Following up with this from Barbara. To boil this down to bare bones. The run is twice or three times forecast, the run is early not by calendar but by % arriving by week ( doubt the first second is likely ) or Chad could not manage a to make it to the toilet without a map that glows in the dark. Frankly I am running with the last one.


Hi Everyone,
This email is to provide you a weekly in-season update on the Willapa Bay marine area 2.1 recreational fishery from August 31 – September 6, 2020 (management week 36) as well as other fishery related information currently happening in Willapa Bay.

Recreational Marine Fishery
Since our last update, we had a good week of fishing in Willapa Bay but slightly down from the previous week in terms of effort. Considering last week included the Labor Day holiday, the level of effort was expected. The best day of fishing was Saturday, September 5, for both effort and catch. Overall, hatchery Chinook catch declined by 59% compared to the previous week but coho catch increased over 200% from the previous week. The number of unmarked Chinook released also declined for the week. The tides were not the best during this management week as there was only one high tide and it was in the afternoon with warm weather. It was also a larger tidal exchange than what is preferred for fishing in Willapa Bay. Effort is likely to decline even more this week and through the weekend.
(See attachment; 2020 WB Marine Area Recreational Data & Catch Estimate Summary Draft week 36 09.10.2020.pdf).

The boat survey work we have been conducting since August 1 is still showing 96.3% of the boats fishing this year in the Willapa Bay marine area 2.1 are exiting the fishery either in Tokeland or South Bend. There is no change in this rate compared to last week. These are the locations where we have staff dockside monitoring four days a week.

Hatchery Chinook Rack Returns
Naselle Hatchery:
We had an influx of Chinook into the attraction channel over the last few days. To-date, there are a total of 604 hatchery Chinook (576 adults and 28 jacks) that have volunteered into the attraction channel and recruited into the hatchery. Of those, 32 were natural Chinook fish. All natural fish were passed upstream above the weir. We have had 41 hatchery Chinook die since recruiting into the hatchery. None of the mortalities were natural Chinook. We will begin Chinook spawning at the hatcheries probably after next week. (See attachment; Naselle Hatchery Adult CHK Summary 09.10.2020.pdf).

Nemah Hatchery:
To-date, no Chinook have recruited into the hatchery.

Spawning Ground Surveys
We have been conducting weekly index surveys in the Nemah and Naselle rivers since the beginning of August. We have several hundred Chinook staging in the Naselle River below the weir but to-date have not found any redds. We have found our first Chinook redd of the season in the Nemah River this week. Lower South Fork Willapa River has Chinook in the river but at this point they are just staging in deep pools.

Commercial Fishery
The commercial fishery started fishing this week. There was one day scheduled Tuesday, Sept. 8 in area 2U and one day scheduled yesterday, Sept. 9 in area 2N. Both days of fishing required the use of tangle net gear. Effort for the first day in 2U was consistent with what we have historically seen in tangle net fisheries in recent years. However, the effort in the 2N fishery was below expectations. Chinook and coho encounters were much higher than predicted preseason. After two days of fishing, the estimate of natural origin Chinook impacts is 100 fish. The total allowable natural origin Chinook impacts for the season is 144 fish. The estimated catch of natural origin coho was 180 fish . This is 158% of the 114 natural origin coho predicted for the week. (See attachment: 2020 WB impacts by area total catch summary Draft week 37 09.10.2020(2).pdf)

Based on the preseason predictions and uncertainty around runsize updates in-season, a modification of the commercial fishery is necessary to help ensure that conservation objectives for Chinook and coho are met. The commercial fishery planned for tomorrow in area 2T and the opener scheduled Monday, Sept 14, in commercial catch areas 2N, 2M, 2U, and 2T will be closed via emergency regulation. The next scheduled fishing day is Thursday, Sept 17 and this fishery was planned preseason to utilize small mesh gillnet gear. However, a change will be made via emergency regulation for this opener modifying the small mesh gear to a tangle net fishery instead. We will evaluate all of the data after next Thursday to determine where we stand and will continue to monitor the fishery each day it is open.

As always, in-season data is preliminary and subject to change. This email and any attachments will be posted to our website using the link provided below for the Willapa Bay Marine Area 2.1 Recreational Creel Monitoring.

If you have any comments or questions regarding any of the information provided in these emails, please submit your comments to WillapaBay@dfw.wa.gov.

Additionally, if you know of anyone who might be interested in receiving these weekly in-season updates or any other information we may send out regarding Willapa Bay fisheries, please forward this email and have them reply stating they would like to be added to our email distribution list.

Thank you and Happy Fishing!
Barbara McClellan
Willapa Bay Fisheries Management
WDFW Region 6 Montesano