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Why not keep more hatchery fish?

4K views 19 replies 17 participants last post by  Yardsale 
#1 Ā·
At this point in the season, is there a reason why we should not be allowed to keep more clipped coho upriver? Still catching good numbers of bright silvers at the mouth of the klikatat. A lot of Fin clipped fish milling around there, we catch a mix of clip and non-clip. Are these fish going any further upriver? It just seems silly that once we get our 2 silvers, we cannot keep anymore, they're hatchery fish! designed to be caught and kept. Upriver guys, what do you think?
 
#3 Ā·
also with steelhead. i would never go and take like 10 fish a day but it would be nice to get 3 or 4 here and there. especially to make up for the days i get skunked. its around 130+ miles round trip to go winter steelhead fishin for me. and i fish a lot. i get skunked a bit also so it would be nice to get more than 2 here and there...never understood the limit when they want hatchery fish out of the river.
 
#6 Ā·
I'm not sure how long an emergency rule takes to approve factoring in WA, OR, and the treaty tribes. I'm guessing too long to be worth while. Someone in wdfw or maybe odfw would have to champion it too.

The best thing would be to work toward increasing sport limits when commercial mop ups begin. I've started contacting managers. I encourage you to do the same. I was blown off in an initial reply, but plan to keep bringing it up. I encourage anyone who would like a change to participate in the system.


Cindy Le Fleur said:
This would happen through our North of Falcon process ā€“ we will consider this in March and April 2015.

Thank you


Scent from phone via Tapatalk
 
#14 Ā·
Why stop at 6? I don't get some of these tributaries that swarm their system with hatchery fish yet they regulate deadlines and even small bag limits.

Damn near every river with Coho plants will have wasted a ton of taxpayers money with the 2014 fall run. Meaning there is so much excess waste of these fish it is sickening.

Why not let guys take as much as they can for meat and bait. After all not only are these anglers tax payers they are paying fee's for licenses.

Why not encourage volunteering time at hatcheries with fish and bait allotment for the people. Heck even river cleanup programs.

Sitting back on your hands and getting caught up with red tape is a waste of resources.

Gotta love politics.
 
#11 Ā·
with hatchery reform in place, the number of fish needed for eggs and milt are very small compared to the past. it certainly makes sense to open up the bag limits as the 'excess' fish are simply killed and recycled into the river systems. and yes, a few in good enough shape, are handed off to the various food banks.
 
#13 Ā·
If the states wanted me to keep more fish, I would be able to fish more than one rod per person and kill more than 2-3 per day.

As it sits on the Columbia river coho deal, netters get 80% of the quota.

Tells me all I need to know about how the states feel.
 
#15 Ā·
Coho productivity/survival exceeded all expectations coastwide. I know of placed where the catch of hatchery fish exceeded pre-season (NOF) expectations by 7-fold!

No one could have predicted the phenomenal numbers that swarmed their home rivers. So there's no way the seasons could have been designed from the outset to take full advantage of the bounty.

What does deserve ample discussion both HERE and with the DFW's is finding a better mechanism to be more surgical in our adaptability to efficiently and expeditiously harvest these abundant stocks IN-SEASON, esp when an unexpected windfall of fish magically materializes. The current process to get an emergency in-season liberalization of recreational time/area/bag is worthless. Almost always too little too late whenever the golden opportunity presents itself.

Funny how they seem to be much more responsive about using every means possible to maximize commercial opportunity.

That needs to change
 
#16 Ā·
#1 reason is that the Klickitat is set up for tribal fishermen...They stock huge numbers in the river just so the local tribal fishermen have a good place to fish. Not all of them are gill netters, so this gives them a good fishery...It is kind of a trade off for The Dalles Dam you could say....All you have to do is go up in the klickitat and you have a six fish limit....There is some excellent fishing even above the falls...Put a drift boat in and start throwing spinners....The fishery out in the Columbia is already abused a lot. If you spend much time out there you will see guys limit out and be back fishing in 2-3 hours again....Be happy with what you get...If it bothers you so much that you can't catch a bunch you don't need to be fishing....Maybe take up frisbee golf. It is less stressful....
 
#17 Ā·
You think? Have you ever tried to get that plastic disc into that chain basket on a $20 bet? You started out so well with a lucid and rational explanation (which I appreciated) and then spiraled into an odious discourse into why I should give up this fishing and even offered a suitable alternative (I appreciated that also, how thoughtful!)
 
#18 Ā·
I've seen temporary bag increases to 3 or 4 fish on other rivers in past years (both coho and steelhead in different cases), so I dunno why that couldn't have been enacted in this case.

But... in the larger context, I also wonder why they have any limits at all on certain invasive species (such as purple varnish clams, just to name one). The limit is a lot (72? not sure, never even tried to get that many anyway) but at that point why bother stopping?

I think it may have a little to do w/ psychology ~ humans are peculiar; somehow a 'no limit' mentality just brings out the worst in people. So, maybe it's a matter of simply trying to keep expectations lower so they're more manageable over the long haul. If they go w/ more liberal limits and that becomes the new norm, then it may be harder to rein them back in during lean years.
 
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