Published September 2013, THE REEL NEWS
Columbia River Region Column
Vindictive or Just Silly?
-Plus-
Buoy 10 Kings Close
Early, Chinook Run Moves Upriver,
Ocean Action Running Strong, Too Many Sturgeon
Caught, Which Steelhead Rivers Will Go Wild or Hatchery
and…..
By Terry W. Sheely
Astoria Port Dumps Buoy 10 Sports Whack:
I’ll say this about lower big C gillnetters—they know how to lose ugly. Smarting over historically rare salmon-management defeats in the Oregon governor’s office, Oregon legislature and Oregon fish and wildlife commission, lower Big C Gillnetters and sympathizers took a vindictive strike at the wallets of Buoy 10 sport fishermen.
And then, under fire from sports fishermen, Astoria businesses and the Oregon State Marine Board, the port backed off when protests and the threat of economic boycotts pushed the right buttons in Astoria. But it was close. The Port denied to the end that the proposed four-fold increase in parking fees at city boat ramps at the height of the mega-popular Buoy 10 fishery targeted sports anglers as punishment for gillnetter setbacks.
After a withering storm of protests, the Port Commissioners scrapped the $20 proposed fee and continued the $5 costs—for this year at least. Denial or not the entire hullaballoo smacked of commercial vindictiveness. Egged on by Fishhawk Fisheries owner Steve Fick the commercial leaning members of the Astoria Port Commission originally increased the long-standing $5 parking fee to a whopping $20 in the east and west mooring basin just in time to nail sport fishermen launching into the super popular Buoy 10 salmon fishery.
Fick has been a front-line opponent of new Columbia River salmon management policies requiring gillnetters to phase off
the main stem river, and selectively target hatchery salmon in enhanced gillnet areas. The new salmon policy, pushed by Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber will phase gillnets off the river in the next few years, replace the non-selective high mortality gillnets with selective seines and fish traps that have high release survival rates for non-targeted, wild and ESA listed salmon and steelhead.
Fick was one of two gillnet supporters who filed a lawsuit in vain to stop the selective salmon policy from going into effect. Now apparently fighting sports on a new front, Fick encouraged the sympathetic port commissioners to jack the parking fee up to one of the highest in both states, pointed out that revenues might hit $80K a year, and—oh yeah—mentioned that he would be willing to run the parking program for a third of the profits. There really wouldn’t be a need for a bid, in that case.
The Port said you bet, but noted that it wasn’t being vindictive for the gillnet setbacks, just needed the money. Hmmm. The unintended consequences of the proposed $20 hit to the sportfishing pocketbook smacked the sport-fishing community and a bunch of Astorians a bit sideway.
The Oregon State Marine Board was quick to remind the Port that they have an agreement with the state to hold the fee at $5 and warned that the proposed quadruple bump could jeopardize the port’s state funding. And that was just the clincher. “This smells of ‘good ol’ boy-ism,’ charged Lori Durheim, a boat owner at the West End Mooring Basin, adding that it appeared Fick was trying to grab a port parking contract without bid competition.
Skip Hauke, the director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, told the commission the $20 fee would set back the area's tourism industry a decade, hurting lodging,restaurants and other businesses. "You've got to find a way to implement it properly, and we hope it's not with another outrageous fee," said guide Kevin Newell adding, "We really don't want to see the sport-fishing community hammered overnight in the height of this Buoy 10 season."
Another local, Brad Smithart, owner of the Astoria Riverwalk Inn complained that the price hike was decided by the port commission before the issue was opened for public comments. “Is this how you’re doing it (now)?” he asked, pointing out that his hotel needs 108 parking spots.
“OUTRAGEOUS!” is how Liz Hamilton of Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association (NSIA) described the fee in capital letters, pointing out that, “Astoria should be the Sportfishing capitol of the US right now, instead they've chosen to send a negative message to visitors.”
