Help understanding regs

Clean Willy

Clean Willy

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I'm looking at a river in Washington and the Special Rules regs cover many sections from the mouth up to a falls, but nothing past the falls? Above the falls is not in a State or National Park. The area I am looking at is in a National Forest but the NF website says to check WDFW. Do I fall back on General Rules? Unless I'm missing it they don't seem to cover seasons.
 
As we all know, PNW rivers below barriers to fish passage typically have special rules because of ESA listed sea-run fish. Above the barrier, that won't be an issue for most rivers, so may not require any special rules.

In my understanding, if a river is listed in special rules and sections of it are closed, they will be specifically listed as closed. Anything not listed as closed is open. Anything open but with no special rules would fall under statewide general rules.

That said, there have been times in the past when WDFW has flipped between "open unless listed closed" to "closed unless listed open" and back again.
 
Assuming that you are asking about a Puget Sound/Coastal river, it seems to me that the two most relevant sections of the regs in this situation are:

If a freshwater area is not listed in Special Rules, follow the Statewide Freshwater Rules.
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and
Areas listed within the Puget Sound and Coastal Rivers Special Rules, show all game fish and salmon fishing opportunities for the specific area listed.
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The "specific area" of the river you are asking about is not listed in the special rules. Therefore, it falls under statewide rules.
 
Stonedfish said:
When in doubt, you can call the WDFW regional office and ask for clarification.
SF
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Even better, email the regional office who will forward the question to the appropriate officer....and print out their response. I've always received timely responses to my questions.

Enforcement folks don't always share the same opinion regarding regulatory interpretation and a printed email provides an extremely strong affirmative defense should you be cited.
 
Most are aware of My Main Amendment. Once My Main Amendment is forced into laws then it''ll just be that any rule you don't agree with you don't have to obey!!!!! Currently working up the ranks into LAW.
 
Also if you haven't check out the WDFW fishing regs app, it lets you click on the water body you're interested in and see all the currently relevant rules from there, and you can put it into "pamphlet mode" to look at general rules throughout the year. Given how often the thing downloads new data I'd guess its usually pretty up to date.

Now if only we could combine the washington fish regs app and the oregon fishing license app . . . .
 
Heard back from the regional office via email. The water I'm interested in is open and they directed me to the section of the regs and the app. Both are just so unclear, stating the regs for 'from X river to the falls and all tributaries'. If it's the same regs above the falls, why not just say 'above the X river'? Or like another river I looked at, 'from bridge at river mile 1 upstream'?

Anyway, those 8 inchers above the falls better watch out today!
 
Clean Willy said:
Heard back from the regional office via email. The water I'm interested in is open and they directed me to the section of the regs and the app. Both are just so unclear, stating the regs for 'from X river to the falls and all tributaries'. If it's the same regs above the falls, why not just say 'above the X river'? Or like another river I looked at, 'from bridge at river mile 1 upstream'?

Anyway, those 8 inchers above the falls better watch out today!
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Your experience illustrates why I've got a fair collection of WDFW emails!
 
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