The rivers are taking it in the shorts right now. We are breaking records for the amount of rain we have got in March. Most of the O.P. rivers are showing good returns of wild fish. If you could hit the river levels right you could have a pretty fishy day. There is usually a fine line between a blown out river and a killer day. One of the best days we had was as the river was dropping right after it had blown out.
Looking ahead we have 5 hr river schools, 4 hr lakes classes, and casting classes. For guided summer trips we are booking puget sound sea run cutts on local rivers in mid august - late sept and Methow trout from mid july - early September. We will fish summer steelhead on the puget sound rivers, Kalama, and Cowlitz. I was talking to a lady that works for the Park Service that does a fish survey. One of the questions they ask my clients is "do you prefer to catch and release wild steelhead or keep them". After my clients answer catch and release I ask, "does anybody say they want to keep them?". I was shocked when she said that it's about 50/50 for C&R vs. catch and kill. As we are loading up the boat and putting gear away, sure enough she ask the question and they answer "catch and kill".
I'm sorry we just don't get enough wild steelhead on any of our Washington rivers for a Kill fishery even on the Sol Duc. We do have some rivers and fisheries for wild salmon at times that can handle a kill fishery but NOT Wild steelhead. We just don't have enough fish, and the fish we do have should be released to sustain our future runs.
Tight lines and please be nice to our wild fish,
Mike D
You know what the sad thing is? When the last wild steelhead is caught in Washington, the catch and kill guys will stand around dumbfounded as to what happened to the fish. They'll point the finger at natives, they'll point the finger at C&R fisherman and conservation groups for having the fisheries closed...they'll point the finger at everything and everyone except themselves. Almost every guide on the Sol Duc is killing wild fish on a daily basis for their clients...it's a joke and it will be an inevitable but sad day when the whole thing goes straight down the tubes.
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