I can always grab a kid with a free license.

Pay more, get less.  No plan, don't fight the liberal interpretations on the ESA or make any tough choices to provide some hope for the future.

[Stein]

8-1 & 8-2 are closed all year except for the bubble?  Do I have that right?

That's the other thing, they leak some of the info, but don't even post it up to read in a timely manner.  From what was leaked, nothing is mentioned about any season other than the bubble, so we are left to wonder if they somehow forgot to mention it or there was nothing to mention.

[B4noon]

Having received money for orca food production as well as coming out of the budget doing well created an option to stay funded without the need to increase license fees and sales thus no need to keep recreational users opportunities at this time just another way of accommodating the other 6 million non consumptive users they frequently refer to appeasing

[Stein]

9 had a pretty good chinook quota on Wed, but was down to 0 on Friday.  MA7 and 9 summer quota went to save a MA 10 winter season.  7 is closed in August and 9 is completely closed.  6, 7, 8, 9 were closed all winter.

On the coho frontier, Stilly projections shut it down.  The native runs are so low that even a fraction of a percent drives huge restrictions.  They are trimming thousands of hatchery quota to "save" single digit native fish.  It's all in the model, just like the model that showed pink numbers were down while many of us drove over 1/4 mile long school after school.

The best thing that could happen would be for a net or two to go in and finish off the Hood Canal and Stilly runs.  Pay the fine and move on.

This nonsense is even before the Orca taskforce gets really gets some power.

The entire Puget Sound plan needs to be thrown away and start over and develop some sort of realistic plan.  Every year we hear the same thing, they have no control over anything and just keep buying licenses and hope for a better year next year.

This is the time to get more input, Olympia is broke beyond belief and won't have a 27 million bone to throw to WDFW and hopefully they will come to the table to get support from the recreational side.

[bassquatch]

See how they conveniently left the 'public health' door wide open?!

Don't so much as fart while launching your boat or they will shut it down!

[ironbuck]

   North of falcon is a freaking joke, tribes tell WDFW what they are gonna fish based on the models provided by WDFW.   We get the crumbs that are left over.

[bassquatch]

Here, I fixed this section of an earlier quote:

"The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is the primary state agency tasked with preserving, protecting, and perpetuating fish, wildlife, and ecosystems, while denying sustainable fishing, hunting, and other recreation opportunities.

[95powersmoker]

Is it really up to the director? Or does NOAA and PfMC, Canadians, Native americans, etc pretty much just tell us what portion they are going to take and we get to make something out of whatever’s left? Listening to outdoor gps this morning sure makes it sound like Canadians are determining our Columbia River fisheries now.

If WDFW doesn't play a role in managing fish, then why do they exist?  It's pretty easy to lay the blame on others, but you can look one border north or south and you don't see the same story.

I'm honestly thinking about switching my vacations from the Columbia and San Juans and just go up to BC for 7-10 days and do all my salmon fishing there.  Back home, I can always grab a kid with a free license.

Pay more, get less.  No plan, don't fight the liberal interpretations on the ESA or make any tough choices to provide some hope for the future.

I disagree about looking one border south. Oregon is dealing with the same things in regards to losing opportunity and a spineless ODFW. Looking North, Canadians are getting their way, which is exactly what I said. Sure, you can go fish up there. All you are doing is perpetuating the issues we are facing down here. They're catching our fish just in their water. WDFW just collects license fees and sends out enforcement to do boat inspections and license checks. I think they do very little management of fisheries and fighting for our opportunities now and into the future.

[Stein]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

[WSU]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

Canada hammers our fish because AK hammers theirs.  AK also hammers ours.

[Skillet]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

Canada hammers our fish because AK hammers theirs.  AK also hammers ours.

As always, Washington is welcome to keep "their" salmon at home and pen raise them.  They don't wander around looking for food that way.  But if they're going to let them go feral and cruise the open ocean, often spending several years getting free room and board in AK, the landlords are gonna take a share as rent.
 

