i know theres a lot of silvers in the sky right now, to bad its closed. thats the wdfw for ya. anyways my question was could one go up there and c&r the silvers? i dont really need any meat right now, i just wanna fight some fish. i noticed in a post below people are headed out there this week, what are you all fishing for? src's or something? thanks

Its not the fishing thats closed but the catching of fish. If you are targeting coho than your busted. If your using dic knite lures for trout and happen to hook a silver? Lets say somebody asked what your fishing for and you say trout, than I think you would be o.k. If your using a blue fox in the green color?..maybe a ticket could be falling into your hands. A gamer stoped me and a friend on the wallace and told us "that fishing the lower sno would be vary productive and it would be o.k to do so, as long as we didn't target the silvers." Trout are open game just use dic knites or something that can take to a variety of fish. J.C.B

that was the plan, just wanted to see what others thought about it.

only problem is i dont usually fish for trout with a 8 1/2 foot loomis and a calcutta 400, haha

Well can't trip over the small technicality. Hope ya do good. Keep me posted. J.C.B

cool, im gonna head up to the sky/wallace tomorrow for some 'steelies' ill just have to take a camera instead of a club. hopefully ill get a break from the hoodsport/samish clusterf***. im so sick of that stuff.

Hold on friend the wallace is open to retain silvers! As long as you fish below the burlington northern bridge. That I mean DOWN STREAM of the bridge. I wouldn't get too happy just yet there could be a crowd. I only wish I could join ya. As I said before keep in touch. I'd like to hear the results. By all I've heard the fishing isn't easy they have lock-jaw fever. J.C.B

Couldn't you target summer steelhead with just about anything, even bait.

Or looking for early winter steelhead.Also dose the game dept. have right now to tell us what kind of gear we can use?

Just wondering?

[This message has been edited by Ron Bob (edited 09-21-2000).]

I got ticketed two years ago on a coastal river that was open for trout but closed to salmon fishing. The F&G officer was hiding in the bushes watching me releas a 20# hen. I caught him out of the corner of my eye and he then aproached me. The area was scheduled to open the next day as it was only a mile from the hatchery, but he forced me into admitting that I was targeting salmon. He was screaming at me and said unless I admitted it we'd go back to his truck and talk about it some more. $150 I could have taken it to the magistrate but it was scheduled for 7:00 pm in Illwaco. I live on Vashon.

Be careful you might catch one on a bad day?

The thing is you never admit anything. Thats why you say your fishing for trout. Any given person can be a gamer out there, and they are sneaky. I'm not the smartest man in the world and don't pretend to be, but catch and release is legal. And it's simple if you are fishing a vibrex spinner for trout "which works for trout too" and the river is full of silvers your going to have a hard time selling that to the judge. But something universal like areo fly's, Dic knites, Rags"go to stealhead solution theirs are good I hear" or something esle. These guys aren't the bad people just keep that in mind. If you show respect and don't bad mouth them than I would say they wouldn't write ya up. They can't afford and won't write people up, if the charge won't stick. The gamer was hiding to see if you were one of those many that don't follow the program. I say you should have fought that ticket, if it went the way you say it did. J.C.B

The game cop was inches away from my face screaming at me to admit! I was fishing with a 8.5 ft lamiglas 10 main and 8 leader floating eggs with no lead (boy thats real poacher gear)The thought of confiscation of gear,truck and worst of all my lisence was reminded to me my this man of the law. Then he said I'm only going to ask you one more time!!!!!
Easy for you to say never admit anything, it could take months to get all my gear back, at that point a $150 fine seemed minimal. Closed for salmon means just that if you catch one even incidentally you're breaking their law. I don't play that game any more.

Yeah, I have a friend who talked to the FishCops yesterday. They pretty much said "leave the coho alone <period>". Sounded like if they even saw someone with a rod/reel capable of landing a coho, they'd write you ticket, **** Knite or not! For what it is worth, they are not stupid.

Personally, I'd leave the Sky and Sno alone. There are still plenty of steelhead out there to be caught.

Parker

They will have a hard time given me a ticket, for the simple reason that I won't take it. The thing is this, I'm fishing for trout& stealhead. It's legal and I'm within my rights. If they are writing every one up then chances are that the judge will be pretty upset that this gamer can't read the rule book, and dismiss alot of the charges if not all. If somebody gets wrote up this weekend than their a damn fool and their illegal. Its a word.VS.word thing. The volume that would be ticketed would be grand, with no laws broken. The rule book is your bible. J.C.B

[This message has been edited by J.C.B (edited 09-22-2000).]

the fishcops and the wdfw can kiss my a**. they took away the best fishery of the year, at least for me cause i dont have a boat. i was looking forward to another great year on the sky. they had no reason to shut it down. preseason forcasts, bs. if im out there fishing and i catch a silver, im not gonna keep it but sure as hell will try to catch em. they AT LEAST could have had a c&r season. so im having my own c&r season, but id like to see tell me im not targeting steelhead with eggs or a spinner. stupid wdfw.

thisdud, How many steelhead do you think there's gonna be in the Lower Sky right now? Ive seen three fish taken out by poachers already. How do the fish cops know you arent another one of those guys??

Fish on...

if the fishcops see me bonk and carry out a silver thats a different story. if they see me c&r a silver they have no right to say anything regardless of how many steelhead there may or may not be in the river.

We all ***** about the lack of enforcement on our rivers, and then complain when they're actually out there doing their jobs?

Or do we only complain about enforcement not watching what's going on until they watch us?

If you're not doing anything wrong, then don't worry about the fishcops. Targeting salmon when it's not open is illegal. If you don't like the regulation, violating it is not the way to show it and get any respect from the lawmakers. There are reasons why those rivers are or are not open at given times. I think it's alright to complain about the reasons, or argue the science, or whatever. On the other hand, I don't think that it's alright to just go ahead and fish for the salmon in spite of the regulation.

I think that those actions make us all look bad and lose whatever credibility we have as sportsmen.

Sorry for the rant, it's very late and this hit a nerve.

Fish on...

Todd.