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!

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!

It has long been my suspicion that PETA is actually part of a much larger conspiracy aimed at discrediting animal rights organizations.  Why else would an organization go to such lengths to make fools of themselves and launch utterly ridiculous campaigns.  I speak of this because a friend of mine recently pointed out that PETA has an entire campaign devoted to keeping kids from going fishing.

They are even attempting to rebrand fish as ‘Sea-kittens’ which I think is utterly ridiculous.  Their attempts to humanize every creature big and small inevitably work to do nothing but make them sound ridiculous.  I am sure there are a few mush headed people, and obviously more than a few mush headed celebrities, that will support them but the fact is that either they are entirely misguided or they actually have a secret agenda to make animal rights supporters looked idiotic.

I love animals, animals are great and they never think anyone should abuse one.  That being said I can’t see how I am being more cruel to fish when I catch it, and quickly dispatch it and throw it in my cooler than when a seal chases it now and eats it while it is still alive.  As for the kids I think it is very important that children learn where their food comes from, and they respect the fact that for us to live we must consume another living thing be it plant or animal.

For all the money they spend screaming about causes that only gains them ridicule, why aren’t they out doing something about actual cases of animal cruelty.  I may be wrong, but I haven’t heard of PETA stepping in with a cash donation to help the 600 or so dogs and potential 1500 or so puppies that are flooding the Everett animal control facility after the raid on the puppy mill in Gold Bar.  Where are the celebrities now?  Where is the money now?  Apparently when there’s dirty work to be done they are to proceed to actually step in and help.

For anybody from PETA that might wind up reading this, I do respect some of the work you’ve done with the farming industry and just because a chicken is on its way to my fryer doesn’t mean that it should live in shitty conditions until that point.  But until you start walking around without your heads up your asses, talking shit you sure as hell won’t get my support.

(As for the picture of the girls, well I guess I can live with that sort of protest…)

Looks like the fish got another one. According to King5 News, the body of an unidentified fisherman was found Saturday morning at 9:30 in two feet of water along the Skykomish River.

GOLD BAR, Wash. – The body of a fisherman was found Saturday morning in the Skykomish River near Gold Bar in Snohomish County.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover says the body was discovered about 9:30 a.m. in a couple feet of water, with his fishing pole nearby.

Investigators haven’t identified the man and it’s unclear how long he had been in the water. Hover says there were no signs of foul play.

I am going to wager a guess that he either had a heart attack and fell in, or slipped and cracked his nut on a rock, which would be really easy to do out there at Gold Bar, up around Reiter Ponds. Either way it really points out the dangers of fishing alone.  I know when I got out fishing I usually go with someone and try to keep them in sight at all times.  Even along the sandy shores, one slip can put you underwater.  If you go under and no one sees you go down, you are as good as gone.

Be smart out there people, stay safe and take a buddy fishing with you!

It is always interesting to me how seemingly random the return of fish can be.  I know there are a lot of factors involved including luck, but it still good to see Salmon returning to their rivers, especially lately!

Early indications are good for Klamath and Trinity river salmon next year, although Sacramento River fish — whose collapse ground ocean commercial and sport fishing to a halt this year — may still be struggling.

Counts of adult fish and 2-year-old chinook salmon, which are a strong indicator of next year’s run, have been strong at several weirs on the Klamath and Trinity. While it’s still early, the beginning numbers are encouraging.

For example, some 1,000 2-year-olds — called jacks — have been counted at the Willow Creek weir. Last year at this time there were 50 counted, said California Department of Fish and Game biologist Wade Sinnen. Read the full article here

It really would be amazing if we could get some international co-operation on cutting back on commercial fishing on the high seas and even in closer to shore and on the rivers.  Yes I am giving you Indian tribes the abuse your fishing rights the evil eye right now… 

Lets just hope that we can undo more of the damage we have done to our rivers and keep our native salmon runs going strong, ’cause once they are gone, they are pretty much gone for good!