WDFW Rules Meeting 10/6 Mill Creek 6 pm: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

I went to the meeting. Im not looking forward to this. There are way too many people going to wake up and get pissed off. If you cant enforce it, they lose credibility. Needless to say, in 2 plus hours, they only got thru about 75 changes. Not only will seasons get cut back to the middle of February, a couple people, wanted to cut the season off at the end of January for hatchery fish. Its wont be long, you can live somewhere else and just fly into washington for the weekend and go fishing. The fricken season is going to be so short, you could be flooded out for half the season.

The antisnagging rule will eliminate hook, cheater, hooker setups for side drifting. If you dont want to lose that, you better write.

On the methow the group that put this together and voted on this wanted to make the largest hook available for fishing steelhead, was going to be a size 10. All because near the end of the season, some of the trout fisherman are targeting steelhead. Screwed up priorities. If you can't patrol or eliminate illegal fishing, so just make it impossible for everyone to catch steelhead. Plan on loosing any use of a treble hook on a quick fish or plug, for salmon and steelhead. Single pointed and probably barbless in some places.

One area that I didnt comment on during the meeting, but find totally stupid is the use of scent. The point of fishing is to catch fish. The phylosophy of the HSRG is to get as many hatchery fish off the spawning beds, yet the only sensory source they want the fish to use is sight. If i cant rub sardine or herring grease on my plug, that rediculous. Its only a matter of time, bait will be completely banned.

Also over near the okanogan, the proposed rule change would pinch someone in regards to the steelhead caught. The tribes net the pool and scoop out most of the hatchery fish, leaving a high percentage of wild fish. I dont have more info, cause I dont know exactly which river this proposed rule is going to affect.

There are inconsistencies, errors and apparently, some items that just didnt get printed. Oh joy. As one participant remarked, how can you comment on something that didnt print.

The lead police are coming. Right now, there are twelve lakes where they want to pass restriction on the size of lead. Loons and other feathered swimmers are injesting lead and dieing. The autoban or some other bird group was there and her intentions are to ban small lead state wide.

The sacred cow, known as the olympic penninsula was spoken for to keep wild steelhead fishing and harrassment alive and well. The rest of us can bend over. I didnt know, we had two fish mafias.

If you dont read the papers and fight for it, youre going to lose it.

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