This is 2nd/3rd/4th hand information, so I cannot verify its accuracy. There is a thread on iFish to this effect:

"He was also told that due to the over 3000 Sea Lions and Seals consuming on average 3 salmon a day in the Cloumbia, no counts going thru Bonneville, the gill netters getting their quota, that the fishery may be cut off on April 8 do to poor, less than expected numbers coming thru the system."

Again, this could be a total miscommunication, but I wanted to throw it out there in case any of you are in a position to verify or debunk it.

I have yet to hear that...though I have been hearing about the low counts at Bonny and the gillnetter catches.

If that were the case, I'm sure glad the gillnetters were able to get their share before the closure.

How has fishing been in the lower tribs? Kalama, Lewis, Cowlitz? Any fish showing up in there yet?

I hope they're just late, and if the bulk of the runs show up in a week, the fishing should be pretty darn fantastic for the sporties.

If they don't, oh, well...there goes another recreational season down the tubes.

Fish on...

Todd

Was going to go down this morning Till I heard That they netted again all night last night.
Lets hope they got their quota filled and leave the river to us.
I heard the larger Idaho fish are just starting to show so If they do show in numbers we could have a real fest out there.
If they close it early the short end of the stick is not all we would get.
Ramprat

Its still early.

http://www.cqs.washington.edu/cgi-bin/da...enddate=12%2F31

What the crap.. I got a trip planned for the 10th.. Dont it just figure. Cant they just shoot the dam sea lions.. oooops, I better shut up

Steelhead dude,

I got the rifle and rounds (not sure if I have enough for 3000 of the buggers, but we could sure make a dent). I checked cabelas and they don't have a sea lion call but I figure the sound of line being stripped off a reel might work.

Perhaps, but that mantra is beginning to ring hollow. You have to go all the way back to the disastrous 1999 run to find the sorts of Bonneville numbers that we are seeing this year.

Late? Maybe. C____y forecast? Maybe. Marine mammal predation? Maybe. All the above? Probably.

Bottom line is that if the managers think the number of salmon getting upriver is going to be too low, they will shut down the fishery. That is the only factor they have direct control over.

I believe the thread referenced is titled "Unofficial Unconfirmed Springer Cutoff" on the iFish board.

Link to the iFish Forum (not content)

Didn't we get screwed last year from overfishing by the commercials combined with a weaker run than expected?

How about letting the sport guys go first for a change?
(no, no, we can't do that...that might create a semblance of fairness)

Has anyone ever heard of a song that has the lyrics "send lawyers guns and money" well I think that notion will soon apply to fisheries and the battles that insue. Until then I think a new lure for seals and sea lions should be created or a combo springer sealion/seal tag should be issues, oh heck why not just eat the seals they must be nummy with the salmon feed they take in. How can I say these things when my mom teaches her 1st graders a whole unit on how wonderful those animals are, I am definitely going to hell ( with a 42 pound springer dime bright over my shoulder!)

It's just gets worse every year,, less fish, less time we get to fish for less fish,, And the money we pay for fishing and hunting licenses..

With our licenses being renewed next month, maybe it's time for everyone to band together and NOT purchase a new license.
Then the WDFW could try and survive off of the money from the commercial boys.
How many of us have the kahunas to try that?

What, no takers? Somehow, someway, we have to find a way to end this commercial first, sportfishermen second. This states' politicians suck!

the lewis, cowlitz, and kalama are not producing anything really. a couple of fish here and there other than that its been dead

UGH!!!!!

My dad and drother are coming up from California to fish with Clancy April 10/11, would that blow if they closed it down 2 days before they both came up! I just wanted to get those 2 into there first salmon and if they dont because the river closes on account of the sealions and the commercial's thenn i am gonna be so pissed along with everyone else! My dad does have about a dozen shotguns and tons of 12 and 20 guage loads, as long as the sealions are close enough we could scare em off and maybe "Manage the sealion poulation" i.e. shoot the buggars!!!!!! Wouldnt that be nice

Just got this off another site yet I have nothing to back it up so this might not be completly true:

"FACT: the Commies caught over 8000 springers using smaller net mesh.

FACT: This is 2500-3000 more than their quota allowed.

Rumor: will be a fact Thursday; lower Columbia to close April 8. Over fishing by the commies will draw the quanities from the sports quota. "

Was just looking at the WDFW Emergancy Rule changes and they have nothing on this yet. But i did see something interesting. The Yakima will open April 16th for Springers since they think just under 20,000 fish will return. I'm starting to think that the fish are just a little late and that this rumor is nothing but that, a rumor.

If you look at the yearly stats, the big run is not really that late, however the small amount of fish to date seems very low. I am not a biologist and can't digest all the information, but the run appears to need to pick up momentum soon.

