Columbia River Springers

Ok guys here it is. Last year at this time fishing was starting to pick up pretty good. I realize with the weather and water conditions as they are, not a lot of people exept diehards out there (and lots of nets) I am planning on going down next week to give it a shot. If anyone has been out let me know whats going on Just reply or send me an E-mail Thanx
Ramprat

I fished it yesterday afternoon - muddy and slow - fish checker said he checked nothing, I hooked nothing or even marked anything in 4 hours, although I was not there for the best part of the tide. Going to try it again Sunday and hope it clears up a little by then.

Friends of mine just called a while ago and they did not toooooouch a thing out of Cathlamet the last day and a half, vis was as low as 1 foot at times with lots of sealions in the area. They may head up above the cowlitz tomorrow. Lets hope it clears and the sun comes out as I have a trip planned for the 22-24, hope its good, may be the only chance I get out.

NEN

No more than a dozen sea lions between the Cowlitz and the Kalama Sunday, March 10. Birds all over the place so there were still smelt around. We did manage one good hard takedown on a spinner but never got a look at the fish and the weather went to hell in the afternoon so we took out early. I'll try Willow Grove next weekend if the water color and weather improves. At the moment here, south of Chehalis, it looks like early January outside.

jcw
we went out of the ammo dump today in the snow storm 6hrs of nothing than 15min. before I had to leave for work I hooked 24# hatchery hen . but It sure is slow. they have to show up soon but everything is late . Hell its still snowing!!!

Okay Creekwalker!
It's early yet, the water is cold, the color aint great, yada, yada, yada. But you got some action.

Seems like we were doing better this time last year but, at least, I've got plenty of good excuses.

Was up at Bonneville yesterday and managed to land a hatchery hen and missed another. I Went up there again this evning landed a native and that is it. I seen 9 fish landed tonight and three were hatchery fish, not bad for beening this early in the season.

We fished the Wind river on the saturday opener, maybe 8-10 boats there and 6-8 at Drano lake.We caught the only springer at the Wind on saturday, a very nice 26#, we saw one other hooked and lost and we had one other hard take down. Fished today
(sunday) with 4 other boats and saw no fish caught. It's early but we still had to try.I've fished the gorge for 25 years and this was the worst weather I've ever fished in. cold 35 degrees, wind
with gusts to 40mph, rain, sleet, blizzard like snow at times,a little sun. Can't wait to try again this week.

Man, I hit it hard today at Cathlamet - perfect weather after an icy drive getting there, no wind, great tides, a little muddy but not impossible and NO FISH - I marked exactly one fish and took a pass over him twice, but no bite.

I heard the commercials did good - figures, lets just give away spring chinook for less than it costs to raise them in the hatchery, and for 15 times less per fish return to the economy than if you or I caught it. Lets make sure to keep that sport effort down to nothing to make a couple dozen commercial boys happy playing with their tangle nets, because after all, we are in a recession and we have to close hatcheries as we don't have enough money. Oh, I'm sorry, being sarcastic again - I guess knowing that the fish I spent all day looking for wound up in a gillnet does that to me

I got a report from a buddy that fished Saturday. He said approximately 12-15 boats were in the Longview area. No fish caught, water was very dirty(approx. 2 feet of visability).He was above the Cowlitz so dirty water must have been from the Lewis. I think we're still acouple weeks early, also the nets have to come out!!

I think you can pretty much count on the nets being in for quite awhile.
With the so-called tanglenets in they are now a selective fishery.They can release natives,presumably unharmed.That means we got screwed because they wont rech their goals and be done in a hurry.
They can fish till they reach their quotas.I'm not sure what it is.14950or 19000,something like that.
I think we will be enjoying their company most of the springer season

I just found out something about this wonderful net fishery that pees me off even more - they are not even using tangle nets - instead they are using 5 1/2 inch mesh because they "don't have any tangle nets so we want to use what we have". This crap is catching 2-3 steelhead for each springer. Mortality of released chinook on 8 inch is 50%, so it has to be at least that bad on smaller steelhead caught on 5 1/2. This is 50+% mortality on ESA listed wild steelhead. Moreover, the geniuses at WDFW have said only 10% of the kings die in a 5 1/2 net, when 12% die in a real tangle net. I would say easily we are looking at 25+% mortality using this larger mesh, and probably at least 50% on 3 year olds. No wonder I couldn't catch anything this last weekend. This is cr@p - fish commission is getting and earful from me tonight, and all you should chime in also - this is a huge step backward and is guaranteed to result in an early closure for us, when they finally figured out that the stinkin commercials killed so many native fish that our measly hooking mortality of 2-3% will be too much for the remaining "endangered" wild fish.

