I don't have any problems with Chums. Sometimes, when decent numbers are present, I will even target them. I don't eat them but a fresh one shows itself well in battle. They are fun to catch especially when other species aren't around.

My take on diminishing numbers?......over-sportfishing as much as over-netting. I went to college in Oregon and fished, among other areas, the Tillamook district streams. The tribs in Tillamook Bay were lousy with chums in the mid-80's. All were open to harvest; 2 fish per day. It was about this time, for whatever reason, that their popularity took off. They were in such numbers that guys who had always ignored them suddenly found them an easy substitute for the dwindling numbers of the more prized chinook and coho. In less than a decade, the numbers crashed, seasons on them were closed and it has never been the same. I think Salmo's theory of that being their southern range has some merit and thus are more sensitive to environmental changes but I also think they were sport-fished past the brink of recovery. There are no commercial fisheries down there (imagine that!)

Turn the page to Grays Harbor and the Chehalis Basin. Similar story, different region. it was also in the 80's that the popularity of fishing for chum took off. I can even give you the year......1984. That year, the Satsop got a PHENOMENAL return on coho. Kings and chums were present in good numbers too. There were so many silvers that year that people came from near and far to load up. Chums and silvers are present at the same time so needless to say, many a chum was caught while the silver-fest was happening.

Word got out.

It was so good that people all of a sudden rationalized the drive to get in on the good fishing. More people fishing= more fish caught x how many years of liberal limits + the commercial fishery= less fish spawning.

Then it was discovered that all the tribs had them and the result is what we have today. In this case, the sporties are just as much to blame as the commercials. Just look back at the last good year of chum fishing when they were allowed to be kept and recall how many skanky, fungus-backed carcasses were being hauled home in the name of "good smokers" by so-called "fishermen". You see it all over the state these days.

Unfortunately, it went unchecked for too long on the Chehalis and they are going the way of other local species......down the toilet.