fishinut,

thanks for the thoughtful reply. with the facts i currently have, assuming the inside fishery has zero impact on neah bay quota numbers, i could live with halibut fishing earlier inside. i agree that there are tons of people interested in halibut fishing in washington state, but if the seasons remain short... there will be an impact on the north coastal economies. less than 2 weeks of halibut fishing in may imo just won't cut it for not only private boat anglers but the charters and towns impacted. it seems like the two sides have more in common than not, so hopefully we can find some solutions to what really is a huge problem... too many fishermen and not enough fish.

i hope there is some representation from private boat anglers at the meetings, not because i agree with them on everything, but because in the meetings i have attended... there has been zero debate because one side was missing (private boats... besides dan leinen from the city of forks who represents local forks area private boat fishermen).

i hope you do return to neah bay, but you absolutely did the right thing by boycotting the corrupt rules big salmon and the tribal council tried to hoist upon the charters. your outrage and doing business elsewhere helped change public opinion on the reservation, and the craziness was dropped (for now at least). i truly thank you for that.

i do think if you want the charters support, you need to be willing to give them something in return. an earlier strait opening for a may 1 opener in area 4... or give up the later halibut opener or give up the hot spot. some things to ponder heading into the meeting.

of course, having the north coast of washington lumped with areas further south for halibut management is crazy. la push and neah bay have the best halibut habitat in area 2A and imo the line between 2A and 2B should be moved south of la push (that would solve the problem... but it's just one of those crazy pipe dreams).

the annual limit would have some impact imo. while you and others only come up for a day or two, many others come up for the season. myself, as much as i love halibut, i 'd be happy keeping 5.

chris bellows