This debate shows great passion among anglers. Here are some facts to thing about......

We seem to have a great concern for non-selective gillnet fisheries. Why? because they are one of the main reasons for a decline in native steelhead stocks in the lower Columbia river tribs.... Okay, that might seem like a valid point if there were some hard facts to back it up.........

I am very lucky to be able to fish tons of rivers when they are in prime shape. I have fished a ton of lower Columbia tribs for natives. Some years can be awesome with 25 fish days, and other years are a strugle to get 2-3 a day. Can it be said that on the bad years the gillnets took the runs? It is highly unlikely that in Feb/March a fleet of gillnet boats takes enough fish to kill an entire system. Look at the runs as a whole. Not just the Columbia tribs. If Steelhead are down in numbers as a whole in the entire PNW, how can the gillnets be a factor in areas that they do not fish.

Last year the Columbia river spring chinook gillnet fishery took about 5000 springers. Big deal. Lets say they killed another 5000 natives. The sealions killed 5 a day. there are how many sealions? I'm sure we can all do the math. The gillnets are not the problem. We are all part of the problem, but to say that getting rid of the gillnets will make it better is stupidity. Are gillnets the cause of the terrible runs this last fall on the.........

Nehalem, Trask, Wilson, Nestucca, Sliletz. Rogue, Umpqua, and every single river region wide. The nets are no more a responcible party than you or me. They got a total of 7 days to fish the river. Most of you that know anything about steelhead fishing the Columbia, are fully aware that steelhead, both winter and summer runs travel within 25 feet of the shore, and most of them travel in water less thatn 6' deep. When was the last time you was a net within 25 feet of the shore?


Here is the problem........

The Ocean has a current or flow pattern that is derived from wind patterns. Upwelling is created with strong Northwesterly winds. These winds are in a CLOCKWISE rotation in current. This clockwise rotation pulls food, rich in Nitrogen from the Ocean floor and distributes it southward from the gulf of Alaska to Northern California. When the jetstream moves too far north, it creates a change in the winds and can cause a counterclockwise roation of the current. This is a huge problem that happend a few years ago. It lasted about 4 years off the Pacific Coast. The upwelling brought tons of warm water to the gulf of Alaska. Draw a big counterclockwise circle in the pacific ocean and see which way all the warm water goes. Two summers ago we had a huge shift in the Jetstream and that gave us huge NW summer winds at the coast. This was a huge benefit to the Ocean food supply. This is the reason for the great returns of two year old steelhead this winter. You are all able to see the huge hatchery steelhead that have been caught this winter. Its not a fluke, it is the Ocean at its best. The springer fishery this year is predicted to have a great return because of the Ocean improvments two years ago. The fall runs next year are going to be crap because they are 4 year fish that had a tough go of things three years ago. One of my good friends is a fishery Biologist and studies this stuff like it was his own.

How can anyone expect to have fish return to a river if there are no fish to return. You can improve all the habitat you want, if there is no feed in the Ocean, then how in God's name are you going to get any adults to return.

If you don't water the Garden, how do you expext to get any fruit to grow.

the Ocean is the garden and the fish are the seeds. if your garden has no feed, you are done. We see these cycles in the Ocean, its time to watch them closely instead of pointing fingers at the gillnests. Yes, I'm all for banning the nets, but be realistic here. They don't even scratch the sureface of the problem.

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