Excellent job, guys! I think the tipping point has finally been met so far as listening to us goes on the Harbor...after years of totally ignoring conservation and the needs of sportfishers, it looks like we've finally got them moving in the right direction.

Fish on...

Todd

My worry......they bring in more boats and more set nets.......grrrrrrrrrrrr

This is the start of very good things to come. This truly should give you hope that the voice and concerns of the sportsfihserman is being heard. I for one am very proud to be part of a movement that can generate change in the way our fisheries are managed. I want to truly thank my fellow committee members and for everyone else who has been paying attention and given support. A big pat on the back goes to Phil Anderson and Kirt Hughs, Barbara, and the rest out of the Region 6 office, for staying committed to the mission. The way it is set up now it will truly put the pressure on the Quinault Tribe to not harvest Coho to the point of taking the Chehalis Chinook to below escapement. I believe many eyes will be watching and if it happens, there will be a movement supported by CCA and others involved to grab the attention of the Governor and above.
That being said, I feel very strongly that we have done are part, now lets make sure we get out and fish this season and boost the economy for that area, like Aunty had stated.

FireFish

rvrfshr hoochie spinners, here I come!

Me too.

But, it was a good meeting. I enjoyed the tired rhetoric from the gillnetters........"You need to have us net. We are providing a vital service to the non-fishers in the state. Only 6% of the state fishes" The second sentence was a real rib-tickler.

that was the guy sitting behind you.. he was pretty funny.. the way the cowboys sounded was the chehalis was the only river that they net..

Sorry, but I don't see it the way you guys do. I think you just drove another wedge between the sports community. Tribes get to fish for chinook, cowboys get to fish for chinook and will probably use political pressure to get a shot on the Chehalis side, river guys get a shot at chinook, and the ones left out are the bay anglers. If you want to buffer the spawning goal, then work towards a co-manager agreed-to buffer, don't make another sport group take the only action. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, with the price of fuel these days and the economic downturn, some of us won't by coming to the harbor to fish and spend money because chinook isn't open. And while my 1 or 2 trips per year are not a big deal to the community, when you mulitiply that by all the other anglers that won't come, it will be a big deal. Not all of us fish the rivers. I guess I'm just amazed at the effort that went into shutting down another sport user, when we seem to sit on our butts for the issues that we should really be fighting. We just can't seem to figure out how to get together.

Here's an excellent way to end the division amongst sport anglers regarding fishing for Chinook in the Harbor...how about we all agree that a one month season to harvest 500 or so Chinook is a pipe dream worthy of a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas youtube video?

That allocation was fished through in about a day last time it happened, yet the season stayed open the entire season, anyway.

The main proponents pushing this trophy fishery are the guys trying to sell us all big boats...if they had conservation in mind, they'd never propose such an idiotic fishery.

Salmon Mafia be damned.

Their days as a shadow organization pulling strings behind the scenes need to come to an end...I'm sick of them pretending they're interested in the resource, and I'm sick of them having access that allows them to continue putting out that fiction.

If you know who they are, then you know what I mean. If you don't, you will.

Fish on...

Todd

yelloweye:

But its been ok, that no Chinook fishing has been allowed "in the fresh water"???????

You Bay guys make me, sick......if ya like Chinook.....put Willapa on your GPS.....go for it.

Chinook have been on a decline......let's try and get them built back to historal levels???? Not sure this can be done but for sure it won't happen with the "kill mentality" of some people.

You have "miles of river" to fish.....just have to change the fish specie you seek.

Yelloweye, I have to ask were you at any of the meetings. If you were did you listen to the back and forth justification form a former employee of the State and how 1st the Chinook Run for the Chehalis is so healthy and strong that we need to target those 544 Chinook in the bay. It is unacceptable to do anything else. Then the next meeting he went on to say that an additional 2 weeks in the fresh water for Coho was not on the side of conservaation??? My rebuttal was to pull the numbers from 2006, as Todd mentioned, and prove that in a 2 week fishery directed at Chinook Harvest, we managed to take 1156 fish. Just a little more then the 450 we where given to harvest. So when you strongly feel that we should be going after the 544 fish we have this year, you really are not looking at the big picture. Yes the Tribes will take Chinook and No there is not anything we can do about it. If they harvest Coho this season and have a by-catch of 13% as they did last year on a non-Chinook-retention year, then they will potentially take 2 to 3,000 Chinook, out of the system. If the Quinaults fish the Chehalis Bound Chinook to say, 2,000 fish under escapement, on another year with a Pre-Season exceeding escapement, they will force the hand of seeing our Chehalis Basin Chinook Listed. That would create problems for them that we aren’t going to try to understand. And when you say the guys in the bay don't get a directed Chinook Fishery so the guys in the upper rivers can have theirs, that makes no sense. This is a non-Chinook retention for sport. If they change any element of the plan, and give the commercial guys 1 day in area 2-A, our committee will be very disappointed because it deviates from Tier 1. As far as the State and the Tribes, I wish Phil Anderson and the rest good luck in negotiating a harvest Plan with the Quinaults and hope they can convince them to Harvest with an Impact Cap. That would be best for all involved, but truly it is out of our hands.

