Anybody know why we lost a month of salmon retention on the satsop this year?

Thanks

Not sure I agree....Page 37...Salmon Sept. 16 - Dec 31, unless you are wondering why the season didn't continue until January 31.

NOF was messed up last year....normally the last meeting was in Olympia, didn't happen last year....some things just slipped past those that go to the meetings.

Closing dates, a year ago, for most of the GH rivers was January 31, some how things got changed, time lines were short....needed to get Washington Sport Fishing Rules published.

There was a major mess up in the "jack fishing rules".....won't happen again !!!!!!!

Sh!t, lost a month? I'm sitting here wondering if we'll have a 2017 fishery.

IN Washington.....

Question was why in years past we could retain through the end of January, while this year only through December? I couldn't find any other GH rivers traditionally open to salmon retention through January that underwent this change. Thought it might be a typo or some sort of give/take deal with the tribe which I wasn't privy to.
Thought somebody here might have an answer. It's only a month but without an obvious reason it just left me scratching my head. I'll make a phone call.

This last year staff for whatever the reason did not do the review of the Rec Regs with the Advisers. Prior the Rec Advisers would set down with staff and go stream by stream look the Regs over and adj anything messed up. As I said staff chose not to so you get what you got. No way in GH that staff knows the basin & the fishers to get the job done going solo.

One of my bosses referred to a particularly inept person as being able to "Screw up a wet dream". That skill apparently remains.

I certainly hope Rivrguy and Carcassman are incorrect but I would not be surprised if it were the case this year. We'll consider it a typo then and fish on.....for steelhead of course!

Thanks for the input.

I lost a year.

What the heck, 12/31.....give it heck until then......The river is "hatchery Coho only".

Hatchery steelhead....can't be many steelhead or Coho around....QIN netting is minimal, tells me something...

That's right because there's no fish around anyway!

Lost opportunity and precedent setting behavior based on mistakes/ignorance is what is being brought to light here.

Because the Indians have a lot of control and very little intelligence. Oh yeah, I forgot they're greedy and they hate our guts even though we had nothing to do with the past and give them millions of dollars.

Attached is the letter I sent to WDFW yesterday for those that might be interested. I'll post the WDFW response if I get one.

And to gooybob: I have no evidence that this is a tribal based action. I'm just throwing it out there as another possible cause. I personally think it was an oversight/typo by those writing the regs., but the issue is stuck in my craw now and I have to at least attempt to get a response from those who make the rules.

Good morning and to whom it may concern,

I am a Thurston county based river fisher who enjoys frequenting the east fork Satsop for salmon and steelhead. I particularly enjoy being on the river this time of year, not only for the beauty and solitude but also for the chance at catching some bright, late returning coho or early winter steelhead. So I was surprised and disappointed to see the season length on the Satsop shortened by a month this year(January 31 became December 31).
Looking back several years I see that January 31 has been the traditional end of the salmon retention season for this river. Why the change?

I was hoping your office could provide an explanation for this shortening of the season.

I look forward to hearing back and thank you for the work you do.

Kindest regards,

It can't be an oversight. WDFW has their best minds working on the regulations with the intent of squeezing every last fish legally available to the angler.

We need to trust that they always have river anglers best interests at heart.

I'm sensing your sarcasm Carcassman, because you're laying it on pretty thick. I'm also laughing inside(tears of a clown?) because I think your sentiment is probably right on.

But now I REALLY can't wait to hear what the WDFW response to my query is. IF I get one.........

At this point a typo/clerical error would be the best case scenario. However looking at QIN net schedule through the end of the year I think I may have answered my own question.

An education can be a dangerous thing.

I suspect that conservation for coho and the absence of steelhead probably was the actual driver. They (WDFW) have been hit hard over the lack of concern about any sort of escapement goal achievement.

Rivrguy hit that inter-Agency nail squarely on the head. Old WDF used to define "barren water" as a stream without salmon. Hence such gifts to resident fish as Sunset and Tumwater falls fishways. WDG, as was so eloquently stated at a State/Tribal meeting "I am only concerned about steelhead". This attitude also gave us the screens on lake outlets that blocked off some of best coho reading habitat in the state. But it kept the OD trout in the lake!

But by the numbers it looks like they have already reached escapement. Conservation is one thing, but when you're catching nothing but hatchery fish, what gives?

And let's not forget, the rec season has been hit pretty hard as well. In addition to paying more for the priveledge.

If this was "an accident" that just got missed and ER can (or formerly used to be) easy to do. Less that one full work day from start to finish.

If there was a biological reason then there will be a quick response to inquiries.

If it was social/political decision it may take longer to get explained.

Received a response from WDFW regarding my original question. In a nutshell, here's what I got.

Response was quick(would be happy to post verbatim here if there's any interest), which was appreciated. Reason given was low preseason coho return forecasts resulting in shortened season and reduced bag limits.

Poor reasoning IMO given the fact that other rivers in the Chehalis basin were not shortened(talking Hump and Chehalis), and Satsop's bag limit had been reduced already. Not to mention the fact that the QIN will be gillnetting in the basin at least through the first week of the year with the potential for additional dates. I see very little benefit to shortening a season by 30 days given these factors.

I've concluded that this decision was either politically motivated (worst case), or simply a clerical error which they are trying to sell as science based. Either way it annoys me and I let them know it. I'm hoping that this will help prevent such ill informed and short sighted decisions from becoming policy in the future.

Thanks for hearing me out on this issue and don't hesitate to let them know about it if you agree.