AN ESTIMATED CROWD of around 100 people attended a state Department of Fish and Wildlife public meeting Wednesday night in Forks on management of the salmon and steelhead guiding industry.
Bob Kratzer of Anglers Guide Service in Forks (360-271-7197) was at the meeting and helped me understand what was discussed.
The closure of much of the Quillayute River system was first up on the list of agenda items at the meeting.
“They let us know why that’s taking place, how long it will last, and they basically apologized for not catching it in time,” Kratzer said.
“The reality of it is that this is a perfect storm [of low flows and fish movement] and both tribal and sport fishermen were basically catching too many kings. We all harvested too many kings and it’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.”
Kratzer explained that both recreational anglers and Quileute Tribal fishermen were all catching fish as the rivers drew down over the past few weeks. The Quileute Tribe, which cut its netting schedule down significantly to 1½ days a week this season, was netting the river on a week-on, week-off schedule.
Glob of chinook
“The tribe was tracking their catch rates and everything was just fine,” Kratzer said.
“In the week they had off before they netted, the Quillayute River got absolutely caked, just filled to the brim with kings. The tribe was on a normal track to net and when they came back they knew they had caught too many kings.
“In the the two or three weeks prior in their netting schedule, there was no indication this giant glob of kings was going to come and they’d catch so many.
“Frank Geyer [deputy natural resources director and a biologist] with the tribe said they had never had such an impact on kings in such a short opener.
“They didn’t know all those kings had shown up in that week off, they were basing their netting off what had occured over the past three weeks.”
Recreational anglers, some of them lacking scruples, also were taking advantage of the kings arrival and the low water flows. Add the two factors together and you have a recipe for snagging.
Kratzer put to rest a rumor that the Quillayute River has continued to be netted during the closure.
“That is 100 percent not true on the Quillayute River,” Kratzer said.
“But the Hoh Tribe did net on the Hoh River after the closure. Hence, the reason we are back on the Hoh, once the water came up, the state said if you are going to net, we are going to allow recreational fishing.”
Fish and Wildlife personnel also mentioned lifting the closure and re-opening those now-shuttered stretches of water Saturday, Nov. 4.
Guide discussion
After a breakdown of fee structure changes for resident and non-resident guides, Kratzer said the attendees were split up in four groups for discussion.
“They gave us some questions to discuss — stuff like what do you consider a quality fishery? They discussed fish numbers, asked if we were interested in a guide cap, capping the number of guides not only regionally, but statewide.”
A mandatory log book that would require guides to fill out the who, what, when, where and how of each day’s fishing outing, also was discussed.
“It would require a guide to fill out a log every day he fishes with where he was, how many clients they had, because, guide-wise, the state doesn’t have any data,” Kratzer said.
“The state knows only how many guide licenses are sold, they have no clue about where the guides are or where they are fishing. We could tell them there are 100 guides on the West End rivers, but they don’t have concrete date. “Put a log book together, make every guide have to fill it out, so they can look at it in a year or two and know how many are fishing and where the effort is in certain areas.”
Working up north
Kratzer, who also guides in Alaska, said there is a log book system in place to provide information to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and that system is no hassle.
“Most everybody was in favor of the log book idea,” Kratzer said. “Others said they wanted it via a [smartphone] app or in paper form. “The state of Alaska requires it, I have to fill it out every day and I if I didn’t and I were caught, it would be major trouble, including a $1,000 fine and possible loss of my guiding license.”
Kratzer said he felt the general consensus was “everybody feels the rivers are too crowded and feel something needs to be done.”
The geographical cap on guides wasn’t all that popular with many feeling the size of the area in question was too small and should be expanded.
Kratzer also raised the point that fishery closures in the Puget Sound area have contributed to the rise in angling pressure and the number of guides working the West End.
“The whole reason we are talking about this, talking about caps, and the pressure we have is the lack of opportunity on the Puget Sound side,” he said.
More meetings on guiding are planned throughout the state, and Fish and Wildlife must provide a document review of its findings to the state legislature by Dec. 31.
Free days on tap
Outdoor enthusiasts have two more opportunities to visit Washington’s state parks for free in 2017. On these free days, day-use visitors will not need a Discover Pass for vehicle access on Saturday, Nov. 11 and Friday, Nov. 24.
Since the free days were first designated in 2011, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission has set aside Nov. 11, Veterans Day, as one of its free days to honor those who served in the armed forces. This year, the agency moved one of its two spring free days to Nov. 24, as a way to encourage people to visit a state park in autumn.
The Discover Pass is still required to access lands managed by WDFW and DNR on these days.
Free days apply only to day-use access by vehicle, not overnight stays or rented facilities.
