Elkgunner, whats the Idaho...

[BuzzH]

Game and Fish commission thinking? Do you know any of them?

How can this be:

IDAHO FISH AND GAME
HEADQUARTERS NEWS RELEASE
Boise, ID

Date: April 13, 2004
Contact: Ed Mitchell
(208) 334-3700


Spring Chinook Seasons Open Soon

Meeting by conference call April 13, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted to open seasons for spring chinook salmon April 24 on the Mainstem and North, South and Middle forks of the Clearwater River, the Lower Salmon River and Little Salmon River, the Upper Snake River and Lower Snake River. The Lochsa River is set to open May 29.
The Upper Snake River, in this reference, is the Hells Canyon stretch that borders Oregon; and the Lower Snake River is the Lewiston stretch that borders Washington. In these areas, seasons have been coordinated with the bordering states.

Limits will be two per day and six in possession in the Snake and Clearwater river drainages; three daily and nine in possession for the Lower Salmon and Little Salmon river seasons. The statewide season limit is 20. Only hatchery chinook salmon, as evidenced by a clipped adipose fin, may be harvested.

Although seasons could close earlier for biological reasons, the closing date for the Lower Snake River is May 31, the Lower Salmon River is June 20, and the others on August 1. Fishing hours will be from one-half hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset, local time.

Rule brochures which fully cover the seasons and rules will be available soon in fishing areas and on the Fish and Game website.






When you have this:?

Lower Granite Dam adult Chinook count as of 15 April 2004: 129

I'm wondering if anyone bothered to check the dam counts, which are the poorest counts since 1972 (for April 15), before they propose a season????

They need 20,000 over Granite to have a season, I doubt it will happen.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Huh?

 

[JoseCuervo]

Buzz,

Did you not there were no seasons on Johnson Creek, American River, Crooked River, Middle Fork, Bear Valley Creek, Marsh Creek, North Fork Clearwater (more than the 1/2 mile above the main stem), Profile, Monumental, Big Creek, Secesh? Not to mention the Payette, Jarbridge, Owyhee, Boise, and Weiser Rivers???

Hey, c'mon over, and we can go spend some time fishing. Got plenty of space to stay, and if need be, we can take the Jetboat out and boat a bunch....

 

[BuzzH]

Gunner, I dont think they'll have a season anywhere.

I'd take you up on the offer to fish in a heartbeat, but I'm doubting there will even be a season.

Looks like another fall salmon trip to British Columbia is my best option...

You gotta like those dams!!!

 

[JoseCuervo]

C'mon, out of those 129 fish, likely 126 of them are hatchery fish.... And they will either be at the pipe in Ahsaka, or at the trap in Hells Canyon, or perhaps, at the entrance to Rapid River at Riggins.

Out of 1,000's of miles of rivers in Idaho, there are only a handful of places to worry about fishing....

 

[BuzzH]

Theres nothing I'd like to do more than stand elbow-to-elbow with a bunch of Republican Idaho/Montana rednecks and compete over 129 fish, while listening to them bitch about how the Idaho Fish and Game is screwing up "their salmon fishing", the whole time defending Bush and the Snake River dams.

Its actually pretty entertaining and at the same time, also sad...

 

[JoseCuervo]

C'mon Buzz, synchronized casting is an artform. I love it when somebody can't cast in unison with the other 25 people in the hole. That sure does get some "colorful" language going....

The funny part is, as you get up on the Clearwater, you are standing by a bunch of redneck democrats, complaining about the Fish and Game, and defending the dams.

And you can only compete for the 126 fish. You gotta leave the other 3 alone, and hope that they have at least 2 females and one female in the three. And even more, you gotta hope the 3 fish are all headed to the same tributary, or you actually get nothing... Just more "lonesome Larrys".

 

[BuzzH]

Gunner,

Yep, the synchronized casting is a thing of beauty.

I was fishing the year before last at clear creek, on the middle fork Clearwater (with the democrat rednecks), and found the most "unsynchronized" caster I've ever seen.

The guy would cast as far as he could upstream and about ten feet off shore, usually tangling me and my two buddies as well as the guy upstream from me. You have to realize, there wasnt that many people fishing there. So, he had to try hard to tangle 4 people at once.

We'd been fishing hard for about 5 days straight, really knocking the snot out of the fish, and I was tired and grumpy. Finally, I told my buddy Frank, "once more and I'm cutting his line". I barely got the words and out and "splash" right over my line. I waited for a second, put some slack in my line, and jerked as hard as I could, cut his line clean. A while later the same thing.

