Hey,

Any word on whether or not there will be a chance of chinook retention on Grays Harbor this year? From what I've heard, the returns might warrant it.

I highly doubt it and would be extremely surprised if they did. Everyone I have talked to said there was no plans on one for at least 2 more years but who knows. I remember when the Satsop had some really nice Chinook in it, largest one I ever caught was in the there. That year it was a huge bonus season, 1 Chinook or 1 chum and 2 Coho or something like that. Might have been 3 fish with only 1 Chinook or Chum. Those were the days.

There will NOT be chinook retention in Grays Harbor, the Chehalis or Satsop. What will be open for chinook retention is the Humptulips.

yeah that! go there.

Thanks Doc..................and here I thought we were friends

The tribal nets will catch em in the harbor. They will sell them near Walmart, there will be no creel census or other catch record going on.

Humptulips........check regulations.....bait ban, night closures, single point barbless hooks........

Takes up 1/2 page 54...just to talk about this river!!!!! Good thing its not as "long, miles wise" as the Columbia.....or it might take 10 pages.

can't understand the goofy 2 week closure on the humptulips, then opening up the upper river with no bait for 2 weeks before the "general opener".

if they're wanting to protect the early kings in there, might as well close it down totally until october 1st, or close it for chinook retention. in my experience they'll hit artificials(jigs, spinners) better than the silvers in that low water...and if they're concerned about poaching in early september, the only ways is going to be more enforcement.

the guys that put a big dent in the salmon populations on all the lower GH tribs(wishkah, east hoquiam, hump etc) generally think that owning riverfront property exempts one from all rules and regulations...

Chum Man.....

I agree......I was at the NOF meetings last year but because I choose not to fish the Humptulips, anymore, I tend "to turn a deaf ear" when any rules or regulations are talked about.

Think part of the reason is for any summer runs steelies...gives people something to fish legally.

Superfly might be able to add comments on the Humptulips......

If we have "early rains", 9/12 - 9/25, all the rivers could be "jammed".

Still pisses me off that we don't get a "legal fishery" for salmon on the Wynoochee..............grrrrrrrrrrr

the wynoochee situation is frustrating, especially after hearing all the reports last fall of "how great" the fishing was there. seems like a lot of salmon, clipped or not don't make it past wildwood when nobody's out in the river watching...

My guess is the Wynoochie is going to be an experiment river to see what happens. Doubt we will see a salmon season on there anytime soon and if poaching of Coho and Chinook continues I have heard that the river may close completely from Sept 1st through Novemeber but that is all rumor and hearsay.

The lower Hump is closed because of the numbers of fish that stack up from Cabbage patch to the hole below Car Body. Snagging was prevelant in there because of this. This is what was told to me by 2 different people at WDFW Montesano. Has been that way for a while now, couple years at least. Last I heard there will be extra boat patrol on the river this year but you hear that every year.

Could see a few places on the Chehalis closing for the same reason. Fish stack up in low water and too much snagging from what I have heard from those who still fish up by the pumphouse hole and the mouth of the Satsop. Not to mention too many Chinook jacks being taken when it is closed to all Chinook. Again, hear say and reports, I haven't been up there in a couple years. Would be interesting to know how many Chinook jacks were kept in those same areas though.

Why the upper river is open earlier I don't know for sure, I do know the bait closure is supposed to help prevent deep hooked fish and having to let go bleeding fish in high temp low oxygen water. I didn't touch a Coho on bait last year anyway so doesn't matter to me.

I doubt we will even have a chance to think about a Chinook fishery in the Chehalis river basin until 2014 at the earliest. I thought I saw a 4 year moritorium in a report from a couple eyars ago but my memory is about as good as my summer run catching.

Nothing really to experiment about......it has a dam, a fish trap below the dam, fish that are passed over the dam AND a couple million in mitigation money that has been lying dormant for a couple decades while TCL and WDFW sit on their collective butts refusing to do anything with said money.

Meanwhile, escapements yo-yo year to year depending largely on the intensity of netting that year, ocean survival and, of course, poaching. Personally, I think the frustration level with local anglers is such that it's turning a lot of honest guys into poachers because they are fed up with the lack of action regarding salmon on the Nooch. Not condoning, just say'n.

