BINGO!.... Tax write offs is a big part of it in my opinion. I grew up on 20 acres bordering the chehalis right near the barge slip in south monte.. I remember how good it used to be 20 years ago, i still fish it alot and it is almost sickening what its become. The chehalis system is on the downward spiral without a doubt! Netting needs to stop period! Netting the whole month of Oct except what 9 days.... what a joke! As a wise old man says......GRRRRR!
As for my fishing report for yesterday on upper river... got my fish but had to work for them.......very slow

Why is there a common thought that all the commercial gillnetters unemployed welfare rats? Most of the guys netting either fish many other fisheries including Alaska and or have very good jobs that may actually surprise many on what they do for a regular income. You need to realize some of these guys do this as a hobby, so for you to imply they are under employed and the the state would have to support them is rediculous!

Go back and reread my post...SLOWLY. Nowhere in my post did I say all commercial fishermen were unemployable in any other industry. Without taxpayer supported hatchery fish, few commercial fishing seasons would exist. That's a huge subsidy in my book. If commercial seasons are negatively impacted by needed regulation, there's taxpayer "bailout" monies to collect. There's government retraining funds available for those commercial fishermen forced out of fishing and lacking the skills needed to land another job. Those displaced commercial fishermen who still can't find work in these tough times may have to draw unemployment compensation. Doesn't make them "rats". That would be your word again, not mine. Finally, there's the buyout of commercial licenses and boats. It all adds up to a shitton of taxpayer/government support. None of the "hobby" fishermen you refer to should be eligible for this assistance.

Correct and incorrect at the same time. Chum and Chinook are seldom both into harvestable numbers but sometimes. Coho management has ups and downs but has remained harvestable so it boils down to who and where the harvest takes place.

TU fought for years to get the SM to PG opened and maintained for QUALITY mom & pop fishery. Since Pav & TP passed away and TU became irrelevant in the Chehalis the agency has steadily moved any true quality in the sports fisheries to certain areas, the bay and Satsop being primary. Seasons are available to be sure but the quality of the early fall Chehalis fishery is in the dumpster not because of lack of fish but the allocation of the non tribal share of the harvest. If you have the resources ( money ), skills, and time you will do OK. When you design a fishery, as was done this year, it was clear from the beginning that success would be limited until Nov and the netting pressure was reduced which pushes the primary areas of success to the Satsop and above depending on the weather.

It is simple math really.

Missed your post SG but did not mean it as a slam but once the paper allocation for harvest is set it is about who kills what where. You grit your teeth, set your conservation principles aside, and go to the wall for every fish of the non tribal for the sports. Stinks really but if you do not you get what you see and this should not be allowed to happen again.

Not just at the Region.
PFMC comes to mind as there were some rockfish bodies dumped at the South Monte'.

Nothing for two guys. Fishing SM from the snag patch down tp the Friends Landing.

Rivrguy,

Well, you got me pegged at astoundingly ignorant. I'm the dummy who proposed letting the small projected surplus of chum salmon hit the gravel, and that seemed to be the general tenor of the meeting. Imagine my surprise when the gillnet season was published.

My interest in GH is predicated on the premise that the co-managers actually intend to have enough wild fish escape to spawn and maintain natural production. I mean, they even have escapement goals.

I continue to be amazed that WDFW is like totally separate agencies in different regions. In Region 4 if the cowboys had taken more than the available chum allocation their coho season would be over. Different rules apply in GH, where conservation appears to be a coincidental by-product of unintended under-harvest.

Thanks for the heads up.

Sg