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#983798 - 01/18/18 03:03 PM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7413
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
Might be. Over the last few years I have been successful in bagging some geese. Almost all Cacklers with one Aleutian Cackler. The Aleutian was close to inedible.All were taken on the Opener so I think they had all recently come from the Far North. I think that the Aleutian had fed on different plants and that is what changed its taste. Probably more of its diet was sea-influenced as they nest on the islands. That might be the same thing as is happening with the smelt.

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#983817 - 01/19/18 09:43 AM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
WDFW X 1 = 0 Offline
My Area code makes me cooler than you

Registered: 01/27/15
Posts: 4549
Smelt in fish net just seems so dirty.

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#983819 - 01/19/18 11:40 AM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
DrifterWA Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 04/25/00
Posts: 5074
Loc: East of Aberdeen, West of Mont...
Smelt......some people just like them, fried of smoked.........there are many others that "don't want anything to do with them".

I LIKE THEM, fried or smoked............I even vacuum some to have later in the year. Can be a welcome change from salmon or summer run steelhead.
_________________________
"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

"I thought growing older, would take longer"

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#983862 - 01/19/18 08:38 PM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
This from the Oregonian re their commission's expectations for smelt dipping...

The smelt outlook, also coming up Feb. 9 at the Sheraton Inn commission meeting, remains depressed. It's unknown whether any sport dipping will be allowed in the Cowlitz River and only limited commercial dipping will likely occur and that only to collect biological information.
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#983967 - 01/22/18 04:47 AM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
Jake Dogfish Offline
Spawner

Registered: 06/24/00
Posts: 554
Loc: Des Moines
Smelt Steelhead Lamprey Sturgeon.
Who goes extinct first?

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#983975 - 01/22/18 08:22 AM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
Carcassman Online   content
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/21/07
Posts: 7413
Loc: Olema,California,Planet Earth
Sturgeon probably last, due to their long lives. They may functionally extinct but, like Galapagos tortoises, hang on for 50 to 100 years before they die.

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#983979 - 01/22/18 12:34 PM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: Jake Dogfish]
slabhunter Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 01/17/04
Posts: 3742
Loc: Sheltona Beach
Originally Posted By: Jake Dogfish
Smelt Steelhead Lamprey Sturgeon.
Who goes extinct first?


Steelhead is my guess. This in Region Five is the only sportfish.
_________________________
When we are forgotten, we cease to exist .
Share your outdoor skills.

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#985410 - 02/13/18 05:02 PM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
DrifterWA Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 04/25/00
Posts: 5074
Loc: East of Aberdeen, West of Mont...

2/13/2018....I called Region 5 today to "talk smelt", here what I was told....2 commercial boats have been fishing, 47 total for 1 day, birds are not "diving" for fish.....looks like a "hang up the smelt net for this year.

Was told its the same report California to Canada........grrrrrrrrr
_________________________
"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

"I thought growing older, would take longer"

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#985427 - 02/14/18 07:41 AM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
Tug 3 Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 03/06/14
Posts: 260
Loc: Tumwater
When I was a Fishcop on the Cowlitz in the 70's and early 80's, I looked for an increased abundance of seals in the Columbia to indicate the pending arrival of the annual smelt run. I watched the over harvest take place, as everyone with half a brain predicted. Now what do we have? No smelt. Changing ecosystem. The incredibly huge runs brought out the worst in people. There is a certain fascination of people dipping a net into the river and finding it full of fish. Once in awhile someone would dip up a steelhead or spring king. On a good night in the mid 70's a good smelt dipper might get 20 pounds in a dip. Greed would set in in too many instances. In one case I wrote tickets to two guys from Seattle who had taken more than two thousand pounds of smelt. (Yes, 2,000) My patrol truck would hardly steer with all those in the back of it. Smelt make good sturgeon bait. I miss the carnival atmosphere of the big runs of old. If you're seeing increased bird activity it is from dead or spawned out smelt indicating the run had peaked. I had always heard that the water temperature that lured smelt into the Cowlitz was 46 degrees. Seems about right when correlated with a warm rain.

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#985433 - 02/14/18 09:40 AM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
WDFW X 1 = 0 Offline
My Area code makes me cooler than you

Registered: 01/27/15
Posts: 4549
If only we could go back to those days and hit the reset button Tug.
Saw JJ at the barber the other day.
It's been years.

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#986316 - 03/02/18 04:50 PM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
slabhunter Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 01/17/04
Posts: 3742
Loc: Sheltona Beach
No smelt dipping is what I told today.

I volunteered as an Aquatic Education instructor for many years. Perhaps that is why I am blessed to still be here today after a mishap in the service years. To be a thorn in the Harvest at any cost mindset management.
_________________________
When we are forgotten, we cease to exist .
Share your outdoor skills.

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#986319 - 03/02/18 05:10 PM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
DrifterWA Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 04/25/00
Posts: 5074
Loc: East of Aberdeen, West of Mont...


Well xhit, I even bought a looooong handle net, after going down last year and seeing what a "real smelt net" looks like.

Well maybe, next year??????????
_________________________
"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

"I thought growing older, would take longer"

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#986334 - 03/02/18 08:29 PM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
paguy Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 04/15/11
Posts: 116
Drifter, Just come up to PA and you can barrow my surf smelt nets and fish the beach this summer.

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#986355 - 03/03/18 11:45 AM Re: Smelt Dipping, Cowlitz River 2018 [Re: DrifterWA]
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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