12/02/2023



Not to get in a big pissing match but at one time, over the past 50 years, there were thousands of hatchery steelhead caught in the Chehalis River, November, December, and January. Lots of plunking shacks, plunking areas below the Satsop River and it area way above the Satsop, all the way to Chehalis area.

The tribe did not net steelhead, in the early days of the Bolt Decision, and they never netted the Chehalis or Humptulips during the winter months.

WDFW started cutting back on the amount of hatchery salmon coming out of local hatchery, so tribe started netting started netting November - January for steelhead. WDFW reduced the plants of steelhead, so netting continued but "the late BIG Coho were the targeted fish.

As much as anything WDFW and all the cutting of hatchery steelhead and hatchery salmon are/still are a major part of the problem.

I do remember the really BIG LATE COHO, on the Satsop, the Wynoochee, and the Humptulips. Fishing pressure was nothing like it is today, yea there were others that fished the BIG Native Coho but most sportsperson were chasing steelhead, late November - March.

That's what I remember, and I still hate all gill netting and 99.9% of my fishing is where I don't have to see any netting at all.....