Ironically, Fick’s proposal flies in the face of one of his pet arguments. The industrialist frequently contends that stopping gillnets will take needed money from small river communities, but here he has a chance, with a reasonable $5 or $10 parking fee, to funnel more needed sport-fishing dollars into Astoria, but he blows it with a spiteful, vindictive $20 nick that is sure to chase away “river community” business.
One port administrator did throw a little cold water on Fick’s generous offer to manage parking money for the port, assuring that if the job is too big for port staff to handle the parking contract would be put up for bid.
And if you think the state and the locals who are involved in sport-fishing tourism, not gillnetting, are a little miffed now, we wonder what would have happened when those buckets of Buoy 10 sportfishing dollars shifted to Ilwaco, Chinook and more neighborly ramp towns. Seems to me that if Astoria doesn’t want sport-fishing money it would just be wrong to force it on them. I’m sure there are other ports that will appreciate the money.
Look for this brouhaha to be revisited down the road and if you want to throw your opinion into the hopper here’s Astoria Mayor Van Dusen’s email and phone: [email protected] ph. 503-325-5824.
Wonder where Mr. Fick’s angst will pop up next.
Fall King Rush Is On:
The red hot Buoy 10 chinook fishery flashed to an early stop in late August when anglers hit the allocation guideline of 20,000 kings. Chinook were originally pegged to be fair game at Buoy 10 until September 1, but the big return, hot action and heavy pressure forced the early closure the third week of the month. We’re still looking at one of the largest fall king runs in the past few decades.
Most of the kings will move upriver this month, lighting up anglers from the mouth of the Cowlitz, Lewis, Sandy, below Bonneville Dam, Klickitat to Ringold and gradually climbing north into the Okanogan. Look for boat crowds into mid-month at the mouth of the Wind, Klickitat, and Deschutes rivers and above Bonneville try to fish when the tribal nets aren’t strung and the wind isn’t howling. Toward the end of the month a super run of upriver brights will be surging into the Ringold/Vernita region north of Tri-Cities.
At last check, predictions from fish managers are still holding solid for a booming run of 678,600 adult kings and 433,600 coho to return to the Columbia-Snake rivers. If it develops as forecasted the king run will be 29 percent higher than last year’s return of 525,200 and 22 percent higher than the average return 557,600. The forecasted coho return is pretty ho-hum, but we can continue with the Buoy 10 coho fishery until there are no more coho and enjoy a two-silver daily limit.
Up-river from Woodland, chinook retention stays open through the run and that’s where angler focus will shift in September. Upriver Brights represent 82 percent of the monster run. That adds up to 434,600 URBS headed for Vernita/White Cliffs/Hanford Reach.
Included in the forecast is a “Snake River wild” forecast of 31,600 fish to the mouth of the Columbia, which would be 172 percent more than last year and the highest return on record since construction of four lower Snake River dams was completed in 1975.
URBs are bound for spawning areas, hatcheries and popular sport fisheries in the mid-Columbia’s Hanford Reach and the Snake River, as well as Columbia tributaries like the Klickitat, Deschutes in Oregon and Yakima rivers. Also headed up the Columbia this month are Bonneville pool hatchery “tule” fall chinook but the news is a bit grim for tules. The forecast is for only 36,300 adults, which is less than half of the 10-year average. The low count reflects reductions in production at the federal Spring Creek Hatchery.
Ocean Salmon Not Finished:
September, as long as the weather holds, could be memorable for ocean salmon fishing this year. Lots of kings in the water and the Astoria and Westport salmon seasons are open through September 30. A bonus; with so many kings pouring in WDFW has upped the daily limit at Westport to allow ocean anglers to bonk two kings a day.At Ilwaco the limit will stay at 2 salmon but only one can be a king and unclipped coho must still be released in both areas. We’re looking at a pretty lackluster silver season. But typically some of the largest kings of the year will be nailed during September in the Westport area, including those Johns River hogs that hang just outside the Bar for a few days before surging into Gray’s Harbor. On September 16 Grays Harbor, east of Buoy 13 at the bar, will open for chinook and coho and this can be a fun, shallow-water fishery for small boats.
