Fishing with Cliff

Puget Sound needs some serious help and it doesn’t look like Christine Gregoire is going to hit her goal of cleaning up the Sound by 2010 like she promised.  The fact is that the fish runs are declining, water quality is not good and something needs to be done.

Lawmakers agonizing over the expense and complexity of cleaning up Puget Sound need to know their efforts are backed by legions of eager citizens already hard at work on the challenge.

Hundreds turned out on a brisk Saturday morning for Sound Waters 2010, presented by WSU Island County Beach Watchers.

A six-page list tallied those who led the daylong program of seminars spread across the combined campus of Coupeville High School and Middle School. The aggregation of experts and topics was impressive. So was the overflow crowd that paid to learn more and find out how to help.

Restoration of Puget Sound is an imperative for Washington’s environment, health and the economy. We live, work and play around a glorious body of water, and our intimate proximity is the essence of the dilemma. All the easily identified pollution sources are either under control or on the radar. The rest come from how we live and develop the land.

Cleanup confronts a nasty trifecta: industrial and agricultural effluent, human waste and stormwater runoff. The first two are works in progress, but the latter scours and flushes everything.
Read the full article.

I would definitely like to see more done to bring back the Salmon runs.  Lets cut off the commercial fishing and tell the Indians to go to hell.  If we don’t do something pretty drastic, we could see the end of Salmon fishing in Puget Sound in this lifetime!

This news out of Olympia, efforts to clean up the water flowing into Henderson Inlet have paid off and now commercial fishing for shellfish has been approved.  What this is, is a fine example of how we can make more money by protecting our environment.  Restoring the water quality, shellfish quality and the Salmon runs could mean big bucks to the area if we all work together!

OLYMPIA – Harvest restrictions in place since 2001 have been lifted in Henderson Inlet. Shellfish harvest is now approved for the area, which previously was closed to commercial shellfish harvest for five days after rainfall of one inch or more.

The state Department of Health recently reclassified this area of about 240 acres. The inlet drains heavily developed areas of Lacey, Olympia, and other parts of Thurston County. The southern part of the bay remains prohibited to harvesting due to pollution concerns from Woodland Creek.

“For more than 20 years, it looked like all of Henderson Inlet would be closed to shellfish harvest due to pollution. Thanks to area residents and Thurston County’s leadership, this is no longer true,” said Gregg Grunenfelder, assistant secretary for the Department of Health. “Without doubt, this is one of the state’s most successful shellfish restoration projects.”

Henderson Inlet is one of five inlets that form the southern end of Puget Sound. It’s located between Budd Inlet on the west and Nisqually Reach on the east. The five-mile long inlet is fed by a 30,000 acre watershed. Woodland and Woodard creeks are the largest of the five main tributaries to Henderson Inlet.

Declining water quality in Henderson Inlet led to several shellfish classification downgrades between 1984 and 2005. Thurston County formed a shellfish protection district to address the water quality problems in the watershed. A stakeholder committee of 11 citizens and local agencies made recommendations to address pollution associated with stormwater runoff, septic systems, pet waste, and farm animals. Actions to control pollution also include outreach and education, telling community members about water quality issues in the area.

Thurston County Commission Chair Sandra Romero says the level of cooperation it took to reverse the pollution in Henderson Inlet is significant. “County staff worked with many agencies including the state Departments of Health and Ecology on this effort and put in many, many hours of their own. But a lot of credit also goes to Henderson Inlet area residents for their individual efforts to reduce the impacts of poorly operating septic systems, and to the citizen members of the Shellfish Protection District Committee.”

also created a successful program that focuses on enhanced operations and maintenance for septic systems. It also provides education for residents with septic systems in the area. The City of Lacey has worked to reduce stormwater pollution in Woodland Creek and residents have taken individual actions to improve water quality in the watershed.

“This is good news for Henderson Inlet and shows we can and are making progress in our efforts to restore Puget Sound,” said David Dicks, executive director for the Puget Sound Partnership. “We have many challenges ahead, but if we all work together and focus our efforts we can protect, restore, and reduce pollution to ensure Puget Sound is both clean and healthy, and supports a thriving economy.”

The Department of Health has shellfish information (http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/sf/default.htm) online.

I will never knock Canadian fishermen ever again.  These are some serious hardcore ice fishermen to be…   Well, watch this video and see for yourself!

Insane Canadian Fisherman – Watch more Funny Videos

Now is the time to get commenting if you want a say in the next round of rule changes for fishing in Washington State.  The WSDFW is taking written commentary on the new fishing rules and will be having a public meeting on December 4-5. 

Here are a couple of the proposed changes, but you should visit the WSDFW Website to read all of them and find out where to send your comments.

