I see from the QIN website that their last day of netting the Chehalis is Jan. 28 th. They have been netting 3 days/wee. Rivrguy and /or DrifterWA, do you know about how many Tribal boats have been netting? Lots or not many? Thanks.

No boats that I am aware off at least not day to day. Just a few set nets down low nothing up stream of Cosy.

01/24/2026

I actual talked to 1 of the netters......He was running 3 set nets, told me that only a total of 3 people were netting.

60 QIN can net but just the 3 were working. I do know that some netters are now doing "crab", lots more $$$$$$$ to be made.

Sea lions were in the main channel and they were getting fish....sea gulls were there to pick up the pieces.

Tough go, not as many steelhead moving up river, not like when the salmon are heading up the river.

Thanks RG and DW. With warmer temps and some rain this week maybe a few fish will come in the couple of weeks before the Chehalis system closes on Feb 16.

Well at least one fish came back and the eagle is rather happy chowing down on it. Don't see many fish on the gravel bar after salmon returns but I do believe it is a steelhead from what I can see.

What the hell is going on with the Chehalis this year??
You use to catch a ton of "squaw fish" now not a one on multiple trips??

The stretch I fish is barren.

Nothing from my seat. River has been a little strange with not much high water in fact it has been fishable most of the time. Only thing I can think of is enviromental conditions made it better for them
to live somewhere else.

I keep sounding like an old and broken record but there should be field biologists out there on a somewhat regular basis looking. Back when I started (Noah was a mentor) the field bios spent a lot of time with "individual samplers" (generally fly rods) just to evaluate the fish populations in streams, beaver ponds, lakes, and high lakes. Knowledge was power.

I wonder when they will use drones in a real manner for redd counts?


WDFW plans drone flights to assess habitat conditions in Grays Harbor County


MONTESANO, WA – Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) staff will fly a drone over sections of the Elk River Wildlife Area Unit and the Department’s Coastal Region office property in Grays Harbor County beginning this month to gather data on habitat conditions.

Flights will take place in February and March 2026, depending on weather and visibility. They will focus on the upland forested area of the wildlife unit south of Westport and around WDFW’s office on Devonshire Road near Montesano.

WDFW manages the Elk River Wildlife Area Unit, near the Sopun Inlet estuary, to conserve coastal forest and estuary habitat and support species recovery. Updated aerial imagery will inform the Department’s habitat restoration and forestry management at the wildlife area and long-term planning near the regional office.

WDFW staff with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Small Unmanned Aircraft System Remote Pilot certification will conduct the flights under FAA and WDFW policies. The pilot will maintain line of sight with their drone for awareness of potential disturbances to wildlife and people. The pilot will ground the drone if conditions become unsuitable to fly safely or responsibly.

WDFW has notified neighboring property owners and is working with them to avoid privacy impacts. The Department expects no area closures or significant public impacts.

WDFW manages more than 1 million acres of land and hundreds of water access areas throughout the state. By actively managing lands, restoring habitats, and preserving wild places, the Department serves as stewards for Washington’s natural places, protecting the state’s land and water for wildlife and people.

The use of aerial photos of some sort was proposed by Lucifer in 00s. It may give you an index but no way can it cover the modest two small sized streams as anyone who has ever walked a stream looking for redds knows that they don't always have a "I'm a redd, count me" sign on them.

QIN used to use a helicopter to do Chinook redd counts. Rather effective as long as it it done systematically. As all things drones are not a silver bullet but a tool. In Sweden ( I think ) a company uses drones to survey forest and from that survey and computers they are able to identify age, spieces, biomass of a forest area. What drones and computers can do is just getting started.

WDG used to do steelhead surveys, at least on coastal mainstems, via helicopter. Crashed once or more. WDF used to do some mainstem surveys via fixed-wing Beavers looking for Chinook. Probably did pretty well for mainstems buy ya gotta walk smaller streams.

Correct on small streams but have you looked at the few streams they use as index streams now a days? Drones are GPS and camera vehicles that can darn identfy a bump on a fleas ass. They also can cover a lot of ground rather fast. I doubt 10 years from now that walking streams is something that is done for red counts.

That's probably true but it will be a big loss to the knowledge base of what is actually occurring in and on the streams. I must be fossilizing.

"I wonder when they will use drones in a real manner for redd counts?"

Like C'man says, probably not feasible for creek surveys, but I started thinking a while back that they would be really good for mainstem surveys for Chinook and steelhead. I think helicopter time is now running about $1200 - $1400 an hour, so a drone equipped with a good real time video camera and polorizing filter could save a lot of money on spawning surveys. I always loved the bird's eye view of counting redds and even watching fish from the helicopter however.