Area 11 won't reopen August 1st

[Mfowl]

The fishery was closed because of sub legal encounters. And by the way, most of these in area 11 were net pen fish they released from Pt. Defiance in June.  We never came close to hitting the quotas for legal chinook. So why can't we keep them now?   

 How do they determine sub legal encounters?

Fish checker interviews and what anglers report. They also do their own test fishing with wdfw employees. Once they have a sampling of data they apply it to the total participation and come up with a figure. It's pretty much an educated guess.

[bigdub257]

I'm not exactly sure and I don't think they are either.  It must be some kind of super scientific formula they apply based on legal fish checked, interviews in the field and their "research" teams out fishing.  Maybe something along the lines of assuming 4 sub legal encounters for every person interviewed or observed fishing daily.  I don't really know.  I can think of 2 sub legal encounters personally during June and July, and I fish quite a bit.  They're playing a shell game with us.  Hoodwinking; gas lighting whatever you want to call it.

[Stein]

I don't think it matters if they are sublegal or native.  If you catch one, it's an encounter and we only have so many encounters.  It doesn't matter if you catch 10 resident blackmouth, 10 shakers on their way out or 10 Stilly natives, they count the same.

[huntnphool]

 So knowing they are going to pull this BS, why tell them if you caught anything other than you record?

[metlhead]

Many of us don't say anything alteady. DFW has that factored in. Whether you say yes or no to releasing anything, you get their number figured in.

[hunthard]

Unless I have a fish punched on my card I tell them I didn't catch a thing, i've even had them ask me if I caught any dogfish, I don't know this for a fact or not but I bet they just take the number of boats and what ever a couple of boats said they caught and then avaerage it out.

[KP-Skagit]

Unfortunately the DFW is very aware that no one tells them the truth. So its most likely that they take the number of boats and apply what the test fisherman caught.

And likely that method is biased as test fisherman fish all day every day and probably do better on average then the fleet.

Or their luck has a huge sway because there are not a ton of them. I fished next to a test fishery boat the landed a half dozen or so shakers. In the same timeframe we caught one large wild we released.

[huntnphool]

 I meant, are we obligated to talk to them at all?

[hunthard]

I'm sure you could just ignore them, i've had times where they never asked me anything at all.

[jay.sharkbait]

I almost never interact with them in my area. I have spoken briefly with them in Neah Bay and Shilshole, but keep it very simple and offer no extra info. Just whats on my catch card.

[Stein]

I meant, are we obligated to talk to them at all?

I do because they also collect data that probably helps manage the fishery.

They have planes that count boats and know how many rods per boat, so at some level the dock checks only refine that.  If you skip it, they still know you fished.

[metlhead]

I do not believe that it helps anymore. I do believe that the new direction is to be hands off for any consumptive use for resources. Every check mark hurts them emotionally but in the long run furthers their excuses for less opportunity. I feel they do not care about sportsman, so I no longer care about them. I fish and enjoy on my terms now. I do feel bad for LEO as they are good people who love the sport but must enforce others regulations.

[Dysfunctional Vet]

My 3 yr old finally got one. From the beach just the way I like it.  Lol

[huntnphool]

 30 fish day today, I was busy!

 14 shakers, and 16 legal size, lost 9 with these damn barbless hooks. We released pinks netted and ended the day on a double.

 Sad note, we helped out a old guy who’s fishing buddy died as they were netting his fish.

[Birdguy]

30 fish day today, I was busy!

 14 shakers, and 16 legal size, lost 9 with these damn barbless hooks. We released pinks netted and ended the day on a double.

 Sad note, we helped out a old guy who’s fishing buddy died as they were netting his fish.

Sounds like a great day right up to the end. I will say thank you for being there for that gentleman.
We were out this morning did not fare as well as you did.