POLL: Will the Columbia River Close?

[SKP]

The powers that be will meet today to decide whether or not to close or restrict fishing on the Columbia River. What do you think will be the outcome of the meeting?

SKP

[wannacatchem]

I picked no closure as I'm a glass half full kind of guy. Or just naive

[dogfishboy]

Ditto, WC! Keep hope alive!

[husker]

being that the last total count is around 1550...which is less then 1/2% of the total 250,000 fish expected i bet they want every fish possible to cross the dam.....ie total closure or if u go by the unoffical new numbers of 150,000 they are at 1%....thats just the truth ladies and gentlemen....the fish will probably come in force around the 25th....question is how much force

[goinfishin]

As the people meeting/voting today are not inclined as much as us ifishers are, they do not see the water temp/water level/sea lions as being the reason the fish haven't been coming in abundance as in the past, I see a 4 day a week closure with maybe tues, thurs and sat being open. Even though it has picked up as of late, the last three days, I too see the glass half full but as the numbers are low and we have people in suits and ties making the decisions I really don't see the river staying open completely! Just my opinion, I could be wrong........ but I doubt it!

[Abalone]

I asked the Washington Game guys at Bonni yesterday and they said that the closer (which is certain to happen) would be I-5 and above.........

OBTW.... I nailed one 13# springer. First for the year..

[SKP]

I forgot to mention the ODFW fish checker at Chinook Landing yesterday said she heard the talk in the office was a closure above I-5 with reductions below I-5.

By the way, she had checked 4 fish for 7 boats when we left at noon or so yesterday. Also, she had talked to her collegue that had checked something like 170 fish for 77 boats at Bonny on Sunday. That's over 2 fish a boat.

[Bill Monroe]

I picked no closure as I'm a glass half full kind of guy. Or just naive

Wanna buy a bridge, sight unseen, that used to be in Manhattan and is now in my garage?

I don't see how they can leave any of it open.

[24 on/ 48 off]

I'm with Bill on this one. Total closure until such time (hopefully) that the counts skyrocket. Then they may reconsider.

I just can't imagine them keeping it open.

--spud--

[AnyFishAnyTime]

I hate to be negative on this because I want the river to stay open but I don’t see how they can do it. They can’t take the chance that the fish run is just late. Also if the fishermen are taking that many fish at Bonneville then they are having a major impact on the run. 170 fish is more fish than went over the dam in four of the last seven days. At this point they must do everything thing that they can do to preserve the run which means closure of the entire river. We can only hope that the run really takes off and they reopen the river.

[Pete]

The problem as I see it is that the yard stick for measuring the return (the fish count at Bonneville) is broken, due to impediments in the fish ladder. However, without a good measure of run size, the fishery managers must err on the side of caution. What if the low numbers over Bonneville are not because of intruders in the fish ladder? Their conservative option is to close the river and hope for a strong surge of fish that would allow a re-openner.

[SKP]

Read the Columbia River Closure

It's closing guys. Hit the Willy.

SKP