Cowlitzfisherman,
No offense taken, although I'm not quite sure if we're on the same page. I wasn't advocating the closure of taking jacks in the Cowlitz. The point that I was trying to make, was that if there was a targeted season on just jacks, people could use it as an excuse to fish for the depressed adult run.
Case in point, The snagfest known as the Carbon river. The regs state that it opens for the taking of salmon on Sept. 1. They also state that the river opens June 1 for summer steelhead. There is no significant run of summers in the Carbon, but it opens the door for the snaggers to go in and use the excuse "Hey, I was fishing for summerruns."
I realize that right now there aren't any mobs fishing for jacks. My point there was if the regs. stated an open season on any salmon during the springer run, the same mentality could appear with people using the "Hey, it's open for jacks" excuse.
I'm not defending the WDFW's position on lower river closures for taking jacks in any way, just trying to maybe add some insight as to why it is closed. We all know that WDFW management policies follow no discernable logic. If a regulation, allowing the take of incidentally caught jacks could be worded, so that the grey area was removed or significantly reduced, I would fully support the taking of jacks on the lower Cowlitz river.