The guy saw me cut his line the second time and walks up the bank toward me. He starts to bitch about my cutting his line. I told him to fish right or move. Come to find out...the guy lives in Cheyenne Wyoming!!!

However, he did finally come around to fishing correctly and being a little more considerate of the other anglers around him. My soft spoken manner and subtle approach worked great.

 

[JoseCuervo]

I have always thought the Teddy Roosevelt method of diplomacy is very effective.

And you cut a couple of bucks of hardware a few times, and it starts adding up for the guy who can't figure out how to cast.

But the worst part is the time you aren't in the water, as you try to re-rig something. That is actually why using the JetBoat is nice, as you can kind of limit the rednecks on the bank. You still have the pompus arrogant types in the JetBoats, but most of them are more bark than bite.....

 

[BuzzH]

Gunner,

The jet boats are nice, the day my friend Tim and I caught these on the middle fork Clearwater, it was us and one other boat. Between Tim and I we landed 16 salmon in about 4 hours. The last 2 hours, we were the only boat out there.

This was another good spot on the middle fork, until a local postmaster opened his piehole...my buddy Doug and I had this to ourselves for 3-4 days, and we cleaned house. The water is 21 feet deep about 5 feet from shore, and the salmon stack in there!

Doug and I also hit a great place on the little salmon, just as the fish showed up in good numbers. We found a nice spot to fish that required a mile hike or so...had it to ourselves for a few days, before the word got out...and we absolutely made a mockery of the salmon.

Well, too bad there wont be a season this year, except by some miracle, until then, I guess its just a Canada show and flipping through some pictures of better days in Idaho.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Buzz,

You're killing me with the pictures.... I have the same sets of pictures, only they are in Black and White, and came from my Grandpa 50 years ago. And those fish were all wild....

I have a week in May in Alaska, and then 2 weeks in Africa, but other than that, if the run does materialize, and you want to come over, let me know. I'm sure we can find a bit of elbow room with our "friendly demeanors".....

 

[BuzzH]

If the run happens, I'll be there...maybe we could hook up with bullhound and ten beers.

 

[Ten Bears]

Whats the site link for the counter?

 

[Wapiti Slayer]

http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/fish/salmon/dam_count.cfm

 

[Ten Bears]

Thanks WS, but I can't get that one to open either. I been trying this one,but can't get it to work. http://www2.state.id.us/fishgame/fishgame.html

[ 04-16-2004, 14:38: Message edited by: Ten Bears ]

 

[Wapiti Slayer]

Weird! They both work for me.

 

[brokfut]

Try this site. http://www.fpc.org/CurrentDaily/7day-ytd_adults.htm
It is for all the dams and as you can tell the fish are stack below Bonneville. I talked to the cousin last night and he telles me the fish are still holding outside the bar of the Columbia waiting for water conditions to show some kind of change. The run will be there, it is just a little behind predictions.

 

[Ten Bears]

That works. So what we see here is two individuals that want to distort the information(?).
Check out this graph. http://www.fpc.org/adultqueries/Adult_Query_Graph_Results.asp

 

[BuzzH]

We'll see if the fish are stacked and holding, I've heard there arent many fish at all...

I also heard the gill-netters nabbed a bunch, on the false information of a record run. Theres 80-100 sea lions below Bonneville, absolutely hammering what the gill-netters miss.

It doesnt add up that the fish are staging, the water conditions on the Columbia dont usually mean much. They have to maintain flows for the barge traffic, usually the only place the fish stall out is when they get over lower Granite. From there, the flows arent augmented, so water conditions are key for upriver movement.

I have several reliable sources that tell me not to expect a season at all in Idaho, and if there is one, it wont be anywhere near record levels, and at best, very poor...

The dam counts are shit right now for the date, you may have another 15 year wait for good runs...just like those between 1978-2000.

Ten beers, what information is distorted?

April 15, 2004...Chinook adults over Lower Granite: 129

I agree, check out the graph, 2004 is flat. Ten bears go see the librarian or a 4th grader for help reading the graphs...they'll explain that the red line is 2004, the blue is 2003 and the green is the ten year average. That way, you will maybe understand that when the red line is lower than the blue and green lines, that means less fishies are being counted. You do know what a fishy is, dont you?

[ 04-16-2004, 15:33: Message edited by: BuzzH ]

 

[Ten Bears]

We'll see how the run goes. I don't expect to see much this year, and I credit the last couple of years runs with high water spring runoffs.