Oregon $10m Fund to Reimburse Guides for River Closures

Are human started and fueled fires really "wildfires"...?

Beyond CARES, aren't there various forms of bankruptcy that cover this for businesses? I know bankruptcy sounds bad but it is an accounting tool to help and protect businesses in hard times.

Maybe like crop insurance there could be a "drought" insurance for guides. Farmers deal with fluctuating yields it seems like fluctuating fish runs are similar to me. When conditions are poor guides "harvest" a lot less.
 
longputt said:
Are human started and fueled fires really "wildfires"...?

Beyond CARES, aren't there various forms of bankruptcy that cover this for businesses? I know bankruptcy sounds bad but it is an accounting tool to help and protect businesses in hard times.

Maybe like crop insurance there could be a "drought" insurance for guides. Farmers deal with fluctuating yields it seems like fluctuating fish runs are similar to me. When conditions are poor guides "harvest" a lot less.
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I'm going to start the process of insuring fishing seasons in the northwest. You have to come before me to plead your case. Obviously bobber dragging costs more and your social media presence will be subject to me and Ryan Hung vetting it against possible liabilities. Then there's the questionnaires. Lots of data collected. Payouts? Well we shall see. Did you fill out form xj-460? No? I'm afraid your account is in default. Collections? Probably.

Am I cut out for this work? I mean I was a successful litigator in the famous Cowlitz Clipper case. Now before you all jump to conclusions with your hate mind you that even Swanny has the right to the best legal defence. I would have kept him out of that orange jumpsuit too if he didn't go and commit long running disability fraud as well. You can lead a clipper to salvation but you can't beat the crook out of him even if you use a crook to beat him with. Danny Stondahl? Oh yeah, one of my clients as well. I've gotten him Canadian citizenship and successfully sued on his behalf when certain roughneck Canadians were using him as a hockey puck outside a fishing town bar. I defend the indefensible defenceless. And now I'll likely litigate on behalf of guides who had a forecast, a trend, a long standing decline, and warning but still refused to read the writing on the blue creek outhouse wall. It's what we do here at Chromers and Associates. Enron's lawyers got nothing on us. We defend bigger douchebags for pennies on the dollar. We're the best of the worst and so are our clients we call family.
 
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I agree with the general tenor of comments above. I’ve hired guides several times, and will likely again in unfamiliar waters, but I’ve always felt that it’s a tentative business and if you choose it, you’d better have a “Plan B”. This is a tough time no doubt, and the long term outlook isn’t promising. But I’m not in favor of a bailout.
 
As long as we keep bailing out banks for making risky loans, and subsidize oil companies that are making record profits, it's all good.
Gotta keep the pigs at the trough fed...
 
We have known for decades that salmon and steelhead runs were failing. Anyone who got into guiding in the last 30 years made a very predictable mistake.. get real jobs like the rest of us. Or buy bass boats and start guiding the Columbia for those. Just like the logging industry you have to adapt to survive.
 
Rob Allen said:
We have known for decades that salmon and steelhead runs were failing. Anyone who got into guiding in the last 30 years made a very predictable mistake.. get real jobs like the rest of us. Or buy bass boats and start guiding the Columbia for those. Just like the logging industry you have to adapt to survive.
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I was just about to post that there are far more species of fish than just steelhead and salmon to potentially guide for...adapt or die.
 
Rob Allen said:
We have known for decades that salmon and steelhead runs were failing. Anyone who got into guiding in the last 30 years made a very predictable mistake.. get real jobs like the rest of us. Or buy bass boats and start guiding the Columbia for those. Just like the logging industry you have to adapt to survive.
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It sure felt like steelheading ended overnight.
 
longputt said:
It sure felt like steelheading ended overnight.
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Well, that's how I felt back in about 1995ish. When the summer fishery on the Washougal went away because of how they planted the fish. In addition to that access to all the good water was taken away by new landowners who didn't understand the heritage involved in their riverside property.
 
