Excellent solution but implenting it here in Washignton is tough due to ESA Listings I believe.

Reality is that it is somewhat about CCA. Yet another group that is forming that "thinks" they have the answer. The talk of the town is to rid the Columbia River of Gill nets. Sure I'd like to see a little bit more of a selected harvest, that would make sense. But to wipe out one of the main reasons that hatchery fish are planted into the system? Where's the logic in that??

Bringing it up again... I can't wait for the day that all true hatchery fish are clipped, the PNW is in for a rude awakening of how many Native fish are left........

I'm all about Walleye fishing but I didn't really want to take that on in the next 10 years. I like catching and killing fish that flash chrome...

Keith

Again, the reason the example....the Cowlitz was so good was because of the numbers they planted. If you think for one minute that every organization in the equations isn’t in it for more fish then I’m sorry but you are sadly mistaken. I to native fish runs would be great if we could get a sustainable run but with how we fish and the numbers we get back there is no logical way to make that work. We do however have the power to plant more fish and micro manage our hatchery plants.

If every native fishery and commercial fishery came together to see this they would all be for it as it in turn means more money and fish for everyone.

I’m not here to argue but I am here to catch fish...going fishing during the peak of the run and getting 1 to 3, 3 on a good day is pathetic, I know more people fish now but these numbers are disgusting.

There are very few true natives, only hatchery, lets boast our runs with what mEans we have available to us.

Thanks.

Speaking of the Columbia River system even in the 60's and 70's our wild fish were plentiful, so we thought... In my opinion, they were just mis-clipped hatchery fish... More and more over the last decade they've concentrated on clipping higher percentages of hatchery fish and it's odd how the "wild" fish numbers are spiraling down the tube....

Keith

There is some good thought here, I myself will not join up with the new "group" because I don't feel they are taking our resource in the direction of my goals, i.e. harvesting salmon and steelhead in a recreational manner, and I STRONGLY feel joining forces with the most powerful long time LOCAL group of fisherman on the Columbia is the path I'am taking. SALMON FOR ALL

so its okay to kill a few natives to catch a few hatchery fish. Gillnets are nonselective.

It's almost the same as saying its okay to kill three women in order to find a wife you like. Totally wrong in my mind.

No different than the messeed up thoery that native steelhead are jsut bycatch to a gillnetter. Nobody here would elect to wayste so much value in order to achieve the same.

You may as well go to the gas station and pump the first 10 gallons on the ground before you fill up. Has about the same effect.

Not saying there is not room for improvement on their end, and they must be willing to do everything possible to fix the bycatch issue, if they want a future , just feel that I have common goals as them. They are prostitutes of a resource, much as the sportfishing guides are, not saying that to offend, just a fact. Both are "commercial fishermen"

If in fact we eliminate fish for the people "Public"... We will be on the road to eliminating fish for ourselves as sportsman.........

They're already cutting hatchery plants across the state, sooner than later we'll have no hatchery fish to catch.

Keith

very true..............

One thing for certain the Quinalt indian tribes know what's going on... They PLANT fish and they GET FISH BACK!!

In the past we used to PLANT FISH and WE USED TO GET FISH BACK! I know the EF of the Lewis hatchery summer steelhead plant used to be near 120,000 smolt, now they plant 26-30,000.... Guess what, the natives haven't came back............................ It was some epic fishing back when I was in high school. James and I could go down and land 5-20 summer runs after school...

Does anyone know how many spring chinook were planted in the Kalama, Cowlitz and Lewis this year? How many were planted for last years returns??? Oh and they're not returning because the gill nets got them all this year, right??

Keith

Keith,

We both know the gillnets are not the reason for our depleated springer run. After all, they get to net about 3-5 days a year. The fish migrate through the river for over three months. Not rocket science there. What did they get this year, maybe 5-6000 and the sportfisherman got 20,000. I don't support them killing wild steelhead in order to catch a chinook, but the way I understand it they are running steelhead diversions anyway. The top 20 feet is passable in the nets. They feel steelhead travel in the upper stretches of the water colum. They may be right.

A good friend of mine was out this year for the gillnet fishery as an observer/extra hand on the boat. Granted they fished above I-5 where there aren't a ton of steelhead during the time period they netted. They didn't touch a single steelhead and landed 144 hatchery springers as well as 1 sturgeon with the tangle nets.

I'm not trying to stick up for the gill netters, personally I don't care for their non-selective harvest.

But seriously, let's face the facts how many salmon are truly native fish vs. mis-clipped hatchery fish. Is it ironic the build and size of most of the native fish we had to release in the Big C this year mimicked that of the hatchery fish?

I can't wait until they clip them all....

Plant fish and you get fish...

Keith

Youngs Bay is a Prime example Keith. Those Hatchery springers are raised for the commercial fleet specifically. But it also creates a recreational fishery as VHawk discovered last year!

So let me get this straight... Hatchery fish such as springers are put into the rivers to mitigate for what white man eliminated via dams, etc. What rivers in the Lower Columbia had native springers before white man came here?

Will there be any reason to keep planting the hatchery springer if we don't need them for commercial harvest?

I wish I could get some answers here from someone, CCA??

Keith

COWLITZ RIVER!!!!

All of the other rivers got there springers from the Cowlitz (Hatchery Fish) such as the Lewis and Kalama. The Lewis and Kalama never had a true Native run of Spring Chinook, they all came from the Cowlitz.

Hmm, that's interesting........ Makes a guy think a little don't it?

Keith

OK, so help me understand this then... Why are springers planted in rivers they never existed in in the past?

Keith

So there can be recreational harvest as well as fish in the restuarants acroos the region.

Pretty Simple.

I'm getting seriously spooked in the direction that we are headed...

Keith