GoPro Hero might possibly be a troll, but he does bring a legitimate point to the conversation regarding wild encounters. It gives credence to the idea to push recreational fishermen off the water as quickly as possible.

For the month of June, there is a hatchery chinook quota of 580 fish. In the first three days of the fishery, there was a total of 450 fish caught representing 78% of the quota. There is an unmarked (wild) encounter quota of 432 fish with 512 fish caught. This is 118% of the quota and the reason that was used to justify the closure of the fishery.

With that said, the data suggests there was more wilds caught than hatchery fish and by a wide margin. Historically, wild fish encounters have been a fraction of the total catch both from test fisheries and by data collected from fish checkers. While it is possible that anglers underreport their wild encounters to the checkers, the accuracy is often corroborated through the test fisheries.

After being on the water for the first two days of the season, I observed lots of fish being caught and spoke to lots of anglers. I did not see many fish that were released and I did not hear of many wild fish that were caught. I spoke with the fish checker who stated only a handful of wild fish were caught and almost all of the fish were hatchery. There is no way the data the state is reporting can be accurate.

My theory? This was another push from the Puyallup tribe to get anglers off the water. I don’t think anyone thought fishing would be as good as it was, and once the tribe caught wind of it, they did what they could to get the fishery shut down. It is easier for people to gather raw data from fish checkers on total fish brought in and do their own math than it is to calculate encounters, thus why the justification for the closures was from the wild encounter quota. The state/tribe wanted people off the water as quickly as possible using the strategy most difficult for the opposition to prove, but which clearly raised the most suspicion. Almost everyone is recognizing how completely fabricated the numbers are.

The state conducted a test fishery in area 11 last Saturday and boated over 10 chinook during the test period. They caught all hatchery fish and want to guess how many wild fish they encountered? Zero.

Meanwhile, the tribe conducted their own test fishery. It was reported that they caught mostly wild fish during their fishery. Bizarre coincidence, right?

This fishery was shortened by what realistically could have been another 2-3 days before the hatchery King quota would have been met. The first day the fishing was one of the best bites seen in quite some time, the second day was “good” fishing but not nearly as good. The third day was only a handful of fish and considerably slower. At a minimum, it could have gone an extra day to give the weekend guys a crack at some fishing, but instead of keeping the closure to the originally discussed Saturday at midnight, Susewind decided it should be Friday at midnight. Well done, WDFW. You caved to the tribes once again and proved to be one of the least efficient state agencies in Washington.


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