[WSU]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

Canada hammers our fish because AK hammers theirs.  AK also hammers ours.

As always, Washington is welcome to keep "their" salmon at home and pen raise them.  They don't wander around looking for food that way.  But if they're going to let them go feral and cruise the open ocean, often spending several years getting free room and board in AK, the landlords are gonna take a share as rent.
 

Spoken like a true low-holer. 

[Skillet]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

Canada hammers our fish because AK hammers theirs.  AK also hammers ours.

As always, Washington is welcome to keep "their" salmon at home and pen raise them.  They don't wander around looking for food that way.  But if they're going to let them go feral and cruise the open ocean, often spending several years getting free room and board in AK, the landlords are gonna take a share as rent.
 

Spoken like a true low-holer. 

C'mon man, you know the deal.

Very important to note, and something that is rarely discussed, is that SE AK is just another stop on the great migration.  Our own large king salmon rivers and hatchery production up here out migrate to the West as well, outside of our own legal commercial trolling areas.  Your want to know who catches more king salmon in Alaska each year than all the SE AK commercial trollers and sport fishermen combined?

The pollock midwater trawl fleet.   They are to us in SE like BC is to WA, for a point of reference.  But talk about a powerful political lobby - the pollock fishery is the most valuable fishery in Alaska. They call the shots for the entire coast.

There is no winner in this shell game, unless you can shut down the mid water trawlers that produce mealy white meat for the McFishwich and Gorton's breaded sticks. 

[Angry Perch]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

[WSU]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

They know exactly where the WA fish are caught.  It isn't a mystery.   

Skillet - Just giving you a hard time (although you are a low-holer!).  You know where I stand on all this.  And I agree, anyone that eats a fish stick or McFish type sandwich deserves 30 lashes.

[Skillet]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

 

I think the real problem is making them wear sweaters to begin with.  The ESA listings have been manipulated to disenfranchise ALL fishermen in an effort to return the world back to it's pre-1492 days. Or whenever they decided to sample the gene pool of a salmon or steelhead run and declare it "unique".   This all assumes that salmon and steelhead don't mingle and wander into other watersheds.  One of the biggest scams of the Environmental movement perpetrated upon spirtsmen. 

Weak stock management theory and it's ripple effect is responsible for shutting down hatcheries, limiting fishing on healthy runs while they suspect a "weak" run is passing through.

This simple answer is to acknowledge we cannot return the Earth to Prehistoric status to appease the environmental extremists, that a slightly different genetic makeup of a king salmon doesn't make it a unique and therefore endangered species, and to seriously crack up hatchery production.

When the Columbia see returns of 2 million hatchery fish in the regular, nobody that fishes in any level will be complaining about how it gets split.  There will be enough for everybody.

[WSU]

People need to understand where the harvest is occurring.  This year is a good example.  Our Columbia River seasons SUCK this year.  Bad.  B10 is limited to less that 2 weeks and is set during *censored*ty tides (on purpose).  The seasons suck on up river.  Why you might ask?

The limiting stock this year is lower river tules.  77 percent of the harvest occurs before those fish reach the Columbia.  No summer kings either.  Same issue.  It's costing Washington millions (and certainly billions over time) of dollars to feed the northern fisheries. 

The fact is that fish politics favor northern harvest.  WA bears the burden of environmental regulations (think building code, logging, storm water, ground water and anything else that protects salmon), short or no seasons, raising the fish, etc., and then the fish get caught before they ever return to Washington.  Rinse and repeat, and then we all bitch because we don't get to go fishing. 

This isn't a shot at Skillet.  He and I have had many good discussions about the issues surrounding the management of our fisheries. 

[Skillet]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

They know exactly where the WA fish are caught.  It isn't a mystery.   

Skillet - Just giving you a hard time (although you are a low-holer!).  You know where I stand on all this.  And I agree, anyone that eats a fish stick or McFish type sandwich deserves 30 lashes.

Absolutely.

FYI, WSU is a stand-up guy and although he and I disagree on much of the King fishery management, he is whip-smart and I always learn something when chatting with him.  He has my respect.