And give tuna another thought. While the albacore catch in August was hit and miss, that usually indicates a good surge of tuna into September. Charter boats will be running from every Oregon-Washington coastal harbor town until the weather turns, which is often about the third week of the month.
Steelhead Meetings To Determine Wild vs Hatchery:
If you’re a dedicated steelheader you might want to set aside Sept. 13 and 20 to attend public meetings that will go a long way toward determining where and how you fish. WDFW and its 20-member steelhead management work group are getting serious about which Southwest rivers to stop stocking with hatchery steelhead and which will be allowed to go wild. The groups are holding joint public work/discussion sessions the 13th and 20th at the Region 5 office, 2108 Grand Blvd in Vancouver.
Public comments will be allowed at the end of the agency hash-out. The wild-v-hatchery designation is being required by the feds who want Washington’s 2008 Statewide Steelhead Management Plan fully implemented and are calling for designation of watersheds where wild steelhead populations are, in their words, “largely protected from the effects of hatchery programs.’’
The state and its hand-picked advisory group now have to suck it up and name one river as a wild steelhead sanctuary for another for summer-runs On the block are: North Fork Lewis, East Fork Lewis, Washougal, Cowlitz, Toutle, Coweeman, Kalama rivers plus Salmon Creek.
Odds are that the summer steelhead wild gene pool will come from the Washougal or Lewis rivers and the wild winter gene pool from the North Toutle-Green River. The Lewis River appears to be the top summer-system because the East Fork Lewis is already heavily vested with wild fish. According to WDFW, wild summer steelhead spawning in the East Fork Lewis is 630 exceeding the state’s goal of 500. The Washougal, on the other hand, has slightly fewer wild spawners than the state expects.
Right now it’s a guess where hatchery steelhead plants will end, but the Lewis system is holding an edge to become a gene bank for wild summer-fish and the Toutle watershed for winter-runs.
The unenviable members of the advisory committee are just that—advisors. WDFW will swing the final axe. The future of Southwest steelheading is being determined. Should be an interesting couple of meetings.
Steelhead Forecast Takes Slight Cut:
In mid-August the Big C Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) took a second look and now says there will be fewer A-run summer steelhead in the Columbia and Snake than originally predicted. Predictions are now for 212,000 steelies, a slight dump from the preseason forecast of 291,000 fish, but not enough of a bump to worry about. The steelhead outlook is still shiny. In July from Bonneville Dam downstream anglers nailed 9,926 steelhead, keeping 4,219 and releasing 5,707, according to WDFW’s Joe Hymer, Region 5.
Sports Exceeded Sturgeon Allocation:
We went over the top. Estuary catch-and-eat sturgeon anglers in the lower Big C exceeded the sport catch allocation by 12.8 percent this year, confirm the two states fish and wildlife agencies. Bonneville area fishermen came in just under the allocation which helped offset the lower-river overage but still we took 7 percent more sturgeon than the state allocated.
According to fish managers sport anglers downstream of the Wauna power lines fished 16,813 trips and kept 4,559 sturgeon. Their allocation was 4,042. Between Wauna and Bonneville Dam sturgeon diehards made 15,330 trips and kept 1,942 sturgeon which was just under the allocation of 2,021. Catch-and-eat allocations have been filled in the Bonneville and John Day pools, making The Dalles pool the only spot where sturgeon retention remains open but it’s expected to close soon.
Lake Wenatchee Quick and Closed:
It was quick but fun. WDFW closed the Lake Wenatchee sockeye fishery in mid-August, just a couple of weeks after the surprise opening. A surprisingly decent surge of sockeye prompted the unexpected opening but with a tight allocation the closure was just as quick.
Smallmouth Bustin’ September Frenzy:
If you’re not into salmon or steelhead, thank your lucky shad for a bass-bustin’ early September option. A gazillion silvery shad fry are working down the Big C this month and the out-migration will touch off a smallmouth feeding binge on little finger-size plastics, white or translucent.
