The Outdoor Line Forum

The garage is smelling fishy from all the tore up gear and my freezer is 1/2 full of coho fillets but action was slow for me on Saturday. Sunday... the coho seemed to be back in full force! Last Wednesday was even worse with a sad 0 for 3! I don't know if the slow fishing was from the gill netting Nelly spoke of, (BTW... it was nice to meet ya' the other day Nelly and Duane!) or just a different push of fish. Well for whatever reason, it was hot on Sunday at Shipwreck! I also did well the previous Sunday with a nice 14# buck. All our fish are cought on Ace Hi's and Hootchies. The Coho killers tend to bring on the shakers, so I have not used one of my favorite go-to's. The derby was a blast and it's always neat to see so many awesome boats and so many great people with so many beautiful salmon! Life is good in the NW! G

Great to meet you too Mr. G!
Glad you're putting the wood to 'em!
I do stand by my statement about the gillnetters. It's a joke to have a commercial opener right in front of the biggest salmon derby on the west coast...

Nelly -
I understand your "gillnet rant" however it might carry more weight if it were based on fact. While I have not taken the time to look at the tribal fishery but for the non-treaty fishery the following link will provide some insight.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/commercial/salmon/

Look at notice #7 and #8. Clearly the only non-treaty fishery before the derby was that 2 boat purse seine (not gill net) fishery in 8A north of Mulkiteo.

I'm not here to defend either the non-treaty fishery or the tribal fishery but if we collectively are going to influence things in the future we have to start on some solid footing based on the best information rather knee jerk angler rumors - just my 2 cents.

Curt

There was a couple of them working the area around the oil docks on the Friday before the derby also.

I agree... we definitely don't want to start rumors or spread false info but I did hear about some gillnetting going on around the oil docks as well.

Smalma wrote:Nelly -
I understand your "gillnet rant" however it might carry more weight if it were based on fact. While I have not taken the time to look at the tribal fishery .... if we collectively are going to influence things in the future we have to start on some solid footing based on the best information rather knee jerk angler rumors - just my 2 cents.
Curt

No conjecture or rumors on my end.
While I was out on Friday I saw gillnetting at the Shipwreck with my own two eyes.

Also I talked to a very reputable friend fishing out of Seattle that saw gillnets north and south of Meadow Point.

Those are the facts.

Nelly -
I'm not doubting you or others were seeing gill netters in MA 9 or at the Shipwreck in 8-2 but I do think it is important whether they were tribal or non-treaty.

While it may not make much difference on the impacts on the recreational fishery it does matter about what might be done about it and how we may want to craft potential arguements for the recreational fishery. While I'm still checking from what I can find out those boats were most likely tribal fishers.

Allocation between non-treaty commercial and recreational fishersis a much different discussion than treaty/non-treaty allocations. Many folk's comments and discussion seem to focus on the non-treaty commercial/recreational allocation issue which does not seem to be the issue here.

Given the current standing of treaty fishing how would you argue that the recreational fishers should have full access to those fish and the tribes should not fish them if it is part of their UA?

Curt

Smalma wrote:Nelly -
Given the current standing of treaty fishing how would you argue that the recreational fishers should have full access to those fish and the tribes should not fish them if it is part of their UA?
Curt

I'm not suggesting that the tribes should not fish them as the shores of Puget Sound are certainly part of the tribal Usual and Accustomed fisheries.

Also, I'm not making the distinction between non-tribal & tribal netting.

My position is simply that gillnetting the day before the largest salmon derby in Western Washington is foolish and diminishes a significant public opportunity on a public resource.

All I'm asking is that on this one weekend, a gillnet opening be delayed from a Friday to a Sunday afternoon.

This is a topic I intend to persue vigorously in the media, in the political realm and in the North of Falcon Process next spring.

The same netting at the shipwreck occurred the day before and the day of the Edmond's derby as well.

Still a great prospect for coho!
Unbelievable!
Heading toward mid-October and fishing is still solid!|
I went out on a boat demo today, just playin' around and we hooked four!