I've got this great Idea, lets get back to fishing reports and quit with the guns, hooks, namecalling and bullshiat going around. Anybody else want to turn the computer off when that's all that's on the top five post..............
Anyhoo, I have a trip planned this weekend but would be willing to push it back a week if things are not looking up real soon down on the Big C. I will most likely only have one chance to go and do not want to waste it, not that any trip is a true waste. Any other reports from the mother river? huh? Anybody else planning a trip this weekend?

NEN

With you there, NEN, although I might still be tempted to flame a gillnetter I've planned on trying the big C again on Sunday, 0 dark 30 when the tide turns at Cathlamet, but it will depend a bit upon the results of the Fish Commish meeting mid-week - if they turn the damn gillnetters loose again it probably won't be worth it - that and I'm a bit concerned about what all the rain will do to the color - already not good and with the Cow on the way out will probably get worse. Gads, I may have to go back to blackmouth

Hey Spawnout! Let's go to Drano! It'd probably be as productive as mid-channel, clay banks or perhaps even the L. Col. R.

Thanx for the reports,
I will probably wait a week or two before going down. At least this will give me time to tie up gear work on my boats and tie some flies for trout.
Ramprat

Drano with 421 fish over the dam sounds pretty thin D - would have to be thousands up there before I think it would be worth it. Not that it's ever really worth fishing that cracker show except for the entertainment value

That will likely be about one more week...

I've got a couple questions and a gripe.

I'm not much of a salmon angler and no little about fishing the Columbia. I've heard that springer movement is temperature correlated. Have any of you who are fishing taken the river temperature? If so, what is it? Next, does anyone know what the temperature threshold is that stimulates the springers to migrate in good numbers? Since steelhead rivers have closed left and right, I might as well learn a new game.

Second, I don't usually complain that much about commercial fishing, but I heard they are fishing Mon., Wed., and Fri., instead of three consecutive days. This is a pattern that almost guarantees lousy or mediocre recreational fishing. Commercial net fishing on Puget Sound used to be clustered in the early part of the week, beginning Sunday night, allowing a build up of fish that improved weekend sport fishing. Is there a rationale for this spread? The regional fish manager made it sound like it wasn't his doing. Will sport fishing be productive before the non-treaty commercials achieve their quota?

Guess that was more than a couple questions.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Salmo g, the Columbia, at the mouth of the Wind river has been 39 at day lite, then warming upto 42 during the day, the closer we get to 50 the better they will move.

I decided to wait awhile based on many factors, including the last gill net opener was scheduled to be the last of the season, they are currently at 3700 of 19000 quota, so I have heard, the last fishery (wed.-Thur.) netted 11 fish, 10 were unclipped, for a particular boat. Can you say slow.
The water temp at Cathlamet was 44 degrees on Thursday.

NEN

According to thursdays Oregonion They are at 5000.The mortality rate was I believe 1 salmon.The funny thing was the mortality rate for steelhead was way higher I cant remember the #.I think I'll check on that but it seemed pretty strange the difference in mortality between salmon and steelhead.

'TANGLE NET' FISHERS GET MORE TIME ON WATER

By Barry Espenson

Columbia River non-Indian commercial fishers find out today (March 22)
whether they will be able to continue an experimental "selective"
fishery that is netting them financial rewards while doing little
apparent damage to spring chinook salmon listed under the Endangered
Species Act.

Washington and Oregon fishery managers on Tuesday extended a tangle net
commercial salmon season on the Columbia mainstem below Bonneville
because the allowed impacts to wild listed fish runs have not been
reached.