From Bonneville Pool upriver expect the first two weeks of September to erupt with a hot feeding frenzy wherever there are rocks and smallies. Surface blow-ups are not uncommon (pack poppers) and whenever the current moves water you can expect the bite to explode. I’ve had some fantastic smallmouth action in The Dalles, John Day and Bonneville pools in September.
The smallies are eating shad by the mouthfuls, and still picking away at crayfish, eels, and leeches. Fish the rocks and fish hard when the current starts to roll. Current is key. Where there’s a flow there’s a bite. If you’ve never sampled the Big C’s world-class smallmouth action this would be the time to find out what the national bass world is buzzing about. Best from boats but if you haven’t got one don’t hesitate to walk the riprap along I-84 or Washington 4 and cast parallel to the shoreline with plastics, poppers, plugs and spinner baits.
Court Kills Gillnetter Suit:
Gillnetters lost another round in their court-room battles to kill the new and unprecedented Columbia River salmon policy that will protect wild and non-targeted salmon, steelhead and sturgeon from incidental gillnet bycatch mortality. A Thurston County Washington Superior Court Judge in late August dismissed a suit brought by industrial gillnet supporters against WDFW hoping to kill the so-called Kitzhaber salmon management plan in Washington. A similar suit was filed against ODFW to kill a companion plan in Oregon. That suit has not been determined. The judge ruled that the gillnetters erroneously filed suit against Washington's selective salmon management plan as a rule when in fact it is a policy that will determine a rule. Oregon, however, implemented the salmon plan as a rule and a similar suit is underway there.
The new bi-state policy when fully implemented will remove non-tribal non-selective gillnets from the mainstem of the lower Big C and restrict gillnets to off-channel areas where the non-selective nets will target artificially enhanced runs of hatchery salmon only, and kill fewer wild and endangered fish. Mainstem net fisheries will be limited to non-lethal seines. The policy also boosts the roll of sport fishing. Gillnetters are fighting the action on several levels but so far have been unable to stop the historic salmon reform.
Astoria Port Dumps Buoy 10 Sports Whack:
I’ll say this about lower big C gillnetters—they know how to lose ugly. Smarting over historically rare salmon-management defeats in the Oregon governor’s office, Oregon legislature and Oregon fish and wildlife commission, lower Big C Gillnetters and sympathizers took a vindictive strike at the wallets of Buoy 10 sport fishermen.
And then, under fire from sports fishermen, Astoria businesses and the Oregon State Marine Board, the port backed off when protests and the threat of economic boycotts pushed the right buttons in Astoria. But it was close. The Port denied to the end that the proposed four-fold increase in parking fees at city boat ramps at the height of the mega-popular Buoy 10 fishery targeted sports anglers as punishment for gillnetter setbacks.
After a withering storm of protests, the Port Commissioners scrapped the $20 proposed fee and continued the $5 costs—for this year at least. Denial or not the entire hullaballoo smacked of commercial vindictiveness. Egged on by Fishhawk Fisheries owner Steve Fick the commercial leaning members of the Astoria Port Commission originally increased the long-standing $5 parking fee to a whopping $20 in the east and west mooring basin just in time to nail sport fishermen launching into the super popular Buoy 10 salmon fishery.
Fick has been a front-line opponent of new Columbia River salmon management policies requiring gillnetters to phase off
the main stem river, and selectively target hatchery salmon in enhanced gillnet areas. The new salmon policy, pushed by Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber will phase gillnets off the river in the next few years, replace the non-selective high mortality gillnets with selective seines and fish traps that have high release survival rates for non-targeted, wild and ESA listed salmon and steelhead.
