Chum/hoodsport

[The Gobble-stopper]

Anyone headed by the Hoodsport hatchery today? I have friends coming in from out of state. I took them there For the chums years ago. And the had a blast. Wanting to go on the 16th and 17th. Have always gone on these days myself. But want to make sure the fish are in the hatchery zone, after the Monday tribal fishery. I see they stopped the commercial netting on I believe the 13th to allow more fish to come in. Thanks in advance for any info.

[RC]

I haven't been out there in many years, but looking at the fish checks for there, looks like it's slowing down a bit.

https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/reports/creel/puget

Not sure why the tribes would stop netting, as the hatchery is already way over on their escapement.

[The Gobble-stopper]

The tribe is still netting on Mondays but the commercial fisherman were stopped on the 13th due to an emergency closure to protect the fish for the recreational fisherman

[ASHQUACK]

Tribe is done as well. They closed the fishery last Sunday.

[BigGoonTuna]

I took 101 home from Sequim on Sunday, to me it looked like most of the action on the canal was winding down.  Lots of birds at the creek mouths but not a lot of jumping/splashing fish.  There were quite a few cars at the Hoodsport hatchery, though.

Back when WDFW still had the vestiges of a spine and we could still fish the Skokomish, prime time for the dogs always seemed to be from Halloween to the 2nd week of November, then things would taper off pretty quickly (and you could catch silvers again without being pestered by chums).  Used to slay them on a purple jig under a bobber...

[boneaddict]

Can you not fish the Skok anymore?   I haven’t fished for quite sometime, but that was where I caught my first chum and used to have a glorious time.   

[birdshooter1189]

Can you not fish the Skok anymore?   I haven’t fished for quite sometime, but that was where I caught my first chum and used to have a glorious time.

I caught my first salmon from there too.

No, non-native (skok tribe) people cannot fish the skokomish river anymore.  I think about 5 or 10 years ago, the tribe claimed they owned the river, including the access and banks on both sides.  A judge ruled in favor of the tribe.  The tribe promply posted "NO TRESSPASSING" signs all along the road where people used to fish.  And that effectively put an end to non-skok tribe people fishing the river.

It's a very discouraging situation for everyone but the tribe in this area.  I know a lot of people with fond memories of fishing that river with their dads, uncles, grandpa's, etc.  That used to be one of the best river salmon fisheries in the area.  Now that it's closed it puts more pressure on the other remaining ones. 

[BigGoonTuna]

I don’t believe it was any sort of a court ruling, it was a written opinion from a dept of the interior official back in 2016. The state still maintains that the river is public to the north (reservation) side. However, since keeping it open to the public will likely end up a courtroom showdown, the state hasn’t pushed the issue, since the tribes have deep pockets and in todays political climate they don’t want to look bad.

To make things worse, I have read that the skoks were even receptive to reopening the river during the north of falcon meetings a few years ago but the other tribes shot it down, out of fears that it could open the door to non tribal seasons on their own exclusive rivers (e.g. the lower quinault)

[Jake Dogfish]

I don’t believe it was any sort of a court ruling, it was a written opinion from a dept of the interior official back in 2016. The state still maintains that the river is public to the north (reservation) side. However, since keeping it open to the public will likely end up a courtroom showdown, the state hasn’t pushed the issue, since the tribes have deep pockets and in todays political climate they don’t want to look bad.

To make things worse, I have read that the skoks were even receptive to reopening the river during the north of falcon meetings a few years ago but the other tribes shot it down, out of fears that it could open the door to non tribal seasons on their own exclusive rivers (e.g. the lower quinault)

[The Gobble-stopper]

Talked to the hatchery again, they still are baffled as to why the fish stopped early. Still hoping someone stops in and gives me a live report that the fish have indeed arrived again.

[boneaddict]

That really sucks. 

[birdshooter1189]

Thanks for the additional clarification BigGoonTuna. I guess I was mistaken. I had heard that it was a court ruling.

Either way, yeah it's discouraging that most people aren't able to fish there anymore.

[duckmen1]

Especially when it has a state run hatchery that our money is going to as sportsman to produce some of those fish. And the fact that they can lay claim to no fishing on both sides of the river as they own it. But we can hunt pheasants on the one side as it is a wdfw pheasant release site and private land. Talk about bending over and catering by wdfw on this one.

[The Gobble-stopper]

Finally got my friends some fish before they left town. The post can be deleted now

[boneaddict]

The only posts we delete are classifieds.    I’m glad you got into some fish.   I learned something very sad from this post.