Sheesh! No wonder the WDFW Commission doesn't feel like they need to listen to the sportfishing community. As a group we submit crap that doesn't survive analysis because we don't get our [censored] together.

Kid Sauk - you're posts are so full of BS today I wouldn't know where to begin.

Fishbreath - "If we are going to do something about the run size I think it's time we step in and help mother nature in smolt counts so we can get more fish back on the beds." Huh? All along Curt has been informing us that marine survival has been limiting PS steelhead production. Combine that with the 2003 flood and even fewer smolts than usual and you get a lower adult return. How are you going to stop floods like 2003 on the Skagit? Want more dams?

Coho - "I think you are giving them too much credit saying this is done with sophisticated math---dont ya know, they use a dart board with the target=Escapement needed for Sporties and the remainder of the board showing numbers to shut the Sporties down." The methods for estimating runsize and escapement are open and available to anyone who wants them, and it ain't a dart board. You're about as credible as Kid Sauk.

Leadbouncer - "If the state expected a lower run, show me the cuts in the commercial and tribal quota and show me the reports of ride along inspectors to record an accurate bycatch harvest. Show me that."
"BULL! Ocean conditions, what they dont tell you, is they have over harvested the sardines"
What commercial catch? There is no non-treaty commercial steelhead catch of consequence in Puget Sound. We already know there is some bycatch in the chum fishery, and we know it's very small, and more importantly, we know it isn't wild Skagit steelhead, so why would anyone need inspector's bycatch reports in this instance. (It sure would be nice to have them on the lower Columbia River, however.) And since the projected runsize is less than the escapement goal, the tribes' quota is zero.
BTW - sardines are not a primary prey of steelhead. Now what?

Fishhog - "Poor ocean survival my ASS. How about poor RIVER survival. Pretty hard to survive a net." The information on ocean and river survival has been posted here countless times. What net are you talking about? The wild steelhead run hasn't even arrived. Nobody's netting them.

It's one thing to go off on a wild rant, but you really can't expect the fish managers to take you seriously, no matter how legitimate your interests, when you spout off with crap. Maybe you get out of it what you put into it.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.