That's gonna leave a mark!.... WDFW announces Lake closures

[spokey9]

And you wonder why no one likes the WDFW. At this point I think they just flip a coin to figure out what to do about a problem. Its stupid stuff like this that I don't understand. Stuff like closing lakes for no reason or killing off entire, sustainable fisheries to put in trout that die off within the end of the season. Don't even get me started on the WDFW regarding hunting. Sorry for the rant, but I personally know more than a few people that have had enough. In my opinion, we need actual hunters and fishermen running the WDFW, not greedy politicians. Am I way off on this?

For as long as I can remember, i'v heard anglers talking about the dept needing to take a stand and get the sport fishers a fair deal. This is the first step to that goal. Unfortunately there's bound to be a lot of blowback and lost opportunities for a season or two. If the 2 of the treaty tribes had been actually willing to negotiate instead of dictate terms we'd probly have a short salmon season and wouldn't lose these lake fisheries. I primarily fish salmon & steelhead, but do a lot of perch fishing in lake Washington and these closures sting quite a bit. With that said, I actually feel like the dept is doing this the right way and I support their efforts even with my favorite fisheries closed. I'll find other places to fish and continue to acknowledge the way our new director has stuck his neck on the block to get all of us a fair deal.

[cjrodarme]

I guess my problem is they are wasting money on solutions that dont work. For example, some lakes near Okanogan and Grant counties are killed off to put trout in. These are sustainable warmwater fisheries, but the WDFW clears them out to put in trout, but by the next year, these warmwater fish are back in the lakes through the creeks. These are lakes are abundant with good bass and panfish, but they still are cleared. Theres more than enough trout lakes. I just feel like something needs to change. And like I had said before, the hunting side of the WDFW is so much worse than the fishing on not dealing with problems. I feel like us sportsmen are getting a raw deal from the government, and we need change

[BARCHASER10]

Overall, at least for salmon/steelhead, I think the WDFW is doing the best they can considering their powerful enemies like the Tribes and the Wild Fish Conservancy. Take the WFC for example, they have lots of $ and lots of lawyers. Take a look at the link and look around their website. They are the enemy of sports fishing as we know it. They'd like to get us off the rivers and the salt. I've heard that the WFC gets its money from the Seattle high tech bunch who sees hatcheries as a conservation/environmental green issue. They talk about fly fishing trips to Patagonia and all sorts of places only the rich can pay for. The Tribes are also very powerful. They have money and they always play the noble red man card and the average person seems to eat that up.

You may not like the WDFW but they are the only ones who are anywhere near our side. Its like anything else in the USofA, powerful special interest groups with lots of $ usually win. Its always about the money.

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[cjrodarme]

Hey, as long as the WDFW is fighting for our rights as fishermen I'm all for it. I just hope their decision benefits fishermen, and not the politics of the matter. I have a little bit biased view on the WDFW from hunting, but I support their efforts to help us fishermen

[kodacachers]

I agree that WDFW is doing the best they can for salmon/steelhead. I admit I only half-followed the North of Falcon process, but I did try and keep up on updates from WDFW, CCA, PSA, OutdoorLine, and others. Perhaps I just didn't understand the implications that were clearly there, but I never heard once that failure to agree with the tribes put freshwater non-salmonoid fisheries in peril. I suppose if I did understand I'd still be supportive of no deal, but this closure of warmwater fisheries is a tough pill to swallow.

If they didn't do it this year, I hope next year WDFW has a backup plan, such as trying to get a permit lined up.

[BARCHASER10]

Tell you my little NOF story. I went to an NOF meeting about 8-9 years ago. It was at a motor inn in Lynnwood that had a conference center. I was dumb, I didn't know the deal. There were these signs in front of 2 or 3 conference rooms, I didnt really read the signs. Suddenly, all these guys walked into one of the conf rooms, so I just tagged along. There was a long table with prob 15-20 guys sitting around it. About half the table was government guys WDFW and other govt types like NOAA, or something. The other half was tribal. It was clearly adversarial. The WDFW guys made a presentation and the tribal bunch just muttered to each other with their arms folded in front of them. Little communication that I saw. After about 15 minutes one of the tribal types spotted me sitting against the wall and asked who I was. I basically said I was nobody and then two uniformed state cops moved in front of me. They didn't say anything but I got the message and quickly headed for the door. My impression, the WDFW guys don't have an easy job.