Fick was one of two gillnet supporters who filed a lawsuit in vain to stop the selective salmon policy from going into effect. Now apparently fighting sports on a new front, Fick encouraged the sympathetic port commissioners to jack the parking fee up to one of the highest in both states, pointed out that revenues might hit $80K a year, and—oh yeah—mentioned that he would be willing to run the parking program for a third of the profits. There really wouldn’t be a need for a bid, in that case.
The Port said you bet, but noted that it wasn’t being vindictive for the gillnet setbacks, just needed the money. Hmmm. The unintended consequences of the proposed $20 hit to the sportfishing pocketbook smacked the sport-fishing community and a bunch of Astorians a bit sideway.
The Oregon State Marine Board was quick to remind the Port that they have an agreement with the state to hold the fee at $5 and warned that the proposed quadruple bump could jeopardize the port’s state funding. And that was just the clincher. “This smells of ‘good ol’ boy-ism,’ charged Lori Durheim, a boat owner at the West End Mooring Basin, adding that it appeared Fick was trying to grab a port parking contract without bid competition.
Skip Hauke, the director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, told the commission the $20 fee would set back the area's tourism industry a decade, hurting lodging,restaurants and other businesses. "You've got to find a way to implement it properly, and we hope it's not with another outrageous fee," said guide Kevin Newell adding, "We really don't want to see the sport-fishing community hammered overnight in the height of this Buoy 10 season."
Another local, Brad Smithart, owner of the Astoria Riverwalk Inn complained that the price hike was decided by the port commission before the issue was opened for public comments. “Is this how you’re doing it (now)?” he asked, pointing out that his hotel needs 108 parking spots.
“OUTRAGEOUS!” is how Liz Hamilton of Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association (NSIA) described the fee in capital letters, pointing out that, “Astoria should be the Sportfishing capitol of the US right now, instead they've chosen to send a negative message to visitors.”
Ironically, Fick’s proposal flies in the face of one of his pet arguments. The industrialist frequently contends that stopping gillnets will take needed money from small river communities, but here he has a chance, with a reasonable $5 or $10 parking fee, to funnel more needed sport-fishing dollars into Astoria, but he blows it with a spiteful, vindictive $20 nick that is sure to chase away “river community” business.
One port administrator did throw a little cold water on Fick’s generous offer to manage parking money for the port, assuring that if the job is too big for port staff to handle the parking contract would be put up for bid.
And if you think the state and the locals who are involved in sport-fishing tourism, not gillnetting, are a little miffed now, we wonder what would have happened when those buckets of Buoy 10 sportfishing dollars shifted to Ilwaco, Chinook and more neighborly ramp towns. Seems to me that if Astoria doesn’t want sport-fishing money it would just be wrong to force it on them. I’m sure there are other ports that will appreciate the money.
Look for this brouhaha to be revisited down the road and if you want to throw your opinion into the hopper here’s Astoria Mayor Van Dusen’s email and phone: [email protected] ph. 503-325-5824.
Wonder where Mr. Fick’s angst will pop up next.
Fall King Rush Is On:
The red hot Buoy 10 chinook fishery flashed to an early stop in late August when anglers hit the allocation guideline of 20,000 kings. Chinook were originally pegged to be fair game at Buoy 10 until September 1, but the big return, hot action and heavy pressure forced the early closure the third week of the month. We’re still looking at one of the largest fall king runs in the past few decades.
Most of the kings will move upriver this month, lighting up anglers from the mouth of the Cowlitz, Lewis, Sandy, below Bonneville Dam, Klickitat to Ringold and gradually climbing north into the Okanogan. Look for boat crowds into mid-month at the mouth of the Wind, Klickitat, and Deschutes rivers and above Bonneville try to fish when the tribal nets aren’t strung and the wind isn’t howling. Toward the end of the month a super run of upriver brights will be surging into the Ringold/Vernita region north of Tri-Cities.
