Up to this point, our fishing on the Umpqua has been slower than we are accustomed to. I believe our final fish counts will show that our numbers are down this season. We were all aware that our fishing was going to be slow on the South Umpqua because most of the hatchery juveniles that correspond to this years return died prior to their acclimation. As a result, I have spent a lot less time on the South this season. Unfortunately, the wild returns on the Main and North have been down as well. We have had some high points but overall, we have not consistently seen the crazy numbers my clients have come to expect. Don't get me wrong, the fishing has been consistent but, most days we have been working hard for 3 to 6 fish a day. When it comes to numbers this winter season, my best fishing has been on our coastal rivers. Here we have seen some huge number days. What are huge numbers you say? How about days when we went 14 for 18 or 10 for 16 on chrome bright fresh winters!!! I have included some pics below.
I also wanted to take this time to point out an issue we are experiencing on the Umpqua. As many of you are aware, we just won a battle this last year to stop the killing of wild steelhead on the entire Umpqua system. Fortunately, this new law corresponds with year when our fish counts will most likely be down. My question for ODFW who was in support of killing our wild fish is: "Aren't you glad we're not killing them this season?" It is a perfect example why all of us wild fish advocates are in favor of managing our fishery on the side of conservation rather than ODFW's outdated policies of maximum sustainable yield. 1 - this year has shown us that we can't count on hatcheries to provide us with an artificial fishery. The die off of nearly the entire South Umpqua hatchery plant has brought this fishery to its knees. Selfishly, it has directly affected my business. 2 - this year has also reminded us that our wild returns are cyclical and very unpredictable. Years like 2004 when our fish numbers were above the 10 year average, sparked a debate to start killing our wild fish. It was these years of bounty that enabled ODFW to reopen the system to the killing of our wild steelhead to harvest what they calculated to be a "surplus". We are now seeing the return from these years of harvest and it is no mystery to many of us why our numbers are down. Whether you believe our low counts this year are a direct result of killing our wild stocks or just coincidence, we must all agree it is a good thing we are not killing any of them this season. We are going to need every fish returning this to successfully spawn.
A perfect pair from a day with retired pro baseball player Scott Hatteburg and his brother Jeff from the Umpqua. Scott has become a good friend and regular client of mine. He is one of those guys that always seems to bring good luck with him.
Long time friend Mike Davis with a beauty from the North. This buck was one of several fish we had that day and is the biggest Mike has caught with me over the years.
After a great day on the coast a couple years ago where they had 11, Jeanette and Jamie were rained out of their trip last winter. They made up for it this year with fish like this nice buck Jeanette caught.
No comments:
Post a Comment