#578277 - 02/02/10 09:00 PM
North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
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River Nutrients
Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 2995
Loc: Olalla, WA
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Hopefully this will put a smile on you Northerner's WDFW FISHING RULE CHANGE Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091 http://wdfw.wa.gov February 2, 2010 North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing Action: The section of the North Fork of the Nooksack River previously closed to fishing will reopen. Effective dates: Immediately Species affected: All gamefish Location: The North Fork Nooksack River from the yellow post located at the upstream most corner of the hatchery grounds, approximately 1,000 feet upstream of the mouth of Kendall Creek, downstream to the Mosquito Lake Road Bridge Reasons for action: The Kendall Creek Hatchery has met hatchery winter steelhead broodstock needs. Other information: Please see the Sport fishing Rules 2009/2010 pamphlet edition, FISHING IN WASHINGTON, for a complete listing current of fishing seasons and regulations. Emergency fishing rule changes can be found on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife website at: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regs_seasons.html
_________________________
Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours......Gordon Lightfoot Damn Stam! Remember, Ask yourself "What would Stam do?"
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#578314 - 02/02/10 11:04 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: cobble cruiser]
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Returning Adult
Registered: 02/02/05
Posts: 337
Loc: Lake Stevens
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jesus. it did. I didn't even fish. I've never seen that many people on the sack. I heard every run was multiple occupancy. Didn't hear of many fish caught at all either.
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Team Haters
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#578327 - 02/03/10 12:00 AM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: mitch184]
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Returning Adult
Registered: 12/14/09
Posts: 313
Loc: WA
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time to go wet the hands.......
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"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw." -Jack H
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#578423 - 02/03/10 12:53 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: Salmo g.]
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Dick Nipples
Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 28170
Loc: Seattle, Washington USA
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I suspect they might be a little misleading in the news release, as I doubt they met their "broodstock needs"...I believe that hatchery policy on broodstock collection requires that they only take fish that return before the end of January, so even if they only have two fish in the hatchery come Jan. 30, they're done collecting...might as well let the anglers go out and catch other two that are still in the river turning purple and black.
Yippee.
Fish on...
Todd
_________________________
Team Flying Super Ditch Pickle
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#578429 - 02/03/10 01:06 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: Salmo g.]
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Juvenile at Sea
Registered: 09/23/08
Posts: 188
Loc: Bellingham, WA
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The hatchery has met broodstock needs. However, it was met when the last hatchery steelhead in this year's run arrived at the hatchery. Now that's a "program" to emulate! It barely maintains itself, produces no steelhead fishery benefits other than keeping Kendall Creek hatchery open, which in itself, through its salmon production program, is the proximate cause of the near extirpation of wild Nooksack chinook and coho. I hate to appear anti-hatchery; it's just that I'm opposed to pouring money down a rathole, and it looks like WDFW has a large rathole on the Nooksack River.
Sg So what should be done on the Nooksack? Why are the fish not returning? I know there are plenty of salmon along the shore out in the salt in late summer. They just don't seem to come into the river. Maybe they are fish from other systems I'm seeing and catching.
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#578434 - 02/03/10 01:22 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: Salmo g.]
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Hippie
Registered: 01/31/02
Posts: 4533
Loc: B'ham
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It barely maintains itself, produces no steelhead fishery benefits other than keeping Kendall Creek hatchery open, which in itself, through its salmon production program, is the proximate cause of the near extirpation of wild Nooksack chinook and coho. I'm opposed to pouring money down a rathole, and it looks like WDFW has a large rathole on the Nooksack River. ^On the money^ What should be done? Enforcement on sport fishermen AND the tribes. Shutdown the hatcheries. If you haven't figured it out, that is the reason the nets are allowed to rape that river. I would argue that the habitat has actually improved over the last decade and will continue to improve as many projects mature.
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#578442 - 02/03/10 02:17 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: AP a.k.a. Kaiser D]
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Juvenile at Sea
Registered: 09/23/08
Posts: 188
Loc: Bellingham, WA
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How do we shut em down? What fishing opportunities did Kendall creek give us this year? I have read that they aren't even producing coho anymore, leaving it up to the Skookum creek hatchery. The Lummi hatcheries and netters are subsidized to hell and back. Money is laundered through the hatcheries and fisheries system into the pockets of a few fisherman to the detriment of wild fish and other stakeholders. Tons of money and volunteer hours is being spent to improve habitat. Can that benefit be realized with the failing hatcheries?
