Coastal Steelhead Sport Fishing Closure on March 1

A limited entry "raffle" system sure seems like a slippery slope and IMO isn't a great look for anglers.

On one hand it seems most anglers agree that sport fishing has little to no impact on fish numbers, yet still when faced with closures some would be willing to pay extra for the "privilege" of fishing over these same fish that most agree we have no impact on in the first place? Doesn't make a lot of sense in my book.
 
Salmo, do those rivers have the same level of disbursed private land ownership that we have here? I could see that working for the Hoh but on the other end it'd be hard to implement on a river like the Sol Duc without generating a lot of property rights lawsuits. I will admit a strong NIMBY feeling.
 
Thomas Mitchell said:
Salmo, do those rivers have the same level of disbursed private land ownership that we have here? I could see that working for the Hoh but on the other end it'd be hard to implement on a river like the Sol Duc without generating a lot of property rights lawsuits. I will admit a strong NIMBY feeling.
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There is mixed ownership, but I have no idea how it compares to WA. One big difference is that land ownership on rivers gives the owner riparian rights to the river. It doesn't here, although a few landowners think and act like it does. I don't know how it would generate property rights lawsuits since land ownership doesn't include any private fishing right. A landowner can restrict access over his land, but that's about it. If someone buys a beat that runs through private land they would just have to float down the river to it if they couldn't negotiate a deal with the landowner.
 
cruik said:
I think including gas, gear, and lodging on a yearly basis, licensing probably amounts to under 2% of my fishing expenditures.
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In regards to Steelhead fishing, there was a time when that was probably the case for me. In fact the percentage may have been even lower. Lately, and this is partially due to Covid restrictions, that is not the case. For licensing as a whole, it may still be true because I now buy two or three out of state licenses and to use those licenses takes a days travel one way at a minimum.

Turning my gaze this year to other parts of our state and other fisheries.
 
I've been fishing the OP rivers for steelhead since 2011 using both gear and fly and primarily DIY from the bank.
This February I've been out there 3x.
My 1st trip Feb 1-3 I hooked 5 steelhead and landed 3...all on gear. The Sol Duc was running 18.5 when I fished it, a level that has fished well for me over the years. The other rivers were lower than I like to fish and I didn't fish them much. That was my best early season trip over 11 years and gave me optimism for the rest of the season.
My 2nd trip Feb 15-17 the rivers were all running at near record low levels. I briefly hooked 1 steelhead. I was all over the area exploring and looking for water to fish. I was checked 3x by WDFW fish checkers that trip...reporting zero fish landed. I have only been checked 1x by fish checkers in the previous 11 years. All the checkers I met this year appeared to be non-anglers and were at common access points. Most of the access points to where I usually have fishing success will never have fish checkers at them... My fishing success results reported to the checkers this year were part of the data that the WDFW used to make the determination to close the season March 1st. I question the validity of using WFDW fish checker counts to determine how the run is. IMO, the WDFW could do some sort of daily/weekly electronic survey of the Forks Guides Association members to get better data on the impact of the recreational fishery on the run. That would be a more useful set of data than the WDFW fish checker data and along with the tribal net fishery data give good real time information on the run.
My 3rd trip Feb 26-28 I only had the afternoon of the 26th to fish in reasonable although extremely low river conditions. The atmospheric river arrived that afternoon. On the morning of Feb 27 the Bogacheil and the Hoh blew out and the Sol Duc was blown by the afternoon. I returned home early.

We have had a cold winter with a severe drought from mid January to late February. My unofficial marker of the beginning of the end of winter is when my daffodils start to bloom. This year my daffodils started blooming 2 weeks later than normal. In my experience, rains bring the steelhead in. Also, in colder years I have seen steelhead returning later in the season. With the severe drought this year we had no rain to bring in the early part of the steelhead run. Thus, fewer steelhead reported caught by the recreational and net fishery. IMO, there will be a large component of this year's steelhead run pushing in on these blown out rivers over the next week. However, there will be no recreational catch & release fishermen to try and meet a few of them before they go on upstream to spawn. With the recreational fishery now closed will the tribal netting also close on the Quiluete and the Hoh?

The upper watersheds of the OP rivers are mostly in National Park or Forest Service land and in fairly good shape. The genetics of the OP steelhead are world class. Climate and ocean conditions are what they are. The only variable that we the people have some control over is how many of those spawning fish are waylaid by netting and incidental mortality of catch and release fishing. In my 11 years of fishing for steelhead on the OP I have seen regulations on the recreational steelhead fishery eliminate the kill one/year policy, eliminate bait fishing, and greatly restrict fishing from a boat...all regulations that have reduced our recreational impact on the spawning fish. From what I have unofficially heard the annual tribal catch and kill fishery removes 1/4 - 1/3 of the spawning steelhead. Is that sustainable? Does one keep on killing the goose that lays the golden egg?

