Table scraps

I'm *almost* speechless after reading this generous offer by the scholars running our WDFW...

https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/efishrules/erule.jsp?id=2340

But I'm certain it's going to make a HUGE difference in the Cowlitz for all the fish that aren't in the river.

AND even better, I got to pay an extra $87.50 to fish barbless on that river over the last 10 years. WTF?

I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. And there are a lot of moving parts that I may have missed, so I sent this letter to the Commission in hopes that a good explanation that ties all this together will be forthcoming.

Here is my letter.
____________________________________________________________
Chair Carpenter and fellow Commissioners,

I read with interest the latest WDFW News Release which announces the lifting of the barbless hook restrictions on the Columbia and many of it’s tributaries.

Just recently, they were announcing how much the wild stocks were depressed, while touting how the re-introduction of Gill Nets was a good conservation measure on the Columbia.

Now, WDFW has lifted the selective fisheries barbless hook regulation, allowing the use of barbed hooks, after years of preaching that barbed hooks contribute significantly to the death of wild salmon stocks.

Pardon me for scratching my head in confusion.

Please explain to your constituent exactly how these “decisions” are being made. Since it seem’s you feel we are not intelligent enough to follow the reasoning, so you just leave us out of the discussions.

Looking forward to hearing from you,


Confused,

P

Institutional memory should remind us that the reason WDFW adopted the barbless hook rule on the Columbia and tributaries was to "throw a bone" to the gillnetters because of the increased restrictions they were facing as part of the CR gillnetting reform. Now that some gillnet seasons are being restored, anglers get their barbed hooks back. This never had a gnat's ass to do with conservation.

On the other hand, I mostly fish with barbless hooks, for my own safety as much as the fish's.

I will also never go back to barbed hooks, barbless is safer for me, for the fish, and I can count on one hand (with plenty of fingers left over) the fish I have lost because of barbless.

I may even go so far as to use circle hooks when flyfishing for salmon, at least chum. Only snagged one, and a little slack let it go. Mandating circles in all FW salmon fishing would go a long ways to eliminating snagging. Or, at least make it easier to cite folks.

I think your thread title is spot on. The weird thing is how many people seem to think it's some great concession that we can use barbs.

I've fished the Kalama several times this spring (without a single bite). The day after the barbless restriction was lifted, it was all the anglers on the river were talking about, like it was a great deal for us. My take was that I would have been much happier losing fish because of barbless hooks than I was fishing barbed hooks that nothing was around to bite.

What anglers need is more fish to bite our hooks, whether they're barbed or not.