Well CFM, for a little science check out the WSC charts that Jerry Garcia just posted. I'm sure the data is not perfect but you'll notice that the runs are going downhill (thus, they are not healthy). The only exception is the Quillayute. The runs are increasing (maybe even approaching maximal returns) so why would we want to screw thing up a good thing by retaining fish.
Maybe I misinterpreted your post but is it really you opinion that WA rivers are in peak condition?????

You need science to tell you that there aren't any rivers in this state anywhere near their maximum carrying capacity?

I'd be skeptical of science that said otherwise.

I believe Todd and Bob already answered this question for you Cowlitz, right here:


Todd:

"it makes sense to not implement rules like this mid-season, when it's only a month to the end of the season".


Bob:

"I also know how last minute major reg changes can affect a guide... to allow those that had trips booked through this season to run as they were booked."

It appears to me that the Commission is being rather accomodating to both guides and sportfishers by having the rule take effect AFTER the 03/04 season is completed.

With all due respect to both Bob and Todd, what else could you have said?


Cowlitzfisherman

They could have said "Scrambled eggs flew out my ass, so I fried up some bacon"..........but that wouldn't make much sense, would it?

That's the funniest thing I've read all day. Thanks Dan.

Dan

Are you sure that wasn't "eggs benedict"

Cowlitzfisherman

Scambled......Benedict, whichever.......they both go well with bacon.

CFM,

What I could have done, instead, is put on my foil covered, spinner topped, fishing beanie, strapped on the chin strap, spun the propeller really hard, and said...

"What the f@#k does throwing seagulls laced with M-80's at sea lions off the coast of California have to do with the price of tea in China, huh?"
Fish on...

Todd

Dan, you are a beauty

Hey Eddie..I think CFM should eat those eggs.

Wild steelhead retention moratorium
will take effect May 1 statewide

OLYMPIA -The effective date for a recently adopted statewide moratorium on wild steelhead retention will be May 1, consistent with the start of the next fishing season, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced today.

The two-year moratorium, adopted by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission during a Feb. 6 meeting, originally was to take effect April 1. The moratorium - which is scheduled to run for two years - requires anglers to release any steelhead that is not marked as a hatchery fish by a missing adipose or ventral fin and a healed scar.

"On review, the timeline for implementing permanent fishing rules of this complexity made it impossible to have the moratorium in place by April 1," said Larry Peck, WDFW deputy director.

"This was an administrative decision by the director's office, which will make the rule change consistent with the beginning of the annual steelhead management cycle."

(Maybe this is when Dan was flippin his pancakes instead of his 2 small eggs )

Shifting the date to May 1 also allows additional time to get word of the moratorium out to steelhead anglers and other stakeholders, Peck
said.

Biologists with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife stressed that no significant impact to wild steelhead would result from
continuing with current regulations on those rivers currently open to retention of wild steelhead.

Wild steelhead retention already had been permanently banned in much of the state, but has been allowed on several Olympic Peninsula river systems where stocks are relatively strong.

"We are confident that the decision to move the effective date of the moratorium will have no significant impact on the resource, but will provide for better notice to anglers who fish for steelhead in the affected rivers," Peck said.

There is no justification for intentionally killing a wild steelhead in the state of Washington.... EVER!

Rob watch those "emotive" statements...or check your blood pressure.

And Dan..you might be a candidate for my new prostaff....Granpa's foil diapers....I need a field tester before offering them to the public.

I actually laughed out loud at work when I read your post about the scrambled eggs...too funny.

And in conclusion I will say that I think we have dressed up this WSR argument in all the different wardrobes in the closet and we have no more. Maybe all you smart guys should shift gears to WSR from gill nets. Now that's a moratorium we might get 100% concensus on.

Y'know, I might have pried myself away from springer fishing and gone up to Forks to C&R nates without the C&K crowd plugging up the rivers and reducing the run to the point where it won't be any fun, but now I'm not going anywhere near there. Forks will have to wait until next year to get my business

HEY Bob..you said: "Most guides though don't have a ton of April biz here anyhow and that's perhaps the strongest portion of the wild run too."

Does that say that C&R fisheries attract less fishermen? Sure sounds like it. If so that would be counter to the arguments I have heard over and over.That is that C&R only would be even more popular and would pose no economic threat to areas like Forks.

Because most Quillayute system fish in April are smaller than their Feb and March counterparts ... it's never been the most popular time to fish it even though there are often many new fish still coming to be caught.

I believe that it also conicides with the timing of many other activities for many anglers ... such as golf, which sees a huge pickup in play in the NW in April as the weather gets better.

Nothing to do with the impact of C&R ... it's just been a time of year when the rivers typically have far fewer people with the chances of a monster fish being smaller

I guess I see that...I always heard that late March and early April was the time for the biggest fish...but then again I fish the Quinault for steelhead with real live indians and a real shot at a fish over 30#....

Our non-genetically engineered fish from the Quillayute system seem to provide the biggest specimens in Feb

During a lengthy conversation with a WDFW muckity-muck, he admitted that it was in fact a poor decision to push back the April 1st moritorium date.

However, after concern was expressed that the an aggresive kill was taking place on the Hoh to "get the killing in while they can," he did promise that extra attention was going to be paid to that river because of concern about the river making escapement.

He said that if the Dpt. felt too many wild fish were being killed and that the river would not make escapement because of it, the river would be closed down.