Check

 

Defiance Boats!

LURECHARGE!

THE PP OUTDOOR FORUMS

Kast Gear!

Power Pro Shimano Reels G Loomis Rods

  Willie boats! Puffballs!

 

Three Rivers Marine

 

 
Page 4 of 7 < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >
Topic Options
Rate This Topic
#986993 - 03/21/18 07:15 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Todd]
FleaFlickr02 Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/28/09
Posts: 3313
Originally Posted By: Todd
Originally Posted By: Sky-Guy
I just heard the Skagit will open next Thursday, 5 days a week Wednesday through Sunday through the end of April.


Anyone got any good tips for this fishery?

Fish on...

Todd


LOL.

Yeah. Get there early (or really late).

Top
#986994 - 03/21/18 07:52 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Todd]
Sky-Guy Offline
The Tide changed

Registered: 08/31/00
Posts: 7232
Loc: Everett
Originally Posted By: Todd
Originally Posted By: Sky-Guy
I just heard the Skagit will open next Thursday, 5 days a week Wednesday through Sunday through the end of April.


Anyone got any good tips for this fishery?

Fish on...

Todd


I'll ask my friend Chuggy, he always has some good tips, no matter what.
_________________________
You know something bad is going to happen when you hear..."Hey, hold my beer and watch this"

Top
#986995 - 03/21/18 08:02 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
Todd Offline
Dick Nipples

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 28170
Loc: Seattle, Washington USA
I have a feeling that I will be seeing Chuggy up there! Haven't seen him in a while, either.

Fish on...

Todd
_________________________


Team Flying Super Ditch Pickle


Top
#986998 - 03/21/18 09:32 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
Smalma Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/25/01
Posts: 2844
Loc: Marysville
Todd -
The best advice I can give you if want to catch a fish is too head to the coast!!

Curt

Top
#987001 - 03/21/18 09:50 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Smalma]
Todd Offline
Dick Nipples

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 28170
Loc: Seattle, Washington USA
Originally Posted By: Smalma
Todd -
The best advice I can give you if want to catch a fish is too head to the coast!!

Curt


Lol...noted wink

Fish on...

Todd
_________________________


Team Flying Super Ditch Pickle


Top
#987002 - 03/21/18 09:54 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Smalma]
FleaFlickr02 Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/28/09
Posts: 3313
Originally Posted By: Smalma
Todd -
The best advice I can give you if want to catch a fish is too head to the coast!!

Curt


Nice try, Curt, but everyone knows the Skagit's the place to be!

Top
#987004 - 03/21/18 10:01 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
CraigO Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 03/30/02
Posts: 1409
Loc: Lake Stevens
Hope this gets done this time, next Thursday will be fun
_________________________
Go Dawgs!!!
Fishing MVP

Top
#987006 - 03/21/18 10:25 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
mitch184 Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 02/02/05
Posts: 337
Loc: Lake Stevens
Yep, Gonna be a great time. I don't care how many people are on the river.
_________________________
Team Haters

Top
#987008 - 03/21/18 11:36 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
ReefSkunk
Unregistered


When can we expect an official announcement? Through the grapevine is great but the grapevine also said this fishery was going to open weeks ago.

Top
#987026 - 03/21/18 05:09 PM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13520
Just got off the phone. The advice, "don't believe everything you read on the internet."

WDFW can get more than one update per day from NMFS and sometimes does. There are folks at NMFS that would like to see this as a done deal. And there are folks who couldn't care less about the effect this is having on anglers and business and have no understanding that there is NO biological link between these necessary administrative and legal documents and the status and health of Skagit steelhead. I had no idea whatever that this would be playing out like it has. At this point I'm only confident that we will more likely than not get something of what's left of this season. Not how I would have done it.

Top
#987047 - 03/22/18 09:33 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
Backtrollin Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 10/18/07
Posts: 174
Loc: Duvall, WA
While I am all for C&R fishing, I am beginning to wonder if we are getting to the point of no return?

Salmo g. can you expand on the spawn timing in the Skagit system? My understanding is that peak spawn happens in the last two weeks of april. Am i correct?

If that is the case how many of these ripe hens are going to blow their eggs all over our waders and on top of the gravel when we catch them? How many guys are going to walk on redds? How many fish have exerted their stored fats/energy to get to the point of spawning only to use that last ounce of energy fighting a 12' spey rod/float rod?

I would have been more comfortable with a mid march-mid april season.

Can you please expand on the impact of fishing in this time frame? I am not sure if it is the right time to send 100's of anglers to go after these fish.

I am still forming my opinion, but I am considering hanging up my steelhead rod for this opener if the net effect is a greater than 10% catch mortality.

Could these reasons be whey NMFS is dragging their feet?

your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you


Edited by Backtrollin (03/22/18 09:46 AM)

Top
#987049 - 03/22/18 10:14 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
ReefSkunk
Unregistered


Some good points there. I too thought it strange that the season would be open in that later time frame when historically it hasn’t been open then.


As more and more rumors are spread of an imminent opener it seems more and more likely that it’s not going to open this year. For the sake of my friends that enjoy this fishery I hope that’s not the case.

Top
#987050 - 03/22/18 10:48 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
Smalma Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/25/01
Posts: 2844
Loc: Marysville
Backtrollin -
Not speaking for Salmo g. it is my understanding that the Skagit/Sauk CnR seasons beginning in the early 1980s ran through April. The north Sound rivers (Skagit and Nooksack) have some of the latest spawning winter steelhead in the State. When the season was first established only about 15% of the winter steelhead spawning had occurred by the end of April. There was nearly as many wild winters spawning after the first of June as spawning before the first of May. Peak spawning typically was in the middle part of May.