Also, my preference is to not have a steelhead fishing experience like the European Atlantic salmon experience...where money buys a "beat" and access to a run on a river.
 
Grandpa Jim said:
My fishing success results reported to the checkers this year were part of the data that the WDFW used to make the determination to close the season March 1st.
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Are you sure about that? In WDFW's broadcast email I noticed that they did not say how they determined the runs were lower than forecasted. There is no in-season runsize update model. The most telling indication that I recall reading is that WDFW consulted with coastal tribes who stated that the runs were lower than they expected, also without describing how they came to that conclusion. I'm not saying anyone is wrong, but no evidence has been presented that would lead one to believe that science informed this decision, and WDFW's behavior has been typical of their compliance with the wishes, if not directives, of treaty tribes. And no, this does not mean that the tribes will not net. They may, or they may not; that is up to them. Over the years so far, the tribal steelhead exploitation rate hasn't proven to be unsustainable, so they have that bit of evidence going for them. Then again, the recreational harvest and or incidental mortality hasn't shown itself to be unsustainable either.
 
Salmo -

WDFW updsated their blog today with more info on their data source. They also note that the tribal fisheries 'targetting steelhead' will stop today. What they don't note is the nets go back in April for springers so any steelhead in the lower Quill will be at risk as bycatch.

You're still right there is no concrete statement about the in-season models. I'd be interested in how their models normalize for low water. Use of creeling data is silly without a baseline given rules changes every year.

wdfw.medium.com

Frequently Asked Questions: March 2022 Coastal Steelhead Closure

In early February, state fishery managers began reviewing preliminary data that suggested the coastal steelhead run size could be coming…
wdfw.medium.com wdfw.medium.com

Can you speak more to what is included in your preliminary data that was used as the basis for closing?​

Based on historic return timing, most hatchery steelhead runs have ended and the wild steelhead returns are more than one-third of the way complete. At this point in the season, preliminary data reflects information from reviewing tribal co-managers’ catch, monitoring anglers catch, and examining trap counts, depending on the river.
 
Salmo,

I chatted up the fish checkers when they interviewed me and got the impression and assumed that the creel data was a big part of the decision process. Was checked 3x in 2 days on the Hoh. That seemed pretty unusual...I felt like they were stalking me in 4x4's on gravel bars. After the 3rd interview the thought came to me that maybe I should have said I have not caught a steelhead in 20 minutes of fishing rather than 6 hours.

I don't have a warm fuzzy about the data and how they arrive at a closure decision during late winter, low water years such as this.

It would be nice if they would hold off on the springer netting until May to lay off the steelhead. I think that this year may have a greater % of steelhead returning in April than in year's past. I know that the tribes can do whatever they want but it would sure be nice if they followed suit with the recreational closure through April.
 
I think a limited-entry system is never going to happen, but I don't think it's as hard to visualize as one might think. Throw out the Atlantic Salmon way of doing things and rely on traditional floats as "beats." For bank angling, you could have a beat being a whole river or section. If the goal is to limit impacts, then limiting boats feels like the best and easiest way to do it. Again, not saying I'm in favor of it, but I'd like to think it would be considered before we fish our last March.

I'm concerned based upon the above link that folks might start lying about their catch if they think that low reports will force closures.
 
If they have a limited entry system, the guides and businesses will get first crack at the fish because that is the American way.
 
I fished a bunch of days in February, and some days in January, mostly when there was water, and it was pretty good, I landed fish every day I angled, and some days multiples (best day was 5 hooked I think), and most of those days were solo gig's. I was checked a few times by the DFW lady. I didn't fish the low water later in the month. I would imagine a huge wad of fish is coming on this high water. Sad that I won't be there. Really sad. I guess I'll start saltwater fishing earlier than usual this year. Maybe there will be a silver lining,
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fishbadger said:
I fished a bunch of days in February, and some days in January, mostly when there was water, and it was pretty good, I landed fish every day I angled, and some days multiples (best day was 5 hooked I think), and most of those days were solo gig's. I was checked a few times by the DFW lady. I didn't fish the low water later in the month. I would imagine a huge wad of fish is coming on this high water. Sad that I won't be there. Really sad. I guess I'll start saltwater fishing earlier than usual this year. Maybe there will be a silver lining,
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Yes the open “secret” is that this was the best winter for steelhead fishing in at least 4 years for many streams in WA. Probably one of the better seasons in the last decade. This is why anglers are wondering why WDFW shut it down when there were clearly better numbers than many recent years it was left open. Fishing was slow during some periods because it was low and clear and fish had been caught many times but stale rivers go from stale to hot in a couple of days with rain.
 
Heard a big bang outside over the normal murmur of the Sol Duc, sounding exaclty like an aluminum drift boat hitting a rock and...

...of course a couple guys float by in an aluminum drift boat. Maybe they are just floating down for the scenery. Hope so anyway.
 
I sure hope that no one is surprised. Sadly, lack of transparency and meaningful discussion is becoming a larger part of life in general
 
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