Certainly not written in stone just yet, but the push from the WA side is for 7 days a week thru about Apr 5 to consume all of the buffered impact.

Re-assess mid-month to see whether we can free up the buffer if run-size materializes as forecast.

Dyin' for that first bite of fresh salmon for 2012.

mmmmmmmm still some around in our region.......


Just saying..............

I'm with you Doc.... Nothing compares to that first bite of springer. I hope I can spend more time down there than last year!

Ya, Springers! Couldn't fish last season but gonna try
to do a week or two down there this year.

fp

I've got 4 days booked with Phil (Mystical Legends) in Drano for the first week in May (lately the peak of the run). I also plan to get a weekend or two in earlier on my own boat. While I love those fish, I usually avoid the March/early April days as my experience in catching during those times has been minimal - like 0-1 fish total for 2-3 rods/day in a boat. Come May in Drano we come closer to 1.5 fish/rod/day.

Fuk it,Don't open it until 3/15/12 then close it 4/15/12 to re-asses the run for another opening.Leave it open 4-5 day's a week from the dam to the astoria bridge.If they put us all @ the Davis area like hearded cow's again I'm gonna puke and wait for the wind river to get going.Springer season alway's pisses my off the way they schedule it.Good luck,
SZ

I'm getting mine early this year then will let the crowds have the rest... I'm sure it will be similar regulations keeping everyone couped up...

Keith

There's the best answer I've ever seen here on PP. Thought
I was the only one that had that idea.

fp

SZ's suggestion is good, and it will probably work; but they still need to evaluate the affect on the Willamette run, and get enough fish over BON to provide fish for the folks upstream, most notably the Tribes.

Come February watch out springers.

I'll be anchored up tight in my windshield Predator, Buddy heater on high, taking a nap, waiting for Mr. springer to jump all over my spinner.

Yes this is the type of season we would all like to see... put the opener right on top of the peak of the run. But it ain't likely to happen.

Remember this fishery is managed on wild impact... which translates to a pre-determined "handle" of the run.... the number of fish encountered or "handled" by sports. Once we handle about 10% of the total buffered run-size, we are DONE. Well, until they do the in-season update. If the fish show up as forecast, we might get a second shot to consume the available buffer. If not, we don't.

Prosecuting the season on top of the peak of the run will mean LOTS of encounters and LOTS of handle.... burns right thru the impact in a matter of days if the fishing is hot.

That's why they time the season the way they do.... while the run is still ramping up.... less impact per day means a longer season to feed the sport fishing industry.

In the world of ESA, the only thing we have ANY control over in effectively and responsibly expanding recreational opportunity in this fishery is reducing our release mortality. The sooner we start working on that, the sooner we can finally get credit for it in the ESA "impact" game, and the sooner we can increase our opportunity to harvest MORE hatchery springers!

WDFW is spending a ton of CR dollars testing ways to reduce commercial release mortalities. We ought to be demanding an allocation of those CR enhancement funds to pay for studies to test the differential mortalities of recreational gear types and release practices.

My limited experience with this fishery is that the mark rate goes up later in the run. Is this just my imagination or does other data show this? If so increased pressure later in the run might still result in lower mortality of wild fish. E.g. increased handling <ne> increased mortality of wild fish if the ratio of hatchery to wild is not fixed.

Yup, I will see what days the "sturgeon" nets get after the 26JAN CRC meeting. Then will plan an early trip or two to avoid the gillnet days.

I crave the OMEGA-3 and Calcium of those yummie springers.

I'm fishing Drano with Phil on May 7. I may see you Mr. SeaDNA.

fool

I'm with him the 4 days prior to that. Don't worry, we'll set the hook too early a few times so there's some fish left for you. Phil's blood pressure may be up a bit after 4 days with me so go easy on him.

Saw this posted on FB:

"ACTION ALERT: Spring Chinook Allocation decreases to Sport and increases to Gillnetters!



Recent announcements by WDFW and ODFW staff indicate they will be moving to cut recreational sport fishing seasons on the Columbia River for spring chinook. Specifically, for 2012 the harvest matrix the agencies use to allocate Spring Chinook ESA impacts in the Columbia decreases sport fisheries by nearly 17%! Last year, the sharing agreement for ESA impacts was 60% sport and 35% commercial. This year the sport share of the ESA impacts decreases to 50% and the gillnet share increases to 45%!



This recommendation punctuates just how flawed and broken the system of allocation and management of these stocks is. Adopting their proposal would mean unnecessarily forfeiting tens of millions of dollars of economic benefit that comes to Oregon and Washington through much-needed tourism and direct benefits to a broad range of local industries and interests. The agency’s proposal to cut sport fishing opportunities, and increase mainstem gillnet fisheries is completely unfair and an example of a broken process that is begging to be fixed.



During this great recession, in a river full of ESA listed fish, it’s hard to believe we are seeing a proposal to grow this archaic and outdated fishery management. The SAFE (or terminal commercial fishing) areas successfully deliver tens of thousands of Willamette and Columbia River salmon to the market. For the last several years the commercial gillnet fleet has harvested more fish in the SAFE areas than the sport fleet is allocated in 140 miles of fishing below Bonneville dam. But growing mainstem non-treaty gillnet fisheries is killing jobs and killing the conservation benefits to wild fish that the SAFE areas were designed for.



You might ask yourself how this can be and the simple answer is: The squeaky wheel gets the grease!





This decision will be made soon~within the next couple weeks. We need your voice now to help overcome this setback. Please, today, contact your state legislators, that is, your state representative and state senator."

Why can't the gillnetters just be allowed a daily limit like everyone else?

Stay in touch on that.... Let's get out early!

Hard to find a die hard to get out and put a day in when the catching is tough. But I'll be logging the hours this year.

Keith