And because of that I can rarely resist piping up with my "low-holer" commentary for some entertainment, especially when we're waiting for another boat to clear out so we can load on more bait. 

[WSU]

And because of that I can rarely resist piping up with my "low-holer" commentary for some entertainment, especially when we're waiting for another boat to clear out so we can load on more bait. 

 

[trophyhunt]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

They know exactly where the WA fish are caught.  It isn't a mystery.   

Skillet - Just giving you a hard time (although you are a low-holer!).  You know where I stand on all this.  And I agree, anyone that eats a fish stick or McFish type sandwich deserves 30 lashes.

Absolutely.

FYI, WSU is a stand-up guy and although he and I disagree on much of the King fishery management, he is whip-smart and I always learn something when chatting with him.  He has my respect.

And because of that I can rarely resist piping up with my "low-holer" commentary for some entertainment, especially when we're waiting for another boat to clear out so we can load on more bait. 

WSU might be solid guy, but man is he ugly!!

[WSU]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

They know exactly where the WA fish are caught.  It isn't a mystery.   

Skillet - Just giving you a hard time (although you are a low-holer!).  You know where I stand on all this.  And I agree, anyone that eats a fish stick or McFish type sandwich deserves 30 lashes.

Absolutely.

FYI, WSU is a stand-up guy and although he and I disagree on much of the King fishery management, he is whip-smart and I always learn something when chatting with him.  He has my respect.

And because of that I can rarely resist piping up with my "low-holer" commentary for some entertainment, especially when we're waiting for another boat to clear out so we can load on more bait. 

WSU might be solid guy, but man is he ugly!!

Ouch!

[Stein]

Here is a question for you guys, why are ESA fish treated differently than ESA land mammals?

By this, I mean that each river's fish are treated as separate and only the native fish of that river count?  This really limits what we can do and ensures that some things will never get off the list as we can't do much to help them recover.

On land, we manage different regions, but we relocate animals, trap them, whatever and nobody cares that the ID wolf isn't genetically from ID, they just want a wolf in ID.  Shouldn't the same strategy occur in the water?  If one river is in trouble, put more fish in there.

With fish, our only hope is hatchery production, but we can't pump hatchery fish into the Stilly system because they aren't native.

It seems that could be a possible way out of this mess, put some lawsuits up to test this or maybe it already has?  Treat a coho as a species and pump and dump into rivers with low returns.  Right now we are doing the opposite.

[WSU]

We do "pump" hatchery fish into the Stilly and have for decades.  It's not a harvest program but one intended to save that run of fish.  That's the only reason there are kings there now.  Due to habitat degradation, the fish can't replace themselves (two spawning fish do not create two returning fish so the run shrinks with each generation). 

I put "pump" in quotes because not many fish are released.  They are limited by the number of returning fish that can be used for broodstock.

[Stein]

That's what I'm saying, why can't we use different broodstock?  I don't understand with fish why each river's fish are treated essentially like a separate species from a management perspective.

On land, I don't think there is any similar treatment, nobody talks about what genetics are in bears, eagles, wolves, whatever.  They are either there or not.

[WSU]

I'm not an ESA expert but I think you misunderstand how things are managed. 

First, land animals are at times managed by subspecies or "distinct population segment."  It's a fact-specific analysis. 

Second, salmon aren't all managed river to river and are often managed by geographic area (for example, PS Chinook, LCR tules, Grays Harbor chum, south PS chum, etc.). 

Another point, and one where Skillet and I disagree, is that there ARE genetic differences between populations.  For example, Elwha Chinook were over 100 lbs.  Upper Columbia "June hogs" were too.  Different environments produce different genetics and one size doesn't fit all. 

Even with restored habitat, or in the case of the Elwha, relatively pristine habitat, those fish will never return.  They need five, six, or seven years of feeding in the ocean.  The way we currently harvest, that'll never happen.  Those fish will be caught before they can survive that long in the ocean.

