I have one thing to say about fishing in Grays Harbor, I can fish for Coho all day long, all season long and not hook a single Chinook if I try hard enough or I can at least limit the number I hook regardless of the time of year. I have not hooked a single Chinook in the Chehalis river basin for 4+ years. I have hooked and landed well over 30 Coho though. Anyone who can't do this needs to learn how or go home. This goes for the ocean, bays, lower river, upper river and anywhere else. Yes it can be harder to keep from hooking a chinook in the ocean but if the first 2 fish hooked are Chinook it is time to get the poles out of the water and move. As for the bays and lower river, I know people who fish from boats and rarely if ever hook Chinook and they limit out on Coho on a regular basis. if they can avoid Chinook then it can be done by most everyone who fishes. Again, if you can't figure out, learn how or go home.

I will admit this though, I can not target hatchery Coho and not catch Wild Coho. My ratio is probably 10:1 hatchery to Wild but I can have days where I will catch nothing but Wild when everyone else is catching hachery using the same spinners and gear. Once I fugre that one out I will share it with everyone and become a fishing god. lmao

As for the tribal gill netters, check out the season they have in Grays Harbor before making that accusation. I do not support tribal netting but I refuse to let them be dragged through the mud when the season they have have been set to avoid the highest impact on Chinook. They are letting recreational fishers fish almost an entire month before they do. Why? Because they know that we can avoid Chinook if we try. A net in the water can not be fished to avoid Chinook impact. If we can not, as fisherman, who should know how to fish for Coho avoid catching massive numbers of Chinook then we don't deserve to be allowed to fish at all. I hate it when they are in the water and the ones I am friends with know it but they have their rights too so I stay home or go somewhere else when they are netting.

For those that sit and target Chinook and cause this headache, there needs to be a $2500 fine per Chinook hooked and fought. All tackle, poles, gear, vehicle and whatever else confiscated and auctioned. All money raised used to fund habitat restoration. Throw in that they have to pay all court costs if convicted. Think that it is too hard to enforce, make the law plain simple and clear, hook X Chinook consecutively or in a certain time frame and fight them to the boat or bank and you are targeting them. I never have to worry about this because I know how and where to fish for Coho. If you simply can not manage to hook a Coho regardless of how you fish, then go home and fish another day.