Green River to close Early

[Fast- eddy]

Seasons keep getting shorter and shorter..........

WDFW FISHING RULE CHANGE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov

January 13, 2010

Green River to close to fishing

Action: Close the lower portion of the Green (Duwamish) River in King County to all fishing beginning Jan. 16 and the upper portion of the river beginning Feb. 1.

Species affected: All game fish species.

Location and effective closure dates:

The lower Green River from the 1st Ave. South Bridge in Seattle upstream to the South 277th Bridge in Auburn will be closed from Jan. 16, 2010, through June 4, 2010.

The upper Green River from the 277th Bridge in Auburn upstream to the Tacoma Headworks Dam will be closed from Feb. 1, 2010, through June 4, 2010.

Reason for action: To reduce incidental mortality of wild steelhead. The 2009-2010 forecast of wild steelhead returning to the Green River is only 458 fish, well below the spawning goal of 2,000 steelhead. This action will reduce the incidental hooking mortalities of wild steelhead.

Information contacts: Steve Foley, District 12 fish biologist, (425) 775-1311; Annette Hoffmann, Region 4 Fish Program manager, (425) 775-1311.

[Finfollower]

To reduce incidental mortality of wild steelhead? Anything else in the water would be steelhead safe though right?

Don't want to start a thread bash here, but this frosts my cake, and I'm not even a person who fishes there. The return as predicted is very low. If that's the case shut the river down for everything for a year and quit doing surprise closures. This is like being given a price for a bill, and then getting the "Oh we also have to charge you for..."

Give me the total price and quit bleeding me.

[Bunker]

This is BS! The amount of early unclipped fish this year exceeds the amount I've seen in the last couple of years by far. I really don't think these people know what the hell their talking about. And I doubt that they spend as much time on this particular river as I do. I think the hatchery run is exceptional this year and the native run seems to be up to par to me so far. I would really like to know how they collect their Intel.

I think their totally off on this one.

Bunker

[Streamer]

I like this but also don't like it at the same time.

Part of me is upset because of the reduced opportunities to fish the Green this winter... but the other half of me is glad to see this go into effect.

Most hatchery fish that are deemed edible will be long gone by February 1 and it will be mostly a native only show by then. This year's forecast run size is also much lower than usual... and for once our state is taking some preventative measure to reduce any additional mortality(s) before the issue is too much of a problem rather later when it becomes too late.

My hat is off for the state on this one. Good decision.

[Streamer]

Reverting back to the typical June 1 opener instead of the 4th would be much better though! Thoughts of summer bananas dancing in my head has been keeping my sanity at par through the winter so far.

[Barbless]

There goes the one month I actually want to be on that river.  I wonder if the nets are removed?

[Bunker]

I like this but also don't like it at the same time.

Part of me is upset because of the reduced opportunities to fish the Green this winter... but the other half of me is glad to see this go into effect.

Most hatchery fish that are deemed edible will be long gone by February 1 and it will be mostly a native only show by then. This year's forecast run size is also much lower than usual... and for once our state is taking some preventative measure to reduce any additional mortality(s) before the issue is too much of a problem rather later when it becomes too late.

My hat is off for the state on this one. Good decision.

I have yet to see a dfw forecast that comes anywhere close to the actual numbers. ( I think they just pull a number out of their butt!)

I do agree that if the run is really that small then shut it down. But I have my doubts. Just kinda pissed I have to add another month to my off fishin time. First they took march away from me! Now they are taking Feb. away too.  
Hopefully the water drops so I can get at least one more slaying trip in!

[Grizz]

Can't say I'm in total disagreement on this but I'm with you Fin. If the goal is to increase wild fish escapement then why not just shut down the river for the entire year? Predictions were low anyway. Pure speculation on my part, but perhaps that has to do with perceived loss of license revenue if they were to announce a closure at the beginning of the season.

Does anyone know how WDFW comes up with such an absolute number like 458 for wild steelhead escapement? Are they counting redds?

I've fished the Green a handful of times when I lived up that way but I'm unfamiliar with some of the dynamics. What is the tribal net schedule look like on the Green? Are they still being allowed to net after the closure?

[Driftfishnw]

I have an idea. How about they stop planting the river with winter brats, and stop ALL netting by Dec 1st every year.

 

[Sturzman]

Can't say I'm in total disagreement on this but I'm with you Fin. If the goal is to increase wild fish escapement then why not just shut down the river for the entire year? Predictions were low anyway. Pure speculation on my part, but perhaps that has to do with perceived loss of license revenue if they were to announce a closure at the beginning of the season.

Does anyone know how WDFW comes up with such an absolute number like 458 for wild steelhead escapement? Are they counting redds?

I've fished the Green a handful of times when I lived up that way but I'm unfamiliar with some of the dynamics. What is the tribal net schedule look like on the Green? Are they still being allowed to net after the closure?

They're not counting redds for this year's return and I doubt they're using creel survey's to determine this as they're incredibly unreliable. More likely this is a forecast made using spawner surveys from the contributing brood years and expected ocean condition modeling. I'm unfamiliar with practices in this basin, but there may be some juvenile outmigration sampling going on as well.

[Bunker]

I have an idea. How about they stop planting the river with winter brats, and stop ALL netting by Dec 1st every year.
 

      Bad Idea!            Good Idea!

[Barbless]

I have an idea. How about they stop planting the river with winter brats, and stop ALL netting by Dec 1st every year.

 

Well half of this plan seems to be in line with what they have been doing for quite sometime... they picked the wrong part of your plan 

This was the first place I ever caught a steelhead, pretty sad what is has become. 

[longfin]

I wonder what these boys would have to say about this?

[dardevle]

I think we are going to see more and more of this.  With hatchery programs failing on all of the Puget Sound streams(Closures because of hatchery returns on the Nooksack, Cascade, NF Stilly, Carbon last year, to name a few);  the only reason for someone to be fishing on these streams is for a few wild fish.  With all of these rivers failing to meet escapement for wild fish, logic would say they need to be shut down.  Let's face it, the hatchery programs and opportunity for harvest was 99% of the reason they let us fish until Feb. 28.  Without these programs, it is probably game over.

[dardevle]

In the picture I wonder who the loser was that got only 2 fish!