Dear Eyefish,
Your previous post is just silly (the one before it I did find interesting). Your theory of biters and non-biters is unfounded, yet you present it as fact. We can't know whether some fish refuse to bite or all fish just have a very low probability of biting at any given time. Genetically speaking, if it was as simple as you say, then all fish in a heavily targeted fishery like Willapa or B10 would be non biters by now. Personally, I think just about any fish will bite under the right conditions. Certainly as the fish become more mature and they shift from feeding to aggression related bites, the window of opportunity narrows. Regardless there are no facts on this issue and you pretending otherwise is truly ridiculous.

Willapa bay is a big piece of water and there are very few fish returning relatively. Also visibility is poor, so you need to put your gear right on the fish. There is no way that the fleet as it is effectively covers all the water. Anyone that fishes WB consistently knows that the periods when the fish bite consistently are relatively limited in time and space. Much of the fleet is not attuned to that fact. I do agree that there can be too many boats for optimal success, but even in huge combat fisheries like B10 and lake washington it takes a ton of boats before the fleet interferes with itself to the point where adding more boats doesn't mean more fish caught.

Cleanest presentations might help especially when the bite is off, but when its on, the key is to show your bait to fish. Not much finesse required when there's a wide open bite on--just get your gear in the water and hang on.

My beef is that the so called improvements in management have really been a step backwards from what we had a decade ago. Sure they had a record catch 2 years ago off of a near record run, but that was despite managment changes, not because of them. The real driver was a lot of effort which has grown despite a shrinking pie. I think the fact that WB grows in popularity stems from the relative accessibility for smaller boats and the simplicity of the fishery (no downriggers or other fanciness required).

The reason I have a bone to pick with you is that you consistently seem to be applying lipstick to the pig and telling us its the best thing ever. Sure the fishing is better than say area 11, but its not what it could be or what it once was. That's not good management in my book. I would be forgiving if biology was the problem or catch outside the terminal area, but the problem is gear conflict.

There is no good reason for the baywide opener in mid august. The Nets would catch those fish just as easily in 2N and 2U a couple weeks later. I don't understand why the commercial netters should get the lions share and fish in front of us. Its not like we're dealing with tribal issues here.

Since I've got your ear, the other problem I have is that management refuses to hear dissent. I am not one to kiss up rather preferring to rely on data and facts where possible. It seems that keeping data in a secret club and not letting anyone that disagrees be part of that club is a way try and hold to a weak position. Transparency it is not.