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#578464 - 02/03/10 03:18 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: AP a.k.a. Kaiser D]
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Juvenile at Sea
Registered: 09/23/08
Posts: 188
Loc: Bellingham, WA
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How great is the sportfishing really? What would we be missing if we went all CnR for a few years, shut down the hatcheries, let the Lummi's produce fish at the salt ponds, limit netting to the saltwater only except for maybe a short "cultural" river harvest, (they should be only reefnetting anyway like their ancestors did) and employ some type of fish trapping devices to harvest the hatchery fish that blow past the salt ponds? There has to be a solution. Too bad the main sticking point seems the be the gillnetters not willing to move on to newer technology. All federal grants and subsidized loans to these fisherman should come with a stipulation that funds can not be used to purchase gillnets but to upgrade to netting 2.0.
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#578480 - 02/03/10 04:07 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: AP a.k.a. Kaiser D]
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Returning Adult
Registered: 12/12/09
Posts: 281
Loc: Whatcom County
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Stickfisher,
Anyone with much time up there knows that the wild fish outnumber the hatchery fish by a large number. So really what we are doing is living this lie.
Argh! So if the wild run is so good why don't they have a C&R season?? Have any counts been done, and if not, why not?? Who at the WDFW is in charge of this area??
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#578493 - 02/03/10 04:49 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: stickfisher]
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Hippie
Registered: 01/31/02
Posts: 4533
Loc: B'ham
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How great is the sportfishing really? What would we be missing if we went all CnR for a few years, shut down the hatcheries... The answer to your first question is highly dependent on when and how you fish. The second part of what you said relates to my earlier post. We "can't" go CnR because sportfishermen fishing to keep fish is what essentially allows the netting and hatcheries. The Indians and the state WANT a catch and keep fishery for sportfishermen. Trust me, if all I could do is CnR fish from Jan 15th - April 15th, I'd be the happiest guy on this board.
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#578496 - 02/03/10 05:09 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: AP a.k.a. Kaiser D]
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Returning Adult
Registered: 12/12/09
Posts: 281
Loc: Whatcom County
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[ We "can't" go CnR because sportfishermen fishing to keep fish is what essentially allows the netting and hatcheries. Why do other rivers have C&R seasons??
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#578500 - 02/03/10 05:18 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: ]
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Returning Adult
Registered: 12/12/09
Posts: 281
Loc: Whatcom County
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I don't think it is so much that the wild run is 'good', it's more like the hatchery run is 'poor'. Most (if not all) Puget Sound wld runs, as well as hatchery runs are struggling. What do you mean poor? They got a whopping 78 fish back as of 1/20/10
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#578536 - 02/03/10 07:05 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: Salmo g.]
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Dick Nipples
Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 28170
Loc: Seattle, Washington USA
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Salmo, they have not even counted the returning adults or redds in the Nooksack in recent years due to "bad weather", so there aren't even any official numbers for what is, or is not in the Nooksack so far as wild fish go.
Fish on...
Todd
_________________________
Team Flying Super Ditch Pickle
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#578537 - 02/03/10 07:06 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: Todd]
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River Nutrients
Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 2995
Loc: Olalla, WA
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Like anyone could count redds in THAT water
_________________________
Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours......Gordon Lightfoot Damn Stam! Remember, Ask yourself "What would Stam do?"
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#578539 - 02/03/10 07:11 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: Todd]
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Juvenile at Sea
Registered: 09/23/08
Posts: 188
Loc: Bellingham, WA
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So should I invest in a Canadian License?
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#578546 - 02/03/10 07:33 PM
Re: North Fork Nooksack River reopens to fishing
[Re: AP a.k.a. Kaiser D]
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Ornamental Rice Bowl
Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12767
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Unfortunately, I'm now of the belief that there is almost no path that will/can help the fish AND still allow much sportfishing. And that isn't because sportfishing is the problem.
The problem is that if the hatchery is closed down, which would help fish, netting and sportfishing will cease to exist in the same way they do now. The reasoning for the existing fisheries is to justify the hatcheries. The reason for the existing hatcheries is to justify the fisheries.
For example, as you can see by the WDFW's actions, they don't believe there are enough wild steelhead to support a CnR season. The only reason we're allowed to fish the Nooksack is because people are "fishing for hatchery fish". Anyone with much time up there knows that the wild fish outnumber the hatchery fish by a large number. So really what we are doing is living this lie.
The most frustrating part to me is that there are 2 runs of fish up there that the WDFW seems unable to find even though I could show them. The first are the wild kings that come up the NF in the summer. The other is the wild steelhead run.
BINGO! Livin' the lie.... a most astute observation.
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey) "If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman) The Keen Eye MDLong Live the Kings!
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