I really hate to say this, but i think this really is the facts and come thursday we will all be in an uprage. The Question is what are we gonna do it about it instead of just whining and complaining.

Also the water temp has been pretty cool so that might have something to do with it. Maybe not, just trying to keep a positive attitude about it.

fishdontbiteforme: Maybe a protest, for all the times we have had our fishing taken away from us by the commercials and tribes. It could even be added to the possible wild steelhead retaintion of tribes and comercials that has been talked about here (see thread at top of list).

Which reminds me, that protest thread used to be quite hot, then it died. I believe that it should go through. Think about it, after spreading the word of a protest through all the forums (and I know there are a lot) and maybe even magazines and newspapers, there could ben hundreds if not a thousand people protesting. That usually gets the eye of the media. And to think, it all started here.

It doesn't matter what the sporties, commercials, or sea lions think about what is up with the run. If WDFW/ODFW think the run is going to be less than forecast, they will shut it down. The commercials are currently near their bycatch allocation based on a 360,000-fish run estimate. Bycatch allocations in terms of # of fish that are allowed to die are based on run size, as best determined by forecast, then by fish going over Bonneville. The fact is that the number of fish that have gone over Bonneville so far this year corresponds closely with the 36,000-fish run of 1999, not the 360,000-fish pre-run forecast. We can whine about water temp all we want, but the available data indicate a run size much smaller than 360,000.

There is also the FACT that a delay in the run means that the marine mammals have longer to decimate the run. 3000 mammals x 3 fish/day x 30 days is 270,000 fish!!!

Given the (understandably) cautious attitude of the fish managers, it makes sense to scale back the run size estimate. Since the commercials have caused bycatch well in excess of 2% of, say, 100,000, the logical thing to do at this point is to halt all fishing targeting these fish. To allow the fishery to continue would be irresponsible, until such time as the run size can more accurately be measured based on additional passage over Bonneville.

Don't get me wrong -- I hate that this is happening, because I was really looking forward to spending 2-3 days on the river with my kids catching big springers. However, I think logic dictates at least a temporary suspension of the fishery until such time as the data show a run size that can support additional bycatch.

Conspiracy theorists will dream up all sorts of nefarious schemes hatched by the commercial special interest groups, I guess. Maybe the huge pre-run forecasts are just a way to allow the commercials to hijack the sport bycatch.

Just remember that when the fish checker asks you if you caught and or realeased anything, even if you released a native IT COUNTS toward amount of fish caught toward quoata and fish mortality!! Remind the guy fishing in the boat next to you. P.S. If a fish checker asks me if I caught anything, I say NOPE, even if I have fish legal limits of legal fish in the box.As far as I am concerned, unless a real Gamewarden asks me, I wont tell, because IT COUNTS!!!

That's lying, and I don't do that. I guess some of that Academy training actually stuck

It is ironic that some of us advocate dishonesty as a means toward reaching our goals, then we get all in a lather about the possibility that the commercial fishers have the audacity to lie about their bycatch

This tactic undermines our credibility as a special interest group -- if the perception is that our wild fish release testimony is bogus, the powers-that-be will simply move on to a different and likely stricter metric. Or, they might even say, "To h__l with it, if we can't get accurate data, there will be no sport fishery."

Neither of those figures is anything close to fact.

The fishery is managed to a quota of impact on the wild fish in the system. That equates to a certain number of wild fish handled, which are assumed to die.

The commericals got a certain portion of the impact, we get the other, the exact numbers escape me at the moment.

During the negotiations earlier this year, it was estimated that the commericals would get about 12,000 fish. They're not close yet, probably around 8500 by my figuring, and then we'll see what they got yesterday.

There is no quota on the fish caught, there is a quota on the impact on the ild fish, and they are not there yet. If the run fools us and is way smaller than prediction, then we have a problem. I don't expect that to happen - there is too much data in the system.

Silver Hilton, you are absolutely correct. I'm happy that you cleared up these "facts". The allowable impact this year is:

Commercials 40-45%
Sports 55-60%

The estimate of the catch is just that - an estimate. It literally depends upon how many wild chinook and wild steelhead are encountered.

It would really suck if the sports season was cut short.

Someone please tell me how the "impact" is determined from commercial fishing? I saw the gillnetters in Cathlamet this past weekend and the recovery boxes sure looked slick but all of them looked unused. And who is going to provide the inflrmation on how many wild fish they "encounter".? The commercials themselves I presume? Well if you think about it do you think they will be honest about that when they are getting $3.50 per # for the springers? If so then I'll give you the email of the tooth fairy......

Someone has started a bad rumor on ifish he shud be shoot.