At last check, predictions from fish managers are still holding solid for a booming run of 678,600 adult kings and 433,600 coho to return to the Columbia-Snake rivers. If it develops as forecasted the king run will be 29 percent higher than last year’s return of 525,200 and 22 percent higher than the average return 557,600. The forecasted coho return is pretty ho-hum, but we can continue with the Buoy 10 coho fishery until there are no more coho and enjoy a two-silver daily limit.
Up-river from Woodland, chinook retention stays open through the run and that’s where angler focus will shift in September. Upriver Brights represent 82 percent of the monster run. That adds up to 434,600 URBS headed for Vernita/White Cliffs/Hanford Reach.
Included in the forecast is a “Snake River wild” forecast of 31,600 fish to the mouth of the Columbia, which would be 172 percent more than last year and the highest return on record since construction of four lower Snake River dams was completed in 1975.
URBs are bound for spawning areas, hatcheries and popular sport fisheries in the mid-Columbia’s Hanford Reach and the Snake River, as well as Columbia tributaries like the Klickitat, Deschutes in Oregon and Yakima rivers. Also headed up the Columbia this month are Bonneville pool hatchery “tule” fall chinook but the news is a bit grim for tules. The forecast is for only 36,300 adults, which is less than half of the 10-year average. The low count reflects reductions in production at the federal Spring Creek Hatchery.
Ocean Salmon Not Finished:
September, as long as the weather holds, could be memorable for ocean salmon fishing this year. Lots of kings in the water and the Astoria and Westport salmon seasons are open through September 30. A bonus; with so many kings pouring in WDFW has upped the daily limit at Westport to allow ocean anglers to bonk two kings a day.At Ilwaco the limit will stay at 2 salmon but only one can be a king and unclipped coho must still be released in both areas. We’re looking at a pretty lackluster silver season. But typically some of the largest kings of the year will be nailed during September in the Westport area, including those Johns River hogs that hang just outside the Bar for a few days before surging into Gray’s Harbor. On September 16 Grays Harbor, east of Buoy 13 at the bar, will open for chinook and coho and this can be a fun, shallow-water fishery for small boats.
And give tuna another thought. While the albacore catch in August was hit and miss, that usually indicates a good surge of tuna into September. Charter boats will be running from every Oregon-Washington coastal harbor town until the weather turns, which is often about the third week of the month.
Steelhead Meetings To Determine Wild vs Hatchery:
If you’re a dedicated steelheader you might want to set aside Sept. 13 and 20 to attend public meetings that will go a long way toward determining where and how you fish. WDFW and its 20-member steelhead management work group are getting serious about which Southwest rivers to stop stocking with hatchery steelhead and which will be allowed to go wild. The groups are holding joint public work/discussion sessions the 13th and 20th at the Region 5 office, 2108 Grand Blvd in Vancouver.
Public comments will be allowed at the end of the agency hash-out. The wild-v-hatchery designation is being required by the feds who want Washington’s 2008 Statewide Steelhead Management Plan fully implemented and are calling for designation of watersheds where wild steelhead populations are, in their words, “largely protected from the effects of hatchery programs.’’
The state and its hand-picked advisory group now have to suck it up and name one river as a wild steelhead sanctuary for another for summer-runs On the block are: North Fork Lewis, East Fork Lewis, Washougal, Cowlitz, Toutle, Coweeman, Kalama rivers plus Salmon Creek.
Odds are that the summer steelhead wild gene pool will come from the Washougal or Lewis rivers and the wild winter gene pool from the North Toutle-Green River. The Lewis River appears to be the top summer-system because the East Fork Lewis is already heavily vested with wild fish. According to WDFW, wild summer steelhead spawning in the East Fork Lewis is 630 exceeding the state’s goal of 500. The Washougal, on the other hand, has slightly fewer wild spawners than the state expects.
Right now it’s a guess where hatchery steelhead plants will end, but the Lewis system is holding an edge to become a gene bank for wild summer-fish and the Toutle watershed for winter-runs.
The unenviable members of the advisory committee are just that—advisors. WDFW will swing the final axe. The future of Southwest steelheading is being determined. Should be an interesting couple of meetings.
