I received a phone call this morning about the "fact" that the miles of nets down on the Duwamish were so stuffed with coho that all the corks had been pulled under water and all you could see were buoys...and that they were getting ready to pick 'em.

So...after 3 hours of sleep, I drag my ass outta bed and head down, two cameras in hand...and guess what? Same ol', same ol'...lots o' nets, just like every other f'n year down there...all of 'em floating just fine, all the corks on the surface, and only a couple tribal sleds zipping around, none of which are picking the nets.

Whomever was kind enough to make up that bullchit report, thanks...that's what I love to do with my time is use it chasing your made up stories...not the person who called me, as they were just passing it along, but whoever it was that made it up out of thin air in the first place.

Anyway...I took a bunch of pics, and though the first pic in this thread may be a new scene for many, that's how it is on the Duwamish every fall...and like Smalma and Salmo said, it hasn't stopped the run from being waaayyy over escapement, and it hasn't shortened the sportfishery in the Green one bit...in the areas above the nets this morning there were fish jumping everywhere, too, for that matter.

Do I like seeing it? Of course not...do I like fishing above it? Of course not (I don't anyway, even though I live four blocks from the river)...do I like getting up after three hours of sleep to chase bogus reports? No, I don't like that much, either.

This entire thread is symptomatic of one of the most difficult aspects of being a sportfishing advocate...many of those in the sportfishing community are happy to remain ignorant of the facts, and are happy to just randomly be angry about perceived injustices...

Why in God's name would anyone be ripping on someone who asks the only pertinent questions?

1. What percentage of the Duwamish/Green coho run is being harvested by the Muckleshoots, and how much is being harvested by non-tribal fishermen?

2. What is the state of the health of the run?

3. What would you change about the fishery?

4. What result would you expect from that change?

Net fisheries often overfish, sometimes so badly that it's amazing that there are any fish left at all...sometimes they don't.

What people need when they go to fight for our sportfisheries are FACTS and NUMBERS...not a bunch of ignorant anger with nothing but more ignorant anger to back it up...and certainly not ignorant anger at those who are trying to find out the FACTS and NUMBERS.

A lack of FACTS and NUMBERS backed by ignorant anger is what caused the Boldt Decision...not a judge, and not the Nisqually and Puyallup Tribes...less than 7% of the steelhead were being taken by tribal fisheries when a bunch of ignorant jackasses, backed by the commercial fishing industry in the form of Washington State AG Slade Gorton, decided to "put a stop to it"...and at the end of the day they got slammed, and slammed good.

You can't just go into court with a bunch of bullchit information and expect to change anything.

Send this pic to the news? Fine...the public doesn't give a chit...I took about forty more today, you can have those, too...the public doesn't even see salmon until they are piled up in bins at Pike's Public Market...

If you're interested in changing the tribal fishery on the Duwamish, you need to get some facts...answer the questions I posed...how much is being taken, by whom, and how many are spawning or escaping to the hatchery, and how many are needed for that.

Without those numbers you are just making an ass out of yourself, and by association the rest of us, too.

Do I sound a little upset? Yeah, I guess I do...I don't mind getting my ass out of bed to document something going on, but I appreciate it if what I'm being asked to do has some basis in fact...whoever made up that story this morning can take their own $hit out there next time and do it themselves.

Good luck.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. Those above who think the CCA will end this are also dreaming...treaty fishing isn't going anywhere...but if the CCA wants to make any changes in how the fisheries are conducted, they will need the same FACTS and NUMBERS as the rest of us...those of you who expect otherwise from the CCA, or anyone else, are setting yourselves up for some serious disappointment.

The people running the CCA know that, and it would be a good idea for those supporting them, and any other organizations, to start wrapping your brains around that, too.

P.P.S. I was out there for almost two hours today, and looked at the entire six miles of the fishery, from eight or ten different vantage points...nowhere was the "report" evident...nowhere.