It's a real dome scratcher. Every NOF I've attended over the last several years has had the Wynoochee salmon seasons brought up and WDFW continually evades the tough questions asked of them regarding the river. They don't seem to have a plan or if they do they haven't learned how to communicate it to the public yet.

Weird.

"They don't seem to have a plan or if they do they haven't learned how to communicate it to the public yet."

I don't think they have a clue and have nothing to convey soc an't anwer the question in all reality.

Same for the declines in Chinook in the CRB, real hard solid reasons are not forth coming aside from over fishing, netting and lack of spawning grounds. Numbers seem to fluctuate so much from year to year that any explanation eludes them. One year I see and hear about 30-50 Chinook caught throwing spinners just above the bridge. Last year I saw 5 and only heard of a dozen more

closing the Hump for two weeks is totaly stupid!!!! If they are so worried about the early salmon on the river the WHY are they letting the COWBOYS net the Hump channel out in the bay???? they been at it since AUG 18th...


dont even get me going on the nooch.. i asked for it to be opened and they said to many unmarked fish to be caught in the lower chehalis..I dont see why they cant plant it.. they take silvers from the trap back to aberdeen lake hatchery and spawn them for smolt that they put into vanwinkle crk..WHY not plant them back in the nooch??????

and as for the $2 million its gone someone probbly pocked that yrs ago...

The Wynoochee $2 million is not gone; it's still in the bank. WDFW and TP drafted a proposal, and I think they sent it to FERC for approval. The plan is to make some modernization improvements at the Wynoochee fish trap downstream of the dam, buy a new fish hauling truck with a proper tank for water-to-water transfer of fish, and upgrade the Lake Aberdeen hatchery water supply, which is where all the Wynoochee mitigation and enhancement steelhead are raised.

There are presently no plans to stock hatchery coho or chinook in the Wynoochee, natural production only. I know that frustrates anglers who would like to harvest salmon in the Wynoochee, but with natural production only, the river will serve as a good barometer of natural production in the Chehalis basin. With the basin's only flood control dam, if natural production chinook can't make it in the Wynoochee, realistically, where in the basin can they make it?

Sg

This is actually one of the things I LIKE about this site. I just asked if there would be a Grays Harbor Chinook season and I get a lot of very useful information about in basin systems. Some would bitch about highjacking but I actually LIKE learning stuff...............Seriously, I'm not being facetious.

I've long wondered why there isn't a season on the Nooch. The water is much better for salmon than the Satsop.

Kalama,

Happy to bitch.....er....help!

Salmo, using a dammed river as a barometer of healthy wild production seems odd to me. Granted, It is a flow stabilzer but what about the habitat it destroyed? One could make the argument that those miles of lost habitat from the dam are a bigger negative against wild production than the benefits of stabilized flows.

Second, thank you you for the mitigation info. I just learned more in your paragraph than the dept. shared in the last 5 years of meetings. Seriously.

I agree Eric .. it was more info than dept has given us.. i figured the money went to some ones pet project yrs ago... so thanks for the info salmo....

You know I swear sometimes since Jerry passed on GH sporties have zip upstairs. The Wynoochee mit has been held up ENTIRELY by WDF&W as TCL put to many present agency staff in a meeting years ago with locals present. The present agreement that they are dawdling over was negotiated over 7 years then the dance of the dying swan began one more time primarily because locals did not stay on the a holes and kick the crap out of them. Oh yeah, the staff problem is in Olympia not R 6 and it ain't no better with kill em in the ocean Phil in charge either.

JD can provide you any information you need and the history with out even going to his notes. Fact is guys when they opened up the bay to sports the agency staff conceded that down the road two or more of the tribs would loose sport fishing, the numbers thing. What is even stranger is how the upper basin went from the toilet to on top in a near blink after the Chehalis Tribe catch went from the tribal to the sport side of the catch.

Strange how that worked.

no plans to stock hatchery coho or chinook in the Wynoochee, natural production only... the river will serve as a good barometer of natural production in the Chehalis basin.


As for Coho, there are two "barometers" of wild production in the Chehalis basin already, Bingham (trib of E. Fork Satsop) and Elk Creeks (upper Chehalis trib)