Steelhead Forecast Takes Slight Cut:
In mid-August the Big C Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) took a second look and now says there will be fewer A-run summer steelhead in the Columbia and Snake than originally predicted. Predictions are now for 212,000 steelies, a slight dump from the preseason forecast of 291,000 fish, but not enough of a bump to worry about. The steelhead outlook is still shiny. In July from Bonneville Dam downstream anglers nailed 9,926 steelhead, keeping 4,219 and releasing 5,707, according to WDFW’s Joe Hymer, Region 5.
Sports Exceeded Sturgeon Allocation:
We went over the top. Estuary catch-and-eat sturgeon anglers in the lower Big C exceeded the sport catch allocation by 12.8 percent this year, confirm the two states fish and wildlife agencies. Bonneville area fishermen came in just under the allocation which helped offset the lower-river overage but still we took 7 percent more sturgeon than the state allocated.
According to fish managers sport anglers downstream of the Wauna power lines fished 16,813 trips and kept 4,559 sturgeon. Their allocation was 4,042. Between Wauna and Bonneville Dam sturgeon diehards made 15,330 trips and kept 1,942 sturgeon which was just under the allocation of 2,021. Catch-and-eat allocations have been filled in the Bonneville and John Day pools, making The Dalles pool the only spot where sturgeon retention remains open but it’s expected to close soon.
Lake Wenatchee Quick and Closed:
It was quick but fun. WDFW closed the Lake Wenatchee sockeye fishery in mid-August, just a couple of weeks after the surprise opening. A surprisingly decent surge of sockeye prompted the unexpected opening but with a tight allocation the closure was just as quick.
Smallmouth Bustin’ September Frenzy:
If you’re not into salmon or steelhead, thank your lucky shad for a bass-bustin’ early September option. A gazillion silvery shad fry are working down the Big C this month and the out-migration will touch off a smallmouth feeding binge on little finger-size plastics, white or translucent.
From Bonneville Pool upriver expect the first two weeks of September to erupt with a hot feeding frenzy wherever there are rocks and smallies. Surface blow-ups are not uncommon (pack poppers) and whenever the current moves water you can expect the bite to explode. I’ve had some fantastic smallmouth action in The Dalles, John Day and Bonneville pools in September.
The smallies are eating shad by the mouthfuls, and still picking away at crayfish, eels, and leeches. Fish the rocks and fish hard when the current starts to roll. Current is key. Where there’s a flow there’s a bite. If you’ve never sampled the Big C’s world-class smallmouth action this would be the time to find out what the national bass world is buzzing about. Best from boats but if you haven’t got one don’t hesitate to walk the riprap along I-84 or Washington 4 and cast parallel to the shoreline with plastics, poppers, plugs and spinner baits.
Court Kills Gillnetter Suit:
Gillnetters lost another round in their court-room battles to kill the new and unprecedented Columbia River salmon policy that will protect wild and non-targeted salmon, steelhead and sturgeon from incidental gillnet bycatch mortality. A Thurston County Washington Superior Court Judge in late August dismissed a suit brought by industrial gillnet supporters against WDFW hoping to kill the so-called Kitzhaber salmon management plan in Washington. A similar suit was filed against ODFW to kill a companion plan in Oregon. That suit has not been determined. The judge ruled that the gillnetters erroneously filed suit against Washington's selective salmon management plan as a rule when in fact it is a policy that will determine a rule. Oregon, however, implemented the salmon plan as a rule and a similar suit is underway there.
The new bi-state policy when fully implemented will remove non-tribal non-selective gillnets from the mainstem of the lower Big C and restrict gillnets to off-channel areas where the non-selective nets will target artificially enhanced runs of hatchery salmon only, and kill fewer wild and endangered fish. Mainstem net fisheries will be limited to non-lethal seines. The policy also boosts the roll of sport fishing. Gillnetters are fighting the action on several levels but so far have been unable to stop the historic salmon reform.
