You tell me!

Anglers on all rivers will be required to retain any legal hatchery steelhead they catch until the daily limit of four fish is reached. After they have retained four fish, anglers must stop fishing for hatchery steelhead.

WHAT!!!!

No more catch and release??????





NEWS RELEASE

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

September 28, 2009

Contact: Jeff Korth, (509) 754-4624



Upper Columbia, several other rivers

to open for hatchery steelhead fishing



OLYMPIA – Starting tomorrow (Sept. 29), hatchery steelhead fisheries will open on the upper Columbia, Wenatchee, Icicle, Entiat, Methow and Okanogan rivers, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced today.



In addition, the Similkameen River will open to hatchery steelhead retention beginning Nov. 1.



On all rivers, anglers will have a daily limit of four adipose-fin-clipped hatchery steelhead, which must measure at least 20 inches in length. Steelhead with an intact adipose fin must be immediately released unharmed without being removed from the water. Anglers also will be required to release any steelhead with one or more round holes punched in the tail fin.



Anglers on all rivers will be required to retain any legal hatchery steelhead they catch until the daily limit of four fish is reached. After they have retained four fish, anglers must stop fishing for hatchery steelhead.



A strong run of wild and hatchery-produced steelhead returning to the upper Columbia River allowed the department to open the fisheries, said Jim Scott, assistant director of WDFW’s fish program. More than 33,000 summer steelhead had been counted at Priest Rapids Dam through Sept. 22, well above the overall return’s 10-year average of nearly 14,500.



The selective fisheries, which target returning hatchery fish that exceeds the number needed to meet spawning goals, were approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Services (NOAA Fisheries). The fisheries will not impede recovery of the region’s wild steelhead, which are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), said Scott.



“This is a terrific fall fishing opportunity that also will help further fish recovery efforts by removing hatchery-origin steelhead and increasing the proportion of wild steelhead onto the spawning grounds,” Scott said.



Steelhead fisheries are carefully managed to assure that natural-origin steelhead returning to the upper Columbia River Basin survive to spawn. WDFW will closely monitor the fisheries and enforce fishing rules to ensure protection of wild steelhead, said Scott.



Most fisheries are scheduled to remain open through March 31, 2010, although they could close earlier if the allowable incidental impact to wild steelhead is reached, said Scott.



Areas that will open to fishing for hatchery steelhead Sept. 29 include:

* Mainstem Columbia River: From Rock Island Dam to 400 feet below Chief Joseph Dam. Night closure and selective gear rules apply, except fishing from a motorized vessel and bait are allowed.
* Wenatchee River: From the mouth to a sign about 800 feet below the most downstream side of Tumwater Dam. Night closure and selective gear rules apply.
* Icicle River: The Icicle will be open through Nov.15 from the mouth to 500 feet downstream of the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery Barrier Dam. Anglers fishing the Icicle also will be allowed to retain three coho (minimum size 12 inches) per day, but must release coho equipped with an anchor tag.
* Entiat River: Upstream from the Alternate Highway 97 Bridge near the mouth of the Entiat River to 800 feet downstream of the Entiat National Fish Hatchery outfall. Night closure and selective gear rules apply, except fishing from a motorized vessel is allowed.
* Methow River: From the Highway 97 Bridge in Pateros upstream to the second powerline crossing, and from the first Highway 153 Bridge north of Pateros to the confluence with the Chewuch River in Winthrop. The second powerline crossing upstream to the first Highway 153 Bridge is closed to fishing. Night closure and selective gear rules apply, except fishing from a motorized vessel is allowed.
* Okanogan River: From the mouth upstream except closed waters from the Lake Osoyoos Control Dam (Zosel Dam) downstream to the first Highway 97 Bridge below Oroville. Night closure and selective gear rules apply, except fishing from a motorized vessel is allowed.

In addition, the Similkameen River will be open from the mouth to 400 feet below Enloe Dam beginning Nov. 1. Night closure and selective gear rules will apply.

Salmon and other gamefish gear rules do not apply during the hatchery steelhead season. Additional regulations for the fisheries are available on WDFW’s website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/fishregs.htm.

I know that at least for the Methow, they're very keen on removing as many hatchery fish as possible while letting as many of the unmarked fish get to the spawning grounds...I guess letting all the hatchery fish go runs counter to that, and would lead to more encounters with the wild fish.

Fish on...

Todd

But what about the departments mandate to increase "sport fishing" opportunity? Has the department changed it own policy and mandates...."The commission shall attempt to maximize the public recreational game fishing and hunting "opportunities" of all citizens"?

I would think that once the C&R guys catch win of these that they will get pretty darn concerned. What's to stop the department from doing this same thing to all of our other rivers that have both hatchery and wild stocks in them?

Also, the other statement is really concerning if one takes it as written!

In addition, the Similkameen River will open to hatchery steelhead retention beginning Nov. 1.

On all rivers, anglers will have a daily limit of four adipose-fin-clipped hatchery steelhead, which must measure at least 20 inches in length. Steelhead with an intact adipose fin must be immediately released unharmed without being removed from the water. Anglers also will be required to release any steelhead with one or more round holes punched in the tail fin.

"On All river" ...means "all rivers"! It's not specific to the only the upper Columbia tributaries/rivers

What say you? How else can such a "news release" by WDFW be interpreted?

There's nothing to stop them from doing it everywhere, if they find that too many hatchery fish are making it to the spawning grounds...I suspect you'd be less happy with the other alternative to keeping hatchery fish off the spawning grounds...like they're trying to do on the Cowlitz?

Fish on...

Todd

Anglers on all rivers will be required to retain any legal hatchery steelhead they catch until the daily limit of four fish is reached. After they have retained four fish, anglers must stop fishing for hatchery steelhead.

This is confusing. It doesn't say "stop fishing", it says stop fishing for hatchery steelhead. Why is it phrased like that?

I don't know, it's a little weird, but the rivers over there closed to the targeting of wild fish last week, so when it says "stop fishing for hatchery steelhead", then it means "stop fishing"...since that's all it's open to fish for.

Fish on...

Todd

I was just wondering....
:140:
Do the tribes ever fish these areas? Or do they ever intend to fish them? If so, could this be WDFW's way of heading off any future "foregone opportunity" issues? Could this just be a runner up test for them to do the same on the Columbia River steelhead fisheries?
:140:

No tribal fishing on the Methow...they just want to keep the many thousands of hatchery fish up there off the spawning grounds, so they want everyone to keep four...they don't want people releasing hatchery fish to keep on fishing because the majority of the ESA impacts have already been used up on those wild fish...

They had to craft it this way as a condition of the federal permit.

Fish on...

Todd

Whats CCA's stance on this issue

Sorry...couldnt resist

I think the CCA press release I saw on this is that the non-tribal commercials should set up a fish trap in Pateros to get all those three pound boots off the spawning grounds, and then have a banquet and serve all the pre-smoked boots up in bowls, to be eaten with a spoon.

Don't ask me how I know this...it's a secret that non-members aren't supposed to know about.

It's so secret that I had to buy a pre-membership for $25 just so I would be allowed to stand in line and buy a real membership for $25 more dollars.

I did hear, however, that you don't have to kiss Gary's ass at your secret induction ceremony anymore...you just have to kiss his ring.

Fish on...

Todd

or just buy a banquet ticket instead

personally, i think they are so stupid that if they were going to hold a fishing derby on the duwamsih river for silvers that every member that bought a ticket for it would vote to hold it on a day when the river is full of nets.

"selective fishing" ... at its finest