Originally Posted By: eyeFISH

Fish and Game’s main objection was to the reduction in harvest potential. Setting the cap at 36 inches eliminated about 70 percent of the fish, said Southcentral regional management supervisor Matt Miller in answer to a question from the board.


This was pure and utter BS.

In recent years, more than 70% of the ER fish were UNDER 36 inches.

Moreover, if the run comes in particularly strong, there are provisions to relax the rules to retain fish >36". The idea here is that we only do this when we know IN-SEASON that the run is 'over-the-top' strong.

This rebuilding plan is hands down the best package we've passed in two decades. The first five years of that time period was basically window dressing. We started getting serious in 2002, but locals up-ended the move to basically make the entire early run C&R. In 2003 we passed the slot limit... a monumental task for its time. But that ended up being a total bust as the slot limit would sunset each year right when the fish were at their most vulnerable. Failure by design.

This new plan is iron-clad protection for the fish that need it most, early-timed large mainstem spawners, especially once a decent-sized fish makes it into/past the Slikok sanctuary at RM 19.

Unlike previous attempts to conserve large fish in the middle river, the beauty of this plan is that the protections in that reach NEVER go away.

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"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!