Permanent April closure on the OP to protect...

[brownheron]

...Chinook?

WTF?

WDFW 23-24 Regs Would Close Hoh, Quillayute In April -

Buried deep in the minutiae of the pending 2023-24 Washington fishing regs are rule changes that Forks-area steelheaders and salmon anglers may want to make their thoughts known about in the coming two weeks.

nwsportsmanmag.com

WDFW Will 'Reconsider' April Hoh, Quillayute Steelhead Closures -

WDFW's use of the North of Falcon salmon-season-setting process to quietly and permanently close a pair of Forks-area wild steelhead systems to fishing in April is generating a lot of pushback as public comment on the matter wraps up later today.

nwsportsmanmag.com

Not sure if WDFW are idiots or liars or both. My layman's take:

Quilleute:
1) Spring chinook in the Quill system are a man-made hatchery run with some cross-over with native summer-chinook (in the summer).
2) There are not even many of the ^^ hatchery chinook in the system in April and they only eat bait.
3) Steelhead regs were already selective gear so bycatch is minimal and they are released
4) THE TRIBES WILL STILL BE NETTING CHINOOK IN APRIL, not to mention the steelhead bycatch associated with that netting

Hoh:
1) There aren't any spring chinook in the Hoh and the summer-chinook come later
2) Same as 3) above

Someone please tell me I'm not crazy and there is actually a very sound conservation logic to what happened in the article above as it feels like a pile of shite to me.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

...Chinook?

WTF?

WDFW 23-24 Regs Would Close Hoh, Quillayute In April -

Buried deep in the minutiae of the pending 2023-24 Washington fishing regs are rule changes that Forks-area steelheaders and salmon anglers may want to make their thoughts known about in the coming two weeks.

nwsportsmanmag.com

WDFW Will 'Reconsider' April Hoh, Quillayute Steelhead Closures -

WDFW's use of the North of Falcon salmon-season-setting process to quietly and permanently close a pair of Forks-area wild steelhead systems to fishing in April is generating a lot of pushback as public comment on the matter wraps up later today.

nwsportsmanmag.com

Not sure if WDFW are idiots or liars or both. My layman's take:

Quilleute:
1) Spring chinook in the Quill system are a man-made hatchery run with some cross-over with native summer-chinook (in the summer).
2) There are not even many of the ^^ hatchery chinook in the system in April and they only eat bait.
3) Steelhead regs were already selective gear so bycatch is minimal and they are released
4) THE TRIBES WILL STILL BE NETTING CHINOOK IN APRIL, not to mention the steelhead bycatch associated with that netting

Hoh:
1) There aren't any spring chinook in the Hoh and the summer-chinook come later
2) Same as 3) above

Someone please tell me I'm not crazy and there is actually a very sound conservation logic to what happened in the article above as it feels like a pile of shite to me.

The WDFW knows what they are doing. We shouldn't question them. They are following the science.

 

[Shad]

Saw another thread on this elsewhere. My take is that "conservation" is code for "avoiding litigation" here, as it so often is....

 

[Smalma]

Those of us interested in fishing for game fish in our anadromous rivers need to recognize that more and more of key decisions regarding those opportunities are being made in the NOF (North of Falcon) process with little or no input from that user group.

It is well pass time that WDFW makes it a priority to involve that user group in the NOF. As mentioned in an earlier thread that could start with this year's renewal of WDFW Commission's policy C-3508 (2019-2023North of Falcon) in clarify the value of those game fish seasons and those fisheries be fully considered in how salmon impacts are shared. Additionally the various WDFW advisory groups should expanded to include representatives of the game fish community and to notify those game fish advisory groups; for example the ad hoc Coastal steelhead advisories be notified prior to final decisions are made. The agency needs to insure that affected anglers are at least notified and hopefully involved in the decision making process that may affect those fisheries.

In a related issue can anyone tell me the spawn timing of the wild winter steelhead of coast? My sense is that fishing in April is fishing on top of the peak spawning.

Curt

 

[brownheron]

In a related issue can anyone tell me the spawn timing of the wild winter steelhead of coast? My sense is that fishing in April is fishing on top of the peak spawning.

Curt

Hi Curt. I hope someone with a data-backed perspective weighs in but from the layman 'guy with a house on the river' view, it feels a little later that that but it's very spread out on the Quill tribs. I start seeing redds very early and have seen/caught hen kelts and milt dropping bucks in early January far upstream. I see the most redd density when floating in May while fishing for springers. FWIW, there were two brand new big redds in my back yard last weekend that were not the little lamprey redds we see in late spring.

Granted, the above view is purely anecdotal andit could be because I haven't been floating the river in April the last couple years and the density may have been even greater then, or related to my particular location, etc.

 

[Shad]

Hi Curt. I hope someone with a data-backed perspective weighs in but from the layman 'guy with a house on the river' view, it feels a little later that that but it's very spread out on the Quill tribs. I start seeing redds very early and have seen/caught hen kelts and milt dropping bucks in early January far upstream. I see the most redd density when floating in May while fishing for springers. FWIW, there were two brand new big redds in my back yard last weekend that were not the little lamprey redds we see in late spring.

Granted, the above view is purely anecdotal andit could be because I haven't been floating the river in April the last couple years and the density may have been even greater then, or related to my particular location, etc.

I have much less direct experience than @Thomas Mitchell , but I have a well-imprinted, glorious memory of a fresh, unspawned steelhead hen that came out from behind a boulder 2 feet from the boat and HAMMERED a blue fox spinner during a mid-May guided Springer float on the Sol Duc hatchery drift about 10 years ago. What a bite! I've also caught fresh winter runs (as well as some mean kelts) in early May on the Queets in the past....

Overall, I would say that whether it's the peak or not, a bunch of spawning is definitely happening on the OP in April. Given that, I'm not entirely opposed to the proposal, but I question the wisdom of opening a Springer bait fishery in May as long as we're closed in April, because there are plenty of winter steelhead (the same fish we're trying to protect in April), if mostly kelts, feeding aggressively in May. Those fish are potential repeat spawners, which it seems particularly shameful to lose to gillnets and incidental encounters....

 

[brownheron]

Shad, what you are describing is a steelhead closure to protect steelhead. This ^^^ is a described as a steelhead closure to protect chinook.

The fact that there is a salmon net fishery for chinook as well as a tribal (kill) sport fishery for steelhead, both in April, make any closures non-sensical from a conservation standpoint. IMO

 

[Divad]

So my take, rec fisherman need a say at the table (NoF). I sort of was aware but reading your statement Curt helps give me hope it’s coming soon. Then again that could be unicorn talk.

Until then it’s flaming bags of sh*t they welcome to there door. That’s literal I think, though you never know.