An additional 48 hours of fishing was approved -- from 6 p.m. March 20
through 6 p.m. March 22. The Columbia River Compact was to meet this
afternoon to consider additional fishing time for the commercial fleet,
which is required for the first time to employ live capture "tangle
nets" and recovery boxes.

Between 70 and 100 commercial boats are participating during each of the
fishing periods in the new fishery that allows the live release of wild
fish or untargeted species, and the sale of marked hatchery "springers."

The fishery is potentially the first significant spring chinook outing
for the commercial fishers in recent years. Last year's spring chinook
return set a modern-day record (since 1938). But ESA impacts mounted
quickly without selective fishing gear. The commercial fishers netted
about 6,000 spring chinook. Little commercial fishing had been allowed
for spring chinook t since 1978 because populations overall had dwindled
-- to as few as 12,600 upriver fish as recently as 1995.

Improved freshwater outmigration and ocean conditions are credited for
the most part with the greatly improved runs of upriver spring chinook
-- 416,500 in 2001 in the Columbia River bound for hatcheries and
spawning grounds above Bonneville. The Willamette run totaled 80,400
last year.

The forecast this year is for 333,700 upriver (the second highest number
on record since 1938) and 73,800 Willamette spring chinook to return.
The vast majority are hatchery fish, of which roughly half are marked
with a fin clip.

A management agreement that allots tribal and non-Indian harvest
includes ESA impact limits designed protect listed species, including
upper Columbia and Snake River spring chinook and steelhead. The
National Marine Fisheries Service endorsed the agreement last year via a
biological opinion. Given this year's run size, non-Indian fishers can
harvest up to 2 percent of the upriver run. That is further split
with.68 percent going to commercial fishers and 1.02 percent going to
sport anglers. If the preseason run forecasts hold true, that .68
percent commercial impact would be reached after the harvest of 19,500
marked fish. The commercial fishers are also capped by a 9,700 fish
impact on the Willamette run.

Commercial fishers testifying Tuesday said they want the opportunity to
harvest their full allocation, stretched over a reasonable amount of
time so that strong markets will not become flooded and prices forced
down from the $5 per pound at the river the fish are now fetching.

Sport fishing interests have repeatedly stressed that they want the nets
off the river as soon as possible. They say commercial activity thwarts
full prosecution of a sport fishery that begins to build steam this
coming week -- spring break for Oregon's schools. Washington's spring
break is the following week.

An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife press release announcing this
week's commercial fishery extension highlighted the news that fishers
can reel in roughly $100 for each whole spring chinook.

Spring chinook, especially those caught early in the season, are valued
by consumers because of their high fat content, the ODFW said. The fish
caught are being processed and shipped fresh to Seattle, San Francisco
and other California cities.

As important is that the experimental fishery has been heralded by
participants, enforcement officers and fishery managers alike because of
the low mortality rate for wild fish and the excellent compliance with
regulations, the ODFW said.

The immediate mortality for unmarked spring chinook brought in with the
tangle nets is zero, according to reports from the fishers and 16 paid
monitors that rotate amongst the boats that have been involved in the
fishery.

Commercial fishers had through March 20, harvested 6,308 spring chinook
this year. In addition, an estimated 7,900 steelhead have been caught
and released through Monday, March 18. On board monitors have found no
immediate mortalities of unmarked chinook

The ODFW and WDFW staff reported Tuesday that through the first eight
12- to 24-hour fishing periods, 90 percent of the unmarked chinook were
released -- some after a stint in "a recovery box" -- in condition 1
(vigorous and not bleeding).

About 1.6 percent (74) of the steelhead caught died in the nets -- an
immediate mortality rate of 1.6 percent. Through those same eight
fishing periods, 86 percent of the steelhead handled during the
demonstration fishery have been released in condition 1. Steelhead,
designated as a sport fish, cannot be kept and sold by the commercial
fishers.

The allowed impact rates are 2 percent for listed wild steelhead and 6
percent of listed hatchery steelhead.

The commercial anglers on Tuesday said they hoped to avoid a time
crunch. Through the 24-hour fishing period that ended Monday evening it
was estimated they had netted roughly 20 percent of their impact limits
for both Willamette and upriver spring chinook.

"We must access the brief window of premium salmon prices right now,"
testified Brenda Wall of Astoria.

