And Washington's s*ck?

I mean, its the same fish, even further south. I have a guide buddy that now only wants to guide Oregon for steelies. And all I hear from my friends is how good Oregon fishing is, heck some don't even fish for steelies here any more.

Is it lower population? Better fisheries management? Or?

And what's going to get WDFW on track? Except for a kick in the butt?

No tribal nets...

How about no kill of wild steelhead anywhere in the state. Also, more limited seasons and better management. Check the Umpqua's new reg's, this would drive some of the bubba's around here crazy! I fished the Grande Ronde this fall, and it was incredible. I hate fishing the Dechutes though, packed with sleds and guides.

Add fewer people to the mix as well and the State police enforcing game laws. So if you call on a poacher someone may just come.

The Rogue and Sixes rivers are open to wild fish retention 1/day, 5/year.

The Rogue and Sixes rivers are open to wild fish retention 1/day, 5/year.


Yes and from the reports I hear it is a fiasco! Hope C&K on natives never comes up to the north coast

Actually, in 'fly water' on the upper Rogue it's pretty unusual for someone to keep a native fish. Reason (sorry guys) we're up to our ears in them.

Fall run of steelhead, Kings and Coho was in excess of 60,000 fish. Spring King run was well over 30,000 fish. Last winter steelhead run was about 24,000. All these counts were from Gold Rae dam which is about 5 miles north of Medford. Therefore they wouldn't count the fish that went up the Applegate, Illinios, etc., etc.

Part of the answer for the fish runs is lack of population (fishing pressure) and a major segment of the Rogue is unaccessable except by helecopter or parachute (wild section below Grants Pass down to Agness). Zero roads so fish have about 1/2 of the entire river where they can't be touched.

Back to the fish counts for a moment. From Gold Rae to Warm springs dam (hatchery) it's about 30 river miles (RM 152). So all those fish were in a pretty short section of water.

And someones comment about the Oregon State Police enforcing the game regs (fishing anyway) is correct. And I can assure you they don't fool around.

What you can keep, and where, does change over the course of the year. However, the river is open to fishing 365/yr.

Here's another little tidbit or two about how Oregon manages to have fishing that doesn't entirely suck.

Oregon has real land use laws, things like "thou shalt not build in the 100 year flood plain", and 40 acre minimum lot size except in the urban growth boundary where it is 160 acres minimum This concentrates growth in the urban boundary where infrastructure development, such as stormwater, rapid transit, and sewage treatment is required as a condition of development. This results in no urban sprawl, preserves farm and forest land, and prevents fragmentation of habitat. Oregon watersheds are much more intact and healthy that ours as a result, and so are their fish runs for some strange reason

The second thing they do right is raise hatchery steelhead with wild timing, saving a portion of the return out of each couple of weeks and releasing fish that return and spawn the entire season, instead of 2 weeks of scrawny brats like we have. I have caught bright hatchery and wild fish side by side from December 1 through the end of March, except for the adipose clip and occasional wrinkled dorsal they are identical. They also of course select brood from wild parents, minimizing hatchery dilution of the gene pool. Yes, hatchery fish still spawn with wild fish, but the damage is minimized as the fish are not genetically damaged from repeated inbreeding.

Of course WSR and no tribal netting helps tremendously, steelhead have indeed recovered on the Sixes and Elk enough to allow some kill - dumb idea in my opinion - but I guess this can be dropped at the first sign of a downturn in return, and it will be interesting to be able to quantify what effect this has.

BTW, I lived in Oregon for 12 years and watched fishing go completely to hell before land use, improved hatchery practices, and WSR came to be and saved the day. Ours in Washington will go completely to hell too, if it's not there already, before anyone does anything. Any nobody will do anything unless they hear about it. Write those letters and raise hell

The biggest reason is that we have no tribal netting. And no kill of wild fish.... But our state still sucks azz.

Hey Stew, You ever fished the Sixes? Go down there when the fish are in and I bet you dont see more then a handfull of other guys fishing it. The Coquille system has 10 times the returning fish and its a lot closer to any population centers on the south coast.

Let people kill a couple wild fish down there. The runs are strong enough to handle a limited harvest.

Never happen Paul! There is no excuse to kill wild steelhead other than feed someones ego.

Anyone know of an oregon engineering firm looking for a piper?

Have slide rule will travel!

At least we can pump our own gas.

lol... one time i was in portland...and i got out to pump my gas, and this dude like gave me the nod..i was like thinkin..ok, he wants to sell me some crack...he was the gas pumper..

That happened to me in PA a couple of weeks ago...

I told the dude I can do it myself...

Just how messed up is Washington anyway... we're so used to nobody doing anything for anyone, when someone does offer, You think whats the catch, and do it yourself

Interesting how good fishing runs in cycles and is dependent on so many factors. In the late 70's,early 80's, I fished with a quide in Albany who claimed the fishing was better on the Cowlitz. He spent some time guiding there and did pretty good.

While the steelhead fishing can be excellent if everything hits just right, I've had many days with perfect conditions when boat after boat gets nothing.

Changes in logging practices and private ownership of riverside property,combined with land use regulations have somewhat worked to keep coastal rivers running clear and healthy. Ocean conditions over the past 3 years has provided some of the best fishing I've seen.

We can only hope that the ODFW, hatchery managers and politicians don't screw it up.

Sections of the North Umpqua are also open for wild steelhead also Siltcoos Lake was briefly open for wild coho.

There's more river access in Oregon. The fisherpeople seem to be well organized and have fought to keep hatcheries open like the Salmon River hatchery. There seems to be less pressure in Oregon too. In Oregon they recycle the hatchery fish to create more opportunity. No nets helps.

Stew,
I for one wont kill a wild fish. Ive fished the Sixes alot, In fact I caught my first steelhead on that river. All Im saying is hardly anyone fishes it for steelhead when the big numbers of fish are in the river. Last time I fished that far south for steelhead I didnt see anyone else on the river. We had the whole thing to ourselves.

Bank access is very limited so no one bothers with it. There is only 2 out ins for drift boats and both them are low on the river. It just doesnt get any pressure.

Plus if they allow retention of a few wild fish a year, there will never be any push to plant steelhead in that system. As far as Im concerned thats the last thing that river needs is hatchery fish. It great just the way it is.

If it's so great in Oregon, how come there is an influx of Oregon guides and fishers venturing to the Olympic Peninsula in March & April? Inquiring minds need to know or at least someone to set me straight

I hear ya Aunty M,I went down this past friday and had to fork out $83.50 for a non res yearly.They wanted $22.50 for two day's.I fish Oregon around 8 to 10 day's per year so I went with the annual.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

$83.50 thats not so bad, non resident in Ak. pay $100 for a fishing license (annual) and $100 for a king salmon stamp.