Not bad FF and rather good job of laying all cards on the table.

A low boats in the bay should be expected because the major build moved upstream a bit back and your fishing on what swims by you that day. Fishing is back to normal numbers for Coho.

For the Chehalis and the Chehalis only this is not about conservation but about the optics of large numbers of Coho stopped and large numbers of people pursuing them. The projected wild Coho escapement modeled for the season is 58,284 with the escapement goal being 28,506. Without the QIN numbers one cannot be sure but the NT commercials harvested over 1100 Coho in 7 hours on the back side of the big movement of Coho. This says we are on track numbers wise in fact with the prior Coho movement possibly Coho are performing better than expected. Chinook are a concern but as someone who worked to save the Satsop Chinook a pure conservation shut down is again 100% grade A BS! The tribes daily harvest more than any Rec impact for the whole bloody year!

This closure is about the optics of a large number of fish and fishers coming together in combat fishing. It violates the purest view of floating the foggy river seeking a salmon or hiking in to a river in the natural setting to get a fish. Well folks that world mostly left 40 years ago! Now we have way more people, fewer fish, and less opportunity.

Conservation closure in the Chehalis is as I said pure BS. This is about the optics of combat fishing pure and simple. You want bad optics watch a drift net fleet as it fishes. Now I guarantee that fish with low flows spawn lower in the river but how many fish would be impacted? 1 or 100 or 1000 and does this endanger Coho escapement, I think not. Chinook now maybe yes but it must not be of concern because the QIN are still hauling them away.

So under the WDFW totally false narrative for the Chehalis Basin closed for conservation the reality is it is the BIAS of WDFW toward the inriver fisher. All they have done is screw over the working family that cannot afford a boat and gets to fish around work a few days a week from the bank. It is discrimination toward those of limited financial means to the benefit of commercial fisheries and those who have the means to put down 50 to a 100 thousand for a boat.

Now right out front I DO NOT blame the QIN at all. QIN staff are paid to represent the QIN fishers not baby sit NT fisheries be it Rec or commercial and do a good job of it. For the Rec fishers that is the job of tax payer and license funded WDFW staff. Frankly from my view the tribe has to be damn near dying laughing at this fiasco! This mess is about Mr. Losee and Mr. Cunningham stepping in to manage the second largest watershed in the state which by appearances their knowledge of is limited to say the least. This is about elitisms, bias toward inriver fishers, and incompetence.

After all that I have been told and do not doubt that fish are spawning down the lower reaches and this is normal in dry years. Wait until the Chum show! That said would angling endanger escapement and again the QIN and NT commercials will take move fish in a set than the bank angler in a year under these circumstances. As I said it is discrimination and bias not conservation.

One last thing for those who do not know me my home is 20 feet off the river in tide water, I have a dock that can moor boats, and I have two boats. So my objections are not about me loosing opportunity but about bias and discrimination by WDFW toward the inriver fisher. Who by definition as a general rule lack the means to purchase a boat or the time from work to fish otherwise. When it gets down to catching a fish you must purchase a boat, or go on a charter boat as Phil Anderson suggested to a citizen, or be a commercial fisher then frankly the system is not broken but has descended into the world of bias and discrimination again/still.

FF go after Mr. Losee and Mr. Cunningham as it is my belief that they are the prime actors in this fiasco. I would not leave the Director out either as it is his job to insure rogue staff are not let to run amuck. Gov was a nice touch but I doubt you get pass the secretary other than thank you for sharing your thoughts but let fly anyway.