Published: Wednesday, October 20, 2010

No chums on local rivers
By Wayne Kruse, Special to The Herald



At this point in the fall salmon season, there will be no chum fishery on the Snohomish, Stillaguamish, or Skagit river systems.

I better say that again.

There will be NO CHUM FISHING on local rivers this fall.

Sure, that information is in the regulation pamphlet. And sure, we all read the regulation pamphlet. But certain regs just seem to disappear into the ether, and these apparently haven’t registered strongly with area anglers. A lot of citations have already been handed out and more are on the way to those keeping chums while fishing for coho, or targeting chums with gear obviously not intended for coho.

Chums will be legal in the Samish, mainstem Nooksack, Whatcom Creek, and others north of us, but nothing down this way. State salmon managers say run predictions earlier this year were for depressed runs, below the level needed for spawning escapement.

Some recreational fishermen have another view.

“Overfishing for two years in a row by commercials, and poor monitoring by WDFW (Washington Fish and Wildlife Department), put our chums in a real hole,” said avid angler and fishing advocate Sam Ingram of Arlington.

State salmon manager for Puget Sound, Steve Thiesfeld, said the agency did negotiate the possibility of an in-season opening for the Snohomish and Skagit systems if the runs proved substantially larger than expected. There is only a faint hope of that happening on the Snohomish, he said, and he wasn’t ready to quote odds of it happening on the Skagit, either, although the chances there are a little better.

Thiesfeld said there will be no commercial fishing on the three systems, either, except for the possibility of small tribal subsistence and ceremonial events, and none in marine areas 9, 8-1 or 8-2. A couple of exceptions to that will be a fishery for Tulalip tribal hatchery chums in Tulalip Bay, and a Tulalip net fishery in Area 8-2 limited to 2,000 chums and designed to update in-season run size estimates.

Damn, that really sucks.

Would someone like to explain what can be used on Chum but not Coho, for gear???

Region 6...Is and has been pretty much shut down for sports.......That includes the following rivers....Humptulips, Wishkak, Wynoochee, Chehalis, Satsop, Johns River and probably some others.........

Dogs/chum/woofers... just aren't there....I do have a problem with the QIN taking chum in the gillnet fishery but not much I can do about that.

Thats a bunch of bulls*!t that they are giving tickets to people for using gear thats not intended for coho. WTF? I catch both coho and chums on the same gear. I know if some warden gave me a ticket for targeting chums I would fight that sh!t. I dont get it.

I guess I should not backtroll a fire tiger wiggle wart for coho cause a chum might eat it. Or I suppose if your seen fishing with anything chartreuse you might get a ticket to.

I'm having a hard time with that part as well. It would be interesting to see if a judge would uphold such a citation. Sounds like that would be a good time to introduce the judge to the statewide regulations (if they apply) allowing three treble, barbed hooks per line. I can here it now. "This is what I use all the time for Silvers, Your Honor. All legal just like the regs say."


How many chums can your chum catch fishing
If your chum can't fish for a chum

i'd like to see the specific language in the regs that says you can't target chums and release them. the way salmon rules in this state are written, if an area is open for salmon, you can fish for any kind of salmon as long as you only keep the species that are open for retention. however, if the river has no salmon season, you aren't (technically) even allowed to fish for catch and release. there isn't a single river in this state that actually has a catch and release salmon season(probably because the state doesn't consider them to be a gamefish)

I agree the only thing I see in the regs is that it says daily limit 2 coho only.The regs say nothing about fishing for coho with gear that might catch chums and getting a frigging ticket for it.

Some of our largest coho come on wrapped K14-15's...(fishin' chums)
Is that now illegal ???

Boy I sure wouldnt be caught using a kwikfish from the sounds of it they will give you a ticket.

Late Coho tend to like Kwikies, last year we went out for Chums one day and hit 5 Coho, never and touched a chum.

I've caught chums on it all,bobber egg's/kwikies/spinners/back bouncin/casting and retreiving mag's.Just haven't hooked up on trolling herring in the bay,just ho's,nooks and some sharks.Chum's are like whores,they'll take anything that's put in there face.Good luck,
SZ

hahha man the last couple post SZ have been top notch

I would like to reply to Wayne Kruse's article regarding Chum/Coho fishing. I am the local game warden who works the Stilly system. I can guarantee you that nobody is getting tickets for using "Chum" gear. I'm not sure where Mr. Kruse is getting that information. That is ridiculuous. Yes, we do cite folks for selective gear violations or violations for the anti-snagging rule. I also see alot of fishermen targeting salmon in closed areas such as the SF Stilly. Unless they are using illegal "anti-snagging" gear, the worst that can happen is a verbal warning, unless of course they are in possession of a fish. Please, don't believe everything that you read. If you have a question, get ahold of one of us.

Cool stuff,glad ya got on here to clarify.Good luck,
SZ

Thanks for the reply wdfw135

Thank you for that info.

I beginning to think that Wayne Kruse has been smoking out of a pop can far to long?..... I wonder if he related to Sam Ingram?....