I've been to several NOF related meetings where WDFW meets with sports fishers but not any meetings like the one at Lynnwood.

[Ian Horning]

Am I the only one deeply bothered about the rivers potentially being closed for opening day and beyond? Lakes are one thing, but the rivers that they closed are my life blood. No summer steel or even stream trout (besides little 8 inch natives above barriers) would be a puncture to my heart.

[spokey9]

I agree about the lake kill offs, but I would assume that happens because of demands for trout fisheries. I prefer to catch panfish to trout but I would say I'm in the vast minority of anglers I meet on the water. Don't know enough about the hunting side of things as I've never paid much attention. Truth is I usually don't have any faith in government, and knew year in & year out Phil Anderson would screw sportsman out seasons or implement small bag limits. I never thought I'd support the wdfw in anything they do, but the new director has given me a glimmer of hope. I know how much losing a favorite fishery hurts, my favorite growing up was catching rockfish off the slag pile in Tacoma I might live long enough to be able to do that again. I just hope more sportsmen will give the benefit of the doubt to our dept this year and that they won't let us down again.

[FishingFool]

So.... are the lakes still closed or we good now?

[JoshH]

So.... are the lakes still closed or we good now?

Its only the 5 lakes they named before, so not sure what you mean?

[Larry3215]

Yeah, the lakes they closed are staying closed until further notice.

Could be a few weeks but more likely a few months at a minimum and quite possibly until after next years negotiations with the tribes in the spring - and who knows what will happen next year.....

[FishingFool]

Unbelievable such large bodies closed bc of 1 species. Instead yo would think they'll be able to leave it open with gear restrictions since theres so many other game fish available. Looks like no reason for me to renewal my yearly Natural Investment pass.

[jonb]

Unbelievable such large bodies closed bc of 1 species. Instead yo would think they'll be able to leave it open with gear restrictions since theres so many other game fish available. Looks like no reason for me to renewal my yearly Natural Investment pass.

In the long run its the best thing the wdfw could ever do. Its in everyones benefit to close ps salmon habitat down and not just for the coho. Steelhead are in peril, snohomish chum are nearly non existant and now the one stronghold we had left in puget sound took a serious beating. Take a deep breath, step back and look around at the neglected and tatered fishery that is puget sound salmon. Is it really that shocking that its closed down? Long overdue and thank god it happened. I praise the wdfw for finally stepping up and making the tough, unpopular decisions. In the long run EVERYONE will benefit from this hiatus.

[rmrauscher]

Anybody who didnt see this coming, especially after last years water conditions,wasnt watching. I can understand why the WDFW had to do what they did. You can blame the Indians or whoever you want but the bottom line is there are no fish. Negotiations seem to be based on forecast returns. Well the forecast were 80% off last year so if they are 80% off again this year, that pretty much equals zero. Anybody who thinks this is a one year problem is sadly mistaken. Even if the negotiations are resolved and permits are issued, there isnt much to catch at least in the saltwater. But the good news is those Lake Washington cutties will be much bigger if and when we get to fish.

[kodacachers]

Well apparently the WDFW didn't see it coming or they would have a plan to manage non-salmon fishing in waters where salmon may swim to. The sport fishermen are still supportive, but I think we deserve some statement of a plan to reopen these fisheries. Only thing I've seen is that WDFW plans to ask NOAA to allow selective salmon catch. I'm fine with that plan even if we don't end up with a season, but I don't want to see fully sustainable fisheries get caught up in this mess. Right now we can't even target pike minnow in the lake.

