Thanks everyone for your replies. Bushbear posted where I was going with this. I believe he is one of the ones included in our recent emails back and forth to try and come up with a solution. The last five years the halibut fishery has exploded. One thing I do not like is one charter operator out of Neah Bay that is pushing some things that sounds like they are going to be listened to again. Phil Anderson from the WDFW will follow his lead one more time. This particular charter has three boats in his fleet and as soon as the season is over here he heads to Alaska to finish fishing through September. He was primarily responsible for the Umatilla Reef closure called the "hot spot" in previous years before it was reconfigured into the C shape it is now. This closure was primarily in effect to keep us from catching bigger halibut to keep the poundage lower to extend the season. Now the C-shaped closure is to protect Yelloweye stocks and is closed to everyone. Before this it was closed strictly for non-tribal sportfishing only. The tribes and non-tribal commercials still fished it. This particular charter owner is pushing to close this area again. I do not agree with this as sporties should be able to catch a 50-70 pound halibut if they want. By closing this closer in spot again, puts the pressure back on the few other areas or pushes some of the sporties to have to travel farther out to more dangerous water. The charters know they can make this travel with no problem and cuts down on opportunity for the sporties in rough water, as is the case 50% of the time in May. Their larger boats can make this trip without much trouble. If you have a smaller boat then you definitely are out. The opener last year from May 11-16 from both charter and sport boats had 3822 fishers. The following May 17-23 had 897, May 24-30 had 327. The final June 15-19 had 2124 to finish. I think Neah Bay should be limited to a certain number of days per week to try and slow it down. I am positive one point to closing the Hot Spot will be to save the big halibut spawners. Don't let them fool you as it will still be fished by the tribal and non-tribal commercials. Don't forget the trawler by-catch dump for halibut is three times our Area 4 quota. I can’t imagine it will slow down the quota poundage as this area puts out big fish, but not as many as the chicken ranch. I would think the boat weight quota with four guys getting two fish would not be that much different than four guys at the chicken ranch limiting with four twenty pounders. The Hot Spot puts out fish but not that many, as all boats out there don’t usually come close to limiting. There is a proposal on the table to impose a five halibut limit per year quota. The charters are pushing for three. If you catch three 15-20 pound fish, you really are not going to have that much meat. Charters are also offering a limited entry, meaning no more added halibut charters. This seems like a win-win situation for them. This limits their competition, raises the value of their licenses and don't have to share quota with additional charters. This one particular charter I am referring to is also responsible for the Straight of Juan de Fuca closure during its most productive months-Feb through April. By them keeping this closed, you are forced to catch them at Neah Bay when they are on their way back out. This guy has more pull than all of us combined. This email is more pointed towards one particular charter and a couple of others. For the most part most charters are following. There is one exception and that is Tom Young of Tommycod charters. He has the right idea. He spreads around his catching to help protect resources. He doesn’t just halibut fish but also does other kinds of bottomfishing trips instead of halibut trips all of the time. This takes pressure off of the halibut and halibut areas. My number one idea that will be met with a certain no, what should be done is to open up the straights when the big boys are in and really create another fishery to take the pressure off of Neah Bay. It looks like there is no reason to try and keep it closed as there is too much pressure on the Neah Bay fishery now. The quota that is supposedly close to met in the straights every year is + - 25% and 2004 is not yet tabulated. I have a friend that is a charter in the San Juans and he does not fish for halibut as they are mostly gone when it opens. Not worth chasing. I used to fish the straights and quit because of poor results. Timing is bad. I do very well in Canada and Neah Bay during the right months. I too am on an advisory board. This is basically a feel good job for the state as you really have no say in what the final outcome is. They make it sound like you do and you go over information, but the bottom line is those decisions are made higher up and sometimes I wonder if our ideas are even discussed. It’s pretty frustrating. Try to make it to the Montesano meeting on January 6 at 10:00 to speak your point. I would like to see Dino, fire the commission and a couple of other high ranking WDFW officials and replace them with people that truly care about sportfishing.