• Prohibit the harvest of all species of “unclassified” marine fish and invertebrates – such as blennies, tide pool sculpins, starfish, sand dollars and shorecrabs – which can either be found on Washington’s beaches or in nearshore waters. The proposal does not prohibit collecting empty shells from any species.
• Develop a set of protective measures for rockfish, including prohibiting retention of rockfish in marine areas 6 through 13 and closing the retention of bottomfish in waters deeper than 20 fathoms in marine areas 4 (east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line) through 13.
• Close fishing seasons that allow retention of hatchery-reared steelhead a month earlier on a stretch of the Skagit River and two weeks earlier on portions of several other north Puget Sound rivers including the Pilchuck, Raging, Skykomish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Stillaguamish, Nooksack and north, south and middle Nooksack rivers, as well as Pilchuck creek. All of those rivers would close to retention of hatchery steelhead at the end of the day on Feb. 15 under proposals designed to further efforts to conserve and restore Puget Sound wild steelhead, which are listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

So if you want a say in how our fishery is managed, now is the time to take action.  Kind of like when the election comes around, this is your time to complain and make a difference so get on it!

If you haven’t been paying attention to the news lately, there is a name change coming to the Puget Sound region.  Puget Sound along with the adjoining waters are being renamed the Salish Sea.

This move has passed the initial hurdles and is currently awaiting the approval of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and the Canadians.  I am just wondering if if they are going to leave the individual names in place or if we are all going to become Salish Sea residents?

The move is actually fine with me, and I understand the need to have a coordinated effort to preserve the shared waters of what will soon be the Salish Sea.  May be this will help make a focused effort from everyone that enjoys the bounty of the Salish Sea, including the commercial fishermen and the Indian tribes, both of which I cast a accusatory eye at.

Stay tuned, a map change is sure to be in our future!

The rain is here in earnest, so why not go indoors and stay dry while at the same time learning something new about fishing.  Here are a few Seattle area seminars and events that you may want to check out!

• Ted’s Sport Center, 15526 Highway 99 North in Lynnwood, is hosting a free blackmouth fishery clinic 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday with Captain Downriggin’s John Abbott. Details: 425-743-9505.

• Three Rivers Marine and Tackle, 24300 Snohomish Woodinville Road in Woodinville, is hosting a blackmouth fishing seminar 7 p.m. Wednesday with Capt. Randy Doucet of Northwest Fishing Charters and Capt. Andy Shanks with Island Guide Service. Details: 425-415-1575 or www.3riversmarine.com.

• The Orvis Store in Bellevue is hosting a winter steelhead roundtable at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Learn from the best steelhead anglers about flies, presentation techniques, casts and water reading. Details: 425-452-9138.

• The Sportsmen for the Preservation of our Rivers and Streams are looking for volunteers 9 a.m. to noon Saturday for a cleanup on the Skagit River in LaConner. Details: 253-861-8964 or rosendo64@yahoo.com.

I just was at the Washington State Fish and Wildlife website this morning and notice that they are wired up and on Twitter as well as have videos on YouTube?  If you are a Twitter-holic be sure to add them to your follows!

So we got a comment on our video Steelhead Trout Fishing on the Skykomish recently asking about fishing for Pink Salmon.  We were amazed since usually what we are getting is insults!  FishingGuy101 asks:

Cool i went fishing today for 10 hours wading for pink salmon using buzz bombs,pink spoons,pink squids,and pink jigs but had no luck any tips?also we are heading snohomish river and tips there

I am going to guess that you were fishing the salt for them and I am thinking they are pretty well up and out of the Sound and on their way up the rivers by now.  That would explain why you didn’t pick anything up.  Either that or you fish like we do, horribly.

On what to use, the same type of things you would be using in the salt water works in the rivers, just downsize a bit.  Drifting a pink jig works well, just watch for the bite on the drop and work it slow.  Heading for the rivers, I would grab a fist full of pink spoons in different weights for use in fast or slow water.

The big question for me is if you can find some shoreline without people on it!

It does worry me that the Humboldt Squid will take up residence in our Northern waters.  Traditionally they have stayed down off the coast of California, but to see them coming all the way up to B.C. is a bit unnerving.

Article on Humboldt Squid being caught at Sekiu

The most recent article I have read was written by Seattle Times writer Mark Yuasa about people catching Humboldt Squid off of Sekiu.

My only question is anyone actually going out trying to catch them, and if so what are you doing with them?

With the start of the Fall rains, I am going to guess that the Pinks will be heading for the rivers now, but during their stay in Puget Sound they have been a lot of fun.  Anglers from shore and boat have taken their share of what is said to be a run of about 5,000,000 Pink Salmon into Puget Sound.

Sorry for not looking my sexiest (yes I need a haircut) but even the FWC crew has managed to boat a few of these small but feisty fish.  Now it will be time for the anglers in the rivers to take up the charge, and from what I am hearing, they are doing rather well.

Plenty of people have definitely been out fishing for Pinks.  If you go to pretty much any sporting goods store, their supply of pink squids and white flashers is pretty well wiped out.

You would think that this would give some indicator of what sort a boon it is to have BIG salmon runs in this area.  It would be nice if our elected representatives worked a bit harder to promote the interests of the recreational fishermen over the commercial and tribal fisheries.  But that is another rant for another day.

If you haven’t gotten out and got in on the action, I wouldn’t wait much longer, or else head for the rivers.  Of course Coho season is on the doorstep, so if you have missed the humpies there is always their bigger cousins to go after.