Of the nearly 300 miles of steelhead spawning habitat in the Skagit basin less than 20% (45 miles) would be open during the spring CnR season. In other words the season structure on the Skagit/Sauk is much more conservative in terms of interacting with wild spawning steelhead than say on the coast and certainly on SW Washington where on some rivers have year-round seasons with anglers fishing over ESA listed steelhead.

While it is possible that an angler might encounter a "running ripe" female that odds are pretty low. I have fished the spring CnR fishery from its first year and to the best of my recollection I have caught a single wild kelt (a spawned out wild summer steelhead) and a single "running ripe" female out of fairly large sample of wild winters caught.

Finally with the intense in-season monitoring WDFW should be more than able to hold any "impacts" below the allowed levels with the ability to close the fishery via emergency regulations quickly.

Curt

Top
#987051 - 03/22/18 10:56 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
JustBecause Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 07/18/08
Posts: 237

Top
#987056 - 03/22/18 11:45 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
Backtrollin Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 10/18/07
Posts: 174
Loc: Duvall, WA
Smalma, thanks for the info, the spawn timing was a major concern for me. If your eyes tell you these fish can handle the pressure then I may have to lace up my boots.

Top
#987069 - 03/22/18 02:56 PM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Backtrollin]
_WW_ Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 01/30/13
Posts: 233
Loc: Skagit
As for walking through redds...There is no place that I'm aware of in the portion of the river that will be open that a person can wade across. Perhaps a couple side channels on the Sauk will reveal themselves, but for the most part you'll have to risk your life to walk on an active redd in the proposed season and open areas.

I'm sure everyone will have a story of seeing an accessible redd, but these opportunities will be rare.
_________________________
Catch & Release Is Not A Crime

Top
#987102 - 03/23/18 02:31 PM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13520
Backtrollin,

Just to reiterate, Smalma addressed the points you asked me about. And I agree with him, especially about the traditional season running through April, since he had a strong hand in setting the seasons and regulations those 37 years ago. I'll just say that under the proposed regulations, which are very conservative, the biological risks are very low, but the quantity and quality of the hand-wringing on the part of the agencies and a few anglers are very high.

I have never caught a wild kelt in March or April nor a gravid female (one with loose eggs). I did catch some kelts as well as fresh unspawned fish in late May back when the river used to re-open on Memorial Day weekend.

I cannot know how many guys will walk on redds, but since the percentage of total redds before the end of April is low, I'll speculate that not many will be walked on.

These are not the reasons why NMFS is dragging its feet. NMFS is slow because it's a bureaucracy and therefor incapable of doing anything quickly. They also want to make sure all the paperwork is airtight enough to withstand potential litigation. It looks like some of our angling compatriots want to conserve Skagit steelhead by never allowing fishing for them ever again. However, opinions not supported by facts should not carry the day IMO.

Sg


Edited by Salmo g. (03/23/18 02:32 PM)

Top
#987109 - 03/23/18 02:53 PM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
Backtrollin Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 10/18/07
Posts: 174
Loc: Duvall, WA
Thank you

Top
#987263 - 03/27/18 08:09 PM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
OLD FB Offline
Juvenile at Sea

Registered: 09/05/14
Posts: 196
Loc: Stanwood WA
Originally Posted By: Salmo g.
Backtrollin,
These are not the reasons why NMFS is dragging its feet. NMFS is slow because it's a bureaucracy and therefor incapable of doing anything quickly. They also want to make sure all the paperwork is airtight enough to withstand potential litigation. It looks like some of our angling compatriots want to conserve Skagit steelhead by never allowing fishing for them ever again. However, opinions not supported by facts should not carry the day IMO.

Sg


March quickly fading in the rear view mirror tonight.......... Bureaucracy? Oh well just biding my time watching the Maury Povich Show and Top Chef re-runs these day..... smile Fish On!

Top
#987294 - 03/29/18 07:45 AM Re: Skagit rally [Re: Salmo g.]
RUNnGUN Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 12/06/07
Posts: 1382
So. Thursday is hear, a day the opener was maybe going to happen. Any new news?
_________________________
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller.
Don't let the old man in!

Top
Page 4 of 7 < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >

Search

Site Links
Home
Our Washington Fishing
Our Alaska Fishing
Reports
Rates
Contact Us
About Us
Recipes
Photos / Videos
Visit us on Facebook
Today's Birthdays
3Gonads, herm
Recent Gallery Pix
hatchery steelhead
Hatchery Releases into the Pacific and Harvest
Who's Online
0 registered (), 947 Guests and 2 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
John Boob, Lawrence, I'm Still RichG, feyt, Freezeout
11498 Registered Users
Top Posters
Todd 28170
Dan S. 17149
Sol Duc 16138
The Moderator 14486
Salmo g. 13520
eyeFISH 12766
STRIKE ZONE 12107
Dogfish 10979
ParaLeaks 10513
Jerry Garcia 9160
Forum Stats
11498 Members
16 Forums
63773 Topics
645290 Posts

Max Online: 3001 @ 01/28/20 02:48 PM

Join the PP forums.

It's quick, easy, and always free!

Working for the fish and our future fishing opportunities:

The Wild Steelhead Coalition

The Photo & Video Gallery. Nearly 1200 images from our fishing trips! Tips, techniques, live weight calculator & more in the Fishing Resource Center. The time is now to get prime dates for 2018 Olympic Peninsula Winter Steelhead , don't miss out!.

| HOME | ALASKA FISHING | WASHINGTON FISHING | RIVER REPORTS | FORUMS | FISHING RESOURCE CENTER | CHARTER RATES | CONTACT US | WHAT ABOUT BOB? | PHOTO & VIDEO GALLERY | LEARN ABOUT THE FISH | RECIPES | SITE HELP & FAQ |