FireFish

Look at the big picture.

The only ones driving a wedge were the ones seeking to sabotage the Tier Plan for their own selfish motives.

Certain folks spoke out on behalf of chinook conservation. Others had a "fish'em til every last paper fish is dead" mentality. Which ones would you support?

Certain folks spoke out on behalf of an all-inclusive fishery accessible to the FULL diversity of sportfishers. Others selfishly wanted the lion's share of the available impacts for their own personal chinook kill fishery. Again which ones would you support?

Certain folks spoke out about maximizing the potential harvest of a bumper crop of coho... especially for the upriver users who have historically had to settle for the short end of the stick.

Everybody gets a generous opportunity to participate in what promises to be a bountiful harvest of coho.

Bottom line, the GH season we will get in 2009 saves chinook while giving the largest number of recreational users a wide open season on harvestable coho. If you can't get on board with that, sorry, the train is just gonna leave you behind.... get used to it, because that's simply the way harvest fisheries of the future will be structured.

Old habits die hard.... R.I.P! This is the dawn of a new day.

All aboard????? For sure my ticket is punched....


Thanks to all that spent countless hours working on a plan, that is now seeing results......local economy will benefit....most of all, stocks of salmon with be protected.


Time tells all.....Chehalis springers, Wynoochee Coho, GH wild steelhead.......let's see what happens on those stocks....ball is in the QIN's court...let's see how they "play the game"...

Todd, Sir,
I must confess my ignorance. I do not know of whom you refer when you speak of the Salmon Mafia. Please, enlighten me.

Thanks,
Bobby

Phoenix:

Think this should be handled by email .... but the "mafia" are there.

You probably already got the news by PM, but it's a handful of well-connected "sportfishing" advocates..."sportfishing" in quotes because what they really advocate for is selling big boats, and whatever it takes to get them sold...including things like month long seasons to harvest 500 Chinook...that just happen to need powerboats to be caught.

I think the shiny finish is starting finally to rub off...

Fish on...

Todd

Yelloweye - I can certainly appreciate your input, but you would rather not come out fishing because you only get to retain coho? IMO (I only fish here every weekend the basin is open) the coho are the premier fish of the Chehalis Basin. They are not like some strains of early PS coho, it is not uncommon to have a 2 fish limit approaching 25# (without culling) in September!! They will have very good to excellent quality meat. Would you rather keep a 25 or 30# king or these dudes?

Yelloweye ! are you Tim Flint hiding behind the moniker?

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Peace
Fly

So, Mr. Yelloweye has had reply's from the Good Doc Himself and Me, setting the numbers straight for all to see. We have re-educated him to the best of are abiltity as to the importance of not having a Targeted Chinook Fishery in the salt, and he has been called out by Joe with support from Aunty. So will the Real Mr. Yelloweye, please stand up.

Just wondering who the man behind the curtain is that we are trying to soften around the edges in the name of conservation...

FireFish...

No I'm not Tim, but he is a fishing friend of mine. I'm not in the boat selling business, but I do know some of the folks that you call the "Salmon Mafia". I am just "collateral damage" in your war against the mafia, as are many others that only fish the bay. Your responses to my post illustrate the very wedge to which I refered. If you notice my post count, I'm not one to enter into debate online, I just wanted you all to hear that there are other opinions out there and ask folks to think about where the real problem lies.

The river guys do not get to fish for Chinook, not on the Chehalis anyway, so the bay is not being singled out for no Chinook retention. Also, my belief is that we need to look at the bigger picture and get over the "if the tribe gets them, we should too" thinking. Two wrongs don't make a right. Some of us are going to have to learn the hard way that if we don't do what we can as soon as we can, there won't be any Chinook left. It's already happening.