None of this dictates a specific outcome.  Fish management is political at its roots.  It's ultimately a political question of whether we should try to save Stilly Chinook that cannot repopulate themselves or whether we should give up and move on.  We've already destroyed the habitat and we are clearly not willing to bear the burden of repairing it. 

It doesn't have to be an either-or situation either.  There is ample room between no hatchery fish and simply foregoing any recover/sustaining of wild fish.  Right now, fish management is not restoring the listed runs or providing for maximized harvest.  We're really just spinning our wheels without doing either efficiently. 

Except perhaps providing McFishes.

[Stein]

I'm pretty sure I don't understand, so I'm with you on that one.

My understanding is that this year, there were two runs in PS that really caused havoc, the Stilly and one somewhere in Hood Canal.  Thus, even though the Puget Sound returns is roughly predicted to be ballpark similar to last year, the management seasons are WAY different.  This was due only to those two runs, not the PS return as a whole.

So, my understanding is that they are not managed by a geographic area, but by a specific river.  Further, it's the "NATIVE" fish of that river, not even the total return to that river.  So, we have restrictions all over PS because of the native return to one river.

Maybe I'm wrong?  I don't see a parallel on land where we differentiate between the wolves that naturally migrated or reproduced vs the wolves we transplanted.  They are all just wolves from a counting and ESA perspective.

With fish, it seems very different.  We count every river as a separate geography and then further divide the fish into hatchery and "native" and base seasons on the "native" returns (ESA listed fish) for the two rivers in PS that are in the most trouble.

[WSU]

That's pretty close.  They also manage for hatchery fish in the Stilly (oddly enough I believe that was the limiter this year).  The problem with the stilly and mid-Hood Canal fish is were are talking about damn few fish.  Last year area 7 was shut down for less that a few fish.  Stilly fish are genetically distinct, including the summer and fall fish as I understand it.  WDFW, in their infinite wisdom, agreed to these harvest conservation burdens.  It was a joke at the time and is a joke now.  People went nuts when WDFW announced what they had done (I don't think they really understood the implications until it was too late) and WDFW went ahead anyway.  Because a small handful of theoretical, paper fish (meaning 1 or 2 or 3) can make or break the ability to fish, expect this to be the norm.  Those fish aren't coming back and WDFW has agreed to lock us into this position by agreeing to a ten year management plan.

Ultimately, WDFW flat doesn't care all that much how NOF turns out as long as they can get it over with.  If they can appease the masses, fine.  If not, that's fine too.

[Stein]

So, why can't we put out more hatchery fish in these places?  Is it the broodstock limitations on those genes?

If so, I think it's time to admit we messed up and gear up for a battle to change it back to regional (PS wide or PS North/South).  Managing fish on a per river basis would be the ultimate way to ensure there was widespread closures forever.

The only other option would be to hope one net somewhere snags the 34 that were going to return.

[WSU]

Again, too fact specific to answer.  Your reading could start here: https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/score/score/hatcheries/hatcheries_reform.jsp

[Stein]

All the links are broken from the new website rollout.  From what that link show, it confirms that we somehow think hatchery fish and "wild" fish are different, thus we're doomed.  It's like waiting for bison to naturally repopulate their entire former range.

In the end, my BC idea is sounding better and better.  The dollar is 1.409 right now, just need them to open the border back up.

[WSU]

All the links are broken from the new website rollout.  From what that link show, it confirms that we somehow think hatchery fish and "wild" fish are different, thus we're doomed.  It's like waiting for bison to naturally repopulate their entire former range.

In the end, my BC idea is sounding better and better.  The dollar is 1.409 right now, just need them to open the border back up.

I'm going in August, right smack in the middle of the short B10 season.  See you there!

[Stein]

Any recommendations on some places to drag a boat to?  I'm looking for hotels or resorts where they might be helpful to a BC newbie who knows how to fish but not where.

[WSU]

Let me think about it.  What boat, budget, and do you want to fish the ocean or not?  PM is fine.