I fished of the port docks in Longview for sturgeon today.The fishing sucked.For me anyhow.
There were at least 3 gillnetters working just below the mouth of the Cowlitz.I watched one of them set his nets.and run them.I counted 68 chrome bright silvers go aboard. 2 went back...2 wilds out of 68, Ive never done that good in the Cowlitz.Of course the technique used to revive them was this.Toss them over and let the air rush through their gills before they hit the water.Thats why they can claim a 2-5% mortality rate on the fish they release.
The whole process took 1 1/2 to 2 hours.3 netters working 12 hours a day.you can figure out how many fish arent making it into the tribs.My estimate is about 1500 fish per session.7500 a week.Just for these 3 boats.Multiply that how many times? DAMN.
This is only one small area.There are a lot more nets in the river than that.Plus as soon as they ran their nets they would drop directly below the next netter and do it again.Pretty much shutting off the river for 12 hours at a time.
Needless to say I left more than just a little pi$$ed off and totally frustrated.