"We've jumped through every hoop" required in implementing the selective
fishery, Wall said. That change came at a cost -- for net and the
recovery boxes where lethargic fish can be revived in circulating waters
-- and other equipment, Wall and others testified.

Now the commercial fishers should be allowed to take their full
allotment, even if the seasons do stretch into April, said commercial
fisher Chris Heuker. He suggested staggered 24-four hour fishing
periods, one day off and one day on, through the coming week.

"Our zero mortality should be thought of here" as the Compact considers
future seasons, Heuker said. The process is much more painstaking, and
less efficient, than the traditional gill-net approach. He suggested
nighttime fishing on weekends for the commercial boats later in the
spring to avoid direct conflicts with sport fishers.

"The industry is really making a hard effort to make this work," said
Steve Fick of Salmon for All.

Sport fishing interests on Tuesday pushed two points in particular,
asking the Compact to proceed cautiously in setting new commercial
seasons below Bonneville Dam and to better monitor what impact the nets
are having on steelhead.

Frank Urabeck of the Northwest Marine Trade Association said that the
"encounter rate" for steelhead is much higher than preseason
expectations. He said the research and monitoring plan now in place --
and funded by more than $600,000 from the Northwest Power Planning
Council fish and wildlife program-- does not adequately attempt to gauge
the short-term and long-term mortality of steelhead caught in the nets
and released. The Bonneville Power Administration funds the Council
program.

"We need to get as much data as we can and evaluate what's being done to
steelhead," said Terry Turner of Trout Unlimited.

Liz Hamilton of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association said
that an underestimation of the steelhead mortality could ultimately
shoot fishers past the impact limit and "jeopardize a multimillion
dollar sport fishery."

Likewise, she said, updated run forecasts are needed to assure that the
nets aren't taking a bigger bite out of the overall chinook run than
originally projected. The commercial season had started with a
relatively low catch rate. That could mean the run is not as large as
projected, she said.

The ODFW's Compact representative, Guy Norman, said that the "proceed
with caution" advice is wise. But both WDFW and ODFW staff said that it
would be difficult to update the spring chinook run forecast until more
of the fish had reached Bonneville Dam, where they can be counted
compared with counts to the same date from previous years. Staff expects
the numbers of inbound spring chinook to swell in the coming days,
meaning catches should accelerate too.

That was in evidence with catch totals reported for 24-hour fishing
periods on March 17-18 (1,501 spring chinook) and March 19-20 (1,443
spring chinook). The commercial boats had caught only 747 keepers
combined during the first four fishing periods, which began Feb. 25.
Catch totals have slowly grown with time, while the average weight has
declined from 18.8 pounds per fish Feb. 25 to 15.8 pounds during the
most recent fishery. Both are signs that more of the fish are turning
into the river.

The shrinking average weight of the fish probably means that more
4-year-old spring chinook -- expected to be the most numerous age class
in the run by far -- are arriving. Older, bigger fish normally arrive
earlier, the ODFW's Kevleen Melcher said.

The sport fishers alternately urged the Compact to cut off the
commercial fishing after today (March 22), or at least by April 1.
Hamilton asked that the commercial netting be ended after today so that
a hoped for surge in family fishing ventures can better be accommodated
during spring break.

Urabeck said that active commercial fisheries curb both sport anglers'
desire to fish and the fishes' desire to lunge at anglers' bait.

"The nets themselves have a factor that makes the fish go off the bite,"
Urabeck said. Sport fishers have also complained in the past of the
bites nets take out of the salmon run, bites that can only be refilled
by pulling the nets and letting the run flow through.

"We are adamantly opposed to any commercial fishery after April 1,"
Urabeck said. The exception, he said, would be a "mop up" fishery in May
after sport anglers had had several weeks of unshared time on the water.

"We need to have uninterrupted time for anglers to fish," Turner said.
"When the nets are in, we don't go" because of gear conflicts.

Several of the commercial fishers testified that there is no evidence,
scientific or otherwise, to the theory that the salmonids are less
likely to bite because of the nets' presence in the water. Hamilton said
after the meeting that the perception alone keeps anglers from trying
their luck on the water.