There is no question in my mind that WDFW is currently managing sections of this river like a bunch of jerks!

This is in my opinion, definitely a runaway biological bureaucratic management plan at its best! We are talking about the North Fork of the Toutle River here (the section of river below the sediment retention dam to the "Kid Valley Bridge") that was destroyed after the Mt. St. Helens biological disaster. I invite all of you "WILD fish FOLKS" to jump right in and attempt to defend WDFW managements position if you think that you can justify its policy. Here are the facts, as I know them:

WDFW 2002- 2003 fishing rules state (page 88 of the rules) that it is closed to the keeping of Chinook salmon from the "Kid Valley Bridge" near 504 upstream from Oct. 1-Nov. 30 on the North Fork of the Toutle.

Why in the world is this area closed to the keeping of Chinook? It's been over 20 years and the Chinook still are unable to spawn in this area due to the continued massive flows of sediment and ash.

The facts are; 99% of the Chinook that inter this area are "hatchery" stock fish from the Green River Hatchery. Maybe a few are from naturally spawned fish that are possibly coming down from the upper tributaries above the Green River Hatchery (and I mean a very few). As you know, Chinook are mainly main river spawners and are not small tributary stream spawners.

This area is so heavily silted-in with sediment and ash from the overflow the sediment dam that it is virtually impossible for any natural spawning to successfully occur. The facts are the further down river you go, the more the sediment has settled and some gravel and cobel does exists at certain times of the year.

The WDFW rules also state (page 66) that on the Green River, you must "Release Wild Chinook though July 31 th. The rules also state that you must also "Release all Chinook" from Oct. 1-Nov.30. Currently every "Chinook" that enters the Toutle has an attached adipose fin.

Please ask the WDFW why we must release "all Chinook" in those areas!

There may be a "little sense" on doing this in the Green River and its tributaries, but if 99% of those fish are coming from the Green River Hatchery, and are not the natural spawned prodigies of native fish, why then even the closer (could it be bureaucratic stupidity?) there? So why has WDFW continued to keep this limited area on the North Fork of the Toutle closed for the taking of Chinook from Oct 1-Nov 30?

Answer; simple, it is part of the ongoing bureaucratic WDFW endless stupidity!

So please, ask WDFW to explain to me and everyone else, why we need to close off this area for the harvest, or "taking of Chinook" from the "Kid Valley Bridge" to the mouth of Green River from Oct 1 to Nov 30 on the North Fork of the Toutle, when it is, and has been almost impossible for Chinook, or for that matter, any other salmonoid specie to successfully spawn there since 1980.

Again, why then does WDFW continue to think that it is so darn important to release Chinook from Oct 1-Nov 30 in this particular section of the Toutle River?

Yes, I know that most of these Chinook are getting pretty darn dark and ugly by this time, but what's the difference between that fishery and any other Chinook fishery in all other SW Washington rivers at this time of the year?

In my opinion, as long as there remains a sediment problem, this type of bureaucratic stupidity is just another example of how WDFW has placed the "wild fish" advocates at ends with the harvest minded fishermen. It's time to make the appropriate changes on the Toutle River by using real science and not BS. I have spoken to the Regional WDFW Biologist and requested that this change be proposed in the next set of rule changes. Does anyone else have other suggestions for our next rule changes that may affect the Toutle?

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????