[BARCHASER10]

The Snoho Chums were taken out by the tribes. In 2004-5, the Snoho had a Chum run of over 300,000 vs about 30,000 now. Chum roe became very valuable because the Sushi crowd loved the stuff. So the tribes netted the hell out of that run. I don't disagree with you completely, but if you look deeply enough there will often be an indian net there somewhere. The tribes are working pretty hard on doing the same thing to Chum runs in Hood Canal rivers. I used to love fishing for those guys on the Sky but I never kept a single one. It isn't always habitat.

[jonb]

I think the cause is nearly irrelevant at this point, we cant prevent what already happened. At this point i think its time to look forward and work on solving our problems. with the shape of ps salmon fisheries the way they are, i hate the use of gillnets, commercial and tribal. I also hate the recreational misconduct i see on all the local rivers... 50%+ dont know or abide by the law 25% are unethical. The rest are people like you and me. We are outnumbered here. Its time to shut down, even if it takes 5 or more years. Its time to put the salmon first, and during that long break maybe the wdfw can make better more sustainable deals with the tribes, maybe we on the recreational side could ad bait bans and single barbless mandatory for everybody of water that contains anadromous salmonids. Reduced bag limits etc. Its totally doable, in 10 years we could possibly have truely sustainable salmon fisheries, shut em down and legislate for sustainability. Reopen when the fishery recovers and only at that time.

[Larry3215]

PSA Protest Rally!

Just got this from the PSA guys....

We need you to support our RALLY FOR FISHERIES EQUALITY this Thursday, May 5, in Lacey starting at 11:30AM! We will be meeting at NOAA's office, located at 510 Desmond Drive SE in Lacey.
Rally for Fisheries Equity and Fairness
This year's salmon season setting process fell apart when WDFW and the Puget Sound treaty tribes failed to reach agreement. As a result, we were told that neither group would be allowed to fish until either an agreement was in place or a federal permit was issued by NOAA. To date, neither of those have happened and yet the treaty tribes are commencing commercial gillnet fisheries that impact endangered salmon populations.

At the same time, all Puget Sound recreational salmon fisheries - including fisheries in Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish - are shut down with no sign that federal officials plan to take action. This is a slap in the face to the nearly quarter million recreational anglers who make Puget Sound sport fisheries a $100+ million industry!It is uncertain if NOAA will allow any non-tribal fisheries this year. We need you to help us put pressure on NOAA to approve non-tribal fisheries and restore balance to Puget Sound salmon management.

This is your chance to show up and let our federal fisheries managers know how you feel. We need your help to:
Restore fairness and equality in harvest sharing - consistent with the Boldt Decision;
Provide transparency to a broken co-management process;
Hold our federal government accountable for properly managing our fisheries;
Continue our role as leaders in common sense conservation of our marine resources.

Please show up and let your voice be heard! Make sure any signs or statements are positive and respectful - key messages include fairness, transparency, and cooperation - hallmarks of the rule of law and co-management.

What: RALLY FOR FISHERIES EQUALITY
When: Thursday, May 5, at 11:30 AM
Where: NOAA's Lacey office (510 Desmond Dr SE)

PSA, CCA, Fish NW, NMTA, Everett Salmon Steelhead, Snohomish Sportsman Club, Outdoor Line a coalition of recreational anglers sent a joint letter to Governor Inslee and our Congressional delegation urging them to engage in the issue.
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[jd39]

Still no update in the emergency rule section that Lk WA or Lk Sammamish are closed, says refer to the packet which says they are open. I dont fish these lakes this time of year, if I did I would take a dated screen shot and go fishing. A release is not official to my knowledge, the emergency rule section is.
Maybe its on purpose, if the tribes are going to fish anyway maybe the wdfw is hoping sportfishers will too and drive the conflict into federal court. A federal judge's intervention could potentially change the ballgame but its a gamble if it'll be in our favor. Status quo with NOAA certaintly doesnt seem to be.
Probably wishful thinking on my part but I'm hoping Director Unsworth's WDFW is putting a bigger play into effect with this impass.
Will keep checking the emergency rules, find this all very strange.

[SammamishYak]

Clog the system. Keep fishing. I will continue to do so until I am cited. However, I doubt it will be enforced.

First person to be cited will be the first person I start the Gofundme campgain for.

#occupy_wawa