Mossback said:
As long as we keep bailing out banks for making risky loans, and subsidize oil companies that are making record profits, it's all good.
Gotta keep the pigs at the trough fed...
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For the record if I have to bail someone out I'd much rather it be a small business or a guide doing his thing than a board of already wealthy suits.
 
longputt said:
It sure felt like steelheading ended overnight.
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Eh, this was a slow burn. Felt like it was chipping away little by little every year, with a shifting baseline. Then we had that freak 2009 run that gave everyone hope and reignited the flame... Then dwindled again. Now summer runs aren't much of a fishery anymore, and winters are on the brink
 
longputt said:
This is true, there are carp, SMB, LMB, SRC, tuna and chum fly fishing guides today.
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not to mention tropical trips set up through fly shops up here. Still plenty of opportunity for those guides willing to think outside the box.
 
Evan B said:
Eh, this was a slow burn. Felt like it was chipping away little by little every year, with a shifting baseline. Then we had that freak 2009 run that gave everyone hope and reignited the flame... Then dwindled again. Now summer runs aren't much of a fishery anymore, and winters are on the brink
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You guys had summer runs!?

I agree. I've always been chained to winter chrome as the thing. However truth be told a vastly prefer fishing summer fish. I knew something was up when that activity almost certainly meant a trip East. Which at the time was a treat and respite from my usual rainy fare. However it felt like that was on the ropes as well and it was only a matter of time.

I think it's a very human condition to not respond to slowish changes. Even something as obvious as steelheading's obvious decline. It's still marketed as if it's great. It's still talked about as if it's even viable. It's a past time not a pastime anymore.
 
Dustin Chromers said:
You guys had summer runs!?

I agree. I've always been chained to winter chrome as the thing. However truth be told a vastly prefer fishing summer fish. I knew something was up when that activity almost certainly meant a trip East. Which at the time was a treat and respite from my usual rainy fare. However it felt like that was on the ropes as well and it was only a matter of time.

I think it's a very human condition to not respond to slowish changes. Even something as obvious as steelheading's obvious decline. It's still marketed as if it's great. It's still talked about as if it's even viable. It's a past time not a pastime anymore.
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Agreed. It's no longer part of what drives me anymore unfortunately. I make a trip to Tillamook, and a trip to the Sandy (which is a few mins from me) about once a year for winter runs, and that's it. My fishing efforts and thoughts now lie elsewhere.
 
Dustin Chromers said:
It's still marketed as if it's great. It's still talked about as if it's even viable. It's a past time not a pastime anymore.
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this. not to mention that it's also still marketed as if it's some sort of badge of honor to be a steelheader (always has been whether true or not).
 
I got out of steelhead fishing in 2013. Still love the fish, but not the fishing so much.
With very limited options you could go to Forks and deal with the crowds or go fish a beach and see nobody. Pretty easy decision.
SF
 
Last summer ODFW closed the N. Umpqua and tribs to fishing, low, warm water.
OK I'll go along with that.
This spring I got a notice from ODFW that there will no longer be summer steelhead planted in the N. Umpqua.
Non planted in 2021 because of the fire damage to the Rock Ck hatchery.
OK I'm fine with that also.
I just want to be able to fly fish for the trout in the river and some of the tribs.
I promise to release them all as gentle as possible.
Thank you very much.
 
dirty dog said:
Last summer ODFW closed the N. Umpqua and tribs to fishing, low, warm water.
OK I'll go along with that.
This spring I got a notice from ODFW that there will no longer be summer steelhead planted in the N. Umpqua.
Non planted in 2021 because of the fire damage to the Rock Ck hatchery.
OK I'm fine with that also.
I just want to be able to fly fish for the trout in the river and some of the tribs.
I promise to release them all as gentle as possible.
Thank you very much.
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The North Umpqua is now going to be permanently without hatchery fish.
 
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