Sounds like an uphill battle for a better Chinook fishery on the SKY this year. First the NSIA letter focused on the large return of Chinook but missed the fact that the 15,000 returning fish expected are wild and could not be considered for harvest. Returns of hatchery fish are about the same as last year. Now I know that a tripling of wild fish means there is something promising going on but this is not always a sensible and fair process. It is a shell game of moving fish around in an attempt to satisfy everyone but mainly making sure the tribes are happy. Secondly, the enforcement money excuse is going to be used over and over again this year as the battles in Olympia rage on over funding for WDFW. Last but not least the tribes need to give their permission for an increase in fishing by sport people. If they were to do that there would have to be a give back somewhere else. Oh and I almost forgot ...the Canadians are upset with Alaska so they are hammering the Chinook off the West cost of Vancouver Island so we must cut back to compensate.....
Oh shoot I forgot the commercials....they need a season in the ocean....Oh dam...the ocean season setting process is still under discussion...if the sports seasons in the ocean gets cut back there would be more fish....hmmmm

Bottom line is that this process is a cluster and you need to get your behind the scenes homework done a year in advance to be part of the process in an effective way. Pat and Corey will meet and we will see what happens to the Sky at the next two meetings.