No, you haven't. Your clients did. If you're able to run two trips a day, you've just doubled the amount of fishermen/women given the opportunity to catch a limit.

The intent of the regulation is STILL intact Kevin. Getting MORE people an opportunity.

The allocation is 100 fish. With a 1 fish limit, that means 100 people can take one home. If it's a 2 fish limit, it would be next to IMPOSSIBLE for 100 people to take one home, if you and several others get your 2 fish limit.

Essentially, you would be taking someone else's opportunity.

It's about spreading the love...and if you can fish three sets of clients in a day and they all take home a fish, you can't spread the love much more than that...

Virtually everyone else out there is just fishing for one boat's worth of limits, so this definitely will extend the season, too, which is just another way of spreading the love...

More people can get their one per day, and more people over all will get to catch a fish or two, and the season will last longer to accomodate that...

Fish on...

Todd

Please don't let me to read an explanation on the theory about reduction of boat traffic with a 2 fish limit.

Probably wouldn't change the traffic one bit, but if it did, I suspect it would increase the traffic a bit, rather than reduce it.

Fish on...

Todd

That's not a goal for WDFW, nor any group representing sport fishers. It might be your personal wish, but it's not a valid reason for a 2 fish limit, sorry.

Besides, people like me aren't willing to drive all the way to the CR to combat fish for two fish let alone one. But two will probably sway some who were on the fence.

stlhead, that's kind of what WDFW was assuming. They thought the 1 fish limit would discourage participation enough for the season to last through April between I-5 and Bonneville.

I think what actually happened is more locals spent more days on the water.

I quit fishing springers because of the unreliability of the season. A one fish limit didn't dissuade me. But advanced preparations and costs just to have a season closed early does.

Not my intent. That's what I got out of one of Kevin's dribbles that gave me a fricken headache while trying to decifer it.

I'm out.

Sorry GR, my mistake.

I dont know if I totally understand everything kevin is trying to say, but I think his basic point is entirely valid.

It seemed clear to me that the one-fish limit was imposed primarily in the hopes of extending the season. All I hear Kevin saying is that this strategy clearly failed this year, and will probably always fail in most fisheries. I agree. Biters will get caught either way.

I also agree that the one-fish limit spreads out opportunity, but I not sure that was the main driver for this season's regulations. Plus, I think part of what Kevin is also saying is that it promotes opportunity only to extent that is spreads the catch out among a larger number of people each day. But it fails to provide opportunity for a longer season because the catch rates likely remain unchanged.

Personally, I dont know what I think about the one-fish limit yet. I had major surgery on the my shoulder in march so I wasn't even able to fish springers on the columbia. I think I would support going to one-fish limits in more of our fisheries to spread the catch out among more people, but I would like to see 'party' rules continue to allow people to continue fishing after tagging out. Maybe make it like sturgeon fishing where you can still c&r after tagging a fish. I think that's where the real problem lies for the future. It's going to be a tough pill to swallow when people start proposing that once you tag your first fish, you on a boat ride the rest of the day. Maybe, with all the people and demand for the resource, it will eventually come to that, but I hope we are not the path to get there soon.

Dom

Sorry, that does not compute. If the fish are biting and many more 2 fish limits are caught, it HAS to shorten the season considerably. Why is that so hard to comprehend?

When WDFW takes testimony from the sport fishing representitives and the fishermen, they keep track of who is asking for what. Every year, sport fishers want a longer season and WDFW tried to give us that this year. Nobody knew the fishing would be that good, and that's the reason we blew through the allocation so fast.

Sorry I can't always get into words what i am thinking. Dom did a great job.

The same number of fish were caught and kept in the same period of time as if it were a two fish limit. Bingo!
Thus any extension of the season was not going to happen based on a good fishery/ catch rates. The reason fishing was so good is because there was a ton of fish in the river. The only way to extend the season is to have closed it more than 1 day a week.

Nope. Not even close Kevin. NOT even close.

Whow! Sure can tell the Columbia Closed early! LOL

I'm so excited I get to start fishing again on Friday for a 2 fish limit. I will be happy just to see my clients catch a few.

Aunty,

At what point durring the day did people stop catching fish? Those fish were hitting the bottom of those boats as fast as they could have. There were open tags everywhere, and never durring course of a day did the presure of catching fish become any less because of a one fish limit. It may have been transfered to another boat that didn't get their limit, but the river was never void of anglers attempting to kill fish as fast as they could.

Kevin, I don't know what part of this you seem to be having trouble with. It's simple math!

The same number of fishermen (let's say 100) catching a limit of 1 fish per person in a two day fishery and the allocation is 200 hundred fish.

They get to fish for both days.

The same number of fishermen (still 100) catching a limit of 2 fish per person in a two day fishery with an allocation of 200 fish.

They fish one day and end up with an emergency closure on the second day, because they blew through the allocation.

The guys that planned to fish on day two get screwed. In this case, we'll call him Parker.

Point is bieng missed by most here.

The idea behind the 1 fish limit was to spread the season out more.....AND help reduce the impacts on wild fish.

You catch your 1 fish and your done, now your not able to fish for your second fish wich would increase your chances on impacting another wild fish.

Did this thinking work? No! But dont tell anyone.

Dude, the fish didn't get the memo.. it was good fishing. Nothing needed changed. There is NO problem. The conditions your describing shoot your idea in the foot. 2 fish limit and you guys would have been done along time ago. Unless you wanted more fish yourself.. what are you really wanting ??

The fact that there were open tags everywhere does not have anything to do with you. You got your fish. Why are you worried about what other people did ??

Teacher: Here is how you add, multiply, subtract, and divide

Student: Why do I need to know this stuff? Gosh!

Aunty,

There are not as many fish in the river to be caught as there are tags to be filled.

Here is another way to understand it.

Today there were about 20 boats fishing the Oregon City area of the Willamette. there was about 8 fish caught. Would it have mattered if it were a two fish limit today. Would more fish have been taken from the river? Not at all. The pressure still exsists from the anglers, but the willingness to bite from the fish, or lack there of is the only reason 8 fish died. No matter if the limit was two or four, those 8 fish were dead no matter how many you could keep. A springer that sees a bait is dead. They are very aggressive, and most biters will die.

If everyone that fished the Columbia river caught there limit everyday, the quota would ahve been meet on day 5. You put 1500 boats on the water with three people in each boat, you got 4500 fish being taken every day. The amazing thing is the numers are not that good. One of two things is going on.

1. The river doesn't have 4500 biting fish in it that day. (Very likely)
2. The fisherman are not good enough to catch them. ( very unlikely)

The fisherman outnumber the fish something fierce and no matter the limit, the river is only gonna put out so many fish per day, period.

Does that make more sense?