Area 9
Quota: 5,587
Catch as of 7/20/18: 2,960
% of Quota: 53%
Last update: July 20, 2018

Area 10
Quota: 4,743
Catch as of 7/20/18: 542
% of Quota: 11%

https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/efishrules/erule.jsp?id=2173

Say what? Now ain't that a kick in the nuts...one effn weekend?

Ike

I think we are seeing what happens when some of our Northern neighbors limit there take. I believe both Alaska and Canada reduced their fisheries a bit. We will see, but I think we will see the best King return in years and effectively most will be passed through untouched.

What a joke, typical WDFW. I don't think reality reflects these numbers, from what I have heard around town the fishing has not been even decent out of PT.

A friend of mine got suckered this year and dropped coin on a new boat and motors, shrimp pots, crab pots and all thinking he had a long shrimp season on the straits this year at least, he went out twice and then they closed the season after a few weeks when it was supposed to be opened till September, now all you see is indians with trucks and boats loaded with shrimp pots heading out.

My cousin came up from Vancouver to do some crabbing to find out there were 400 injun crab pots out in-front of the point Wilson boat launch for two days prior to the Thursday opener. 4 pots two soaks and not a single legal dungie, but about 70 females and 8 rocks.

Boy it sure is worth spending the money for license and gear isn't it?

The creek checks verify what you have heard around town.

84 fish checked at the PT dock on the opener? 11 fish on Wed and 29 yesterday? Last year was lights out at MC and the season lasted a hellava lot longer than this year.

Possession? 300 fish checked at the Everett Ramp since the opener. 30 fish checked at Shilshole from MA 9...

It's less than half a fish per rod per day. Where are the other 2,500 fish being counted?

Ike

Hmmm... Folks I know have all found fish... Most don't get counted at the ramps either because they're people with moorage. I'm not defending the number -- but there were probably 200 boats on/within a few miles of MCB on the opener and most had 2+ people, so 500 fish that day alone isn't impossible to believe from just the PT area.

To Irish's point-

Just looking at the Everett opening day checks in 2015 the folks averaged 0.23 Chinook/angler, in 2016 the average was 0.20, in 2017 it was 0.33 and for 2018 the average from MA 9 was an amazing 0.60.

Since the opener the first week catch rates in 2018 have remained 2 to 3 times what was the norm in 2015 to 2017. Unless there has been a significant drop in effort (is that the case?) there is no way that the fleet would not use up the catch quota at a quicker rate than recent years.

Some amazing fishing.

Curt

BC has closed some southern inside waters in the Victoria area to all fishing for Orca habitat protection. On the ECVI up to Campbell River, the bag limit was reduced to 1 Chinook to protect Fraser river Chinook that do not migrate far to the north. This action is expected to result in a 35% catch reduction. Under strong consideration is closing waters off WCVI from Port Renfrew to Tofino to all fishing for Orca Habitat protection. It seems operating a SONAR at or around 50Khz interferes with Orca communications.

I see this as good news for endangered Chinook recovery; plus my boat is laid-up for repairs.

I agree with this early closure. Allow the fish to self sort. Reopen in a week or so in more terminal fisheries.

With fewer and fewer area's open, the pressure on those few that do open will only increase. Guys who have spent a lot of money on boats and gear will certainly travel to try and justify the expense. Of course, this only compounds the problem as it increases pressure on the few areas that still have catchable numbers of fish. Add to that, WDFW's and the tribes over estimations to allow harvest, and it quickly becomes apparent that there will, in all probability, never be a season long opening anymore. What we are seeing in the way of short openings, then closures with possibly a few more days later, is the way of the future.

Of course, it is still a question of accountability. If sports are shut down due to quota limits, in the spirit of transparency, Tribal and Commercial catch/quota numbers should be publicly published as well.

"Of course, it is still a question of accountability. If sports are shut down due to quota limits, in the spirit of transparency, Tribal and Commercial catch/quota numbers should be publicly published as well."

that will never happen.

TRUE...

With all the charter operators running 2 trips a day, their take against the quota is enormous.
Why do we share the recreational quota with this commercial industry?
WDFW classifies charters as commercial.

Really? Who actually fishes from a charter and if lucky enough is able to take home a fish? Yup, the properly licensed recreational angler.

The charter provides a service and cannot sell anything harvested off his charter boat. And he gets paid whether the recreational fisherman catches a fish or not.

So, no, a charter boat is not a commercial fishing boat.

Agreed.

From what I witnessed last week and heard again this morning, that's still holding true in the known spots in MA10.

Some amazing fishing.

If anyone wants a MA10 King this year, I'd recommend you get out on the water sooner rather than later.

I'm guessing the remainder of the MA10 quota will go fast.

Most of the fish I've seen caught have been in the 6-8lb. range with the bigger ones being wild. A couple of nice ones here or there, but mostly the small cookie cutter fish.

Curt - why the small size across many different hatchery strains in Puget Sound? Are they all releasing their smolts later? The wild fish are larger, from what I've seen.

We have been fishing the Chinook size down for more than 100 years. Fisheries on juvenile immature fish over succeeding years remove the older fish. It takes older fish to get big. Where are the 5,6, and 7 year old adults?

Plus, and even more ominous, is that something is going on in the ocean that is reducing Chinook (and maybe coho) size at age. The previous reduction in size was primarily through age reduction. Now, the quality and quantity of food out there is bad. Some of this is due to competition with pinks. But, the really scary part to me is that food quality is declining. Less calories per unit consumed. What happens then is that the Chinook gets too big to eat enough to maintain life. They essentially starve. Many times, this has occurred on the trip "home". They just vanish. Die and sink.

Thanks for answering that for me! Don't care to have the expense of boat, insurance, gas, big truck, maintenance anymore and if I need a day I'll gladly catch a ride on a charter in Puget Sound!

On the reduced size at age issue, this is also hitting halibut. The fish there are smaller at age, too, which is complicating management and assessment I have been told.

I dunno, I'd say the fishing is pretty damn good everywhere in PS, at least according to my trips this summer in two areas (many trips), and the reports and networking I have heard. Numbers have been outstanding, and size has been good, bigger than last year. Strange to say, but Puget Sound is the place to be for salmon fishing in WA this year (if you can find places and dates to fish that the quota's allow),

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