Should you be able to fish for downstreamers ?

[Darian]

Hmmmm,... interesting question. I've never deliberately targeted downstreamers but have caught some.... I really don't have any opinion about this but see the question as similar to whether to fish for Steelhead on the redds; potentialy controversial....

Downstreamers are tired, hungry and in a hurry to get back to their huntin' grounds. They're more vulnerable to bait/lures/flies/"flures". Soooo, they're readily caught. Not much of a fight tho.

In their post spawn condition, their reserves are depleted and maybe interfering with them lowers survival rates after release (....speculating here).

They're certainly not worth keeping/eating at that time (no speculation here). So killing a downstreamer makes little sense. Maybe if you've had little success over the course of a season, catching some spent fish will salve the stink (skunk).

At any rate, if I accept all of this, maybe we shouldn't fish for spent fish...

[sculpin]

Hey Carl
I think in rivers where the native steelhead are in poor shape the season should close to all fishing about the time the majority of the fish are making reds. Here in Oregon most systems close the 31st of March. Still a lot of early spawning downers are caught and I think it's unavoidable. The main stem Rogue remains open and I usually just stop fishing when I start catching nasty fish. I usually stop somewhere around the 15th of April, although even then there are still some nice fish in the system.

Mark

[bigtj]

Whether or not it's legal, I think that intentionally targeting downstreamers should be avoided. Why not give the fish a chance? It's not completely avoidable, but when the run really starts tapering off I stop fishing, even if the season is still open.

[Steelin' Time]

I don't see how an angler can possibly have any control over whether or not a spent fish takes an offering! Last season (Jan '06) I landed a clean 34 inch hen on the SF Eel on January 8th, upstream of Leggett. Good fighter and still fairly bright, yet she had already dumped her eggs. Do we stop fishing on Jan 8th because there are some spent fish in the system?

This season on the Elk, many bright fish were being caught the middle of February that looked like they had been in the river for 2 weeks max--bright, native fish that had already spawned. Many of these fish on coastal rivers may only travel 10-20 miles from salt water before they spawn. Unlike spent fish that have traveled long distances (such as the Rogue fish near Shady Cove) and are truly "spent" from their effort, these fish fight like the dickens. My wife landed one hen on the Chetco in February that jumped 7 times and burned line from her reel. I was certain it was a new fish, but when we landed her she had already done her thing. Spent fish don't have the stamina that uprun fish do and the fight is generally shorter than with a new fish, but to say that all spent fish "don't fight much" is simply not accurate.

At the end of this season, on March 23rd, I fished the Sixes and landed 6 adults--4 uprun fish and 2 downrun fish. Of the 4 uprun fish, 3 were as chrome as you could ask for--only 2-5 miles from salt water. The next day on the Chetco I landed 7 adults--2 chrome new fish ( one was landed 4 miles from salt water and was sporting sea lice!) and 5 spent fish. The fish with sea lice was only about 9 pounds or so but burned 85-90 yards of line from my reel in one burst. My heart was pounding and I was having a great time! Pretty tough to think about stopping fishing when the river still has fresh fishing entering the system that can give me that kind of thrill. By the way, all these fish were released, none worse for the wear.

The question Carl posed is interesting and gives us something to talk about with the winter season in the rear view mirror, but there is no practical way to avoid hooking spent steelhead. Just my opinion! Pat

[bigtj]

Steelin time,

If I had a day like you had on the Chetco, where only 2 out of 7 fish were uprunners, that would be my last day of the season on that river. Even though the season is open through the 1st, I don't fish Southern Oregon after the 15th of March. I'd just prefer to fish earlier in the run, and that time of year the OP is usually still getting slugs of fresh fish.

You are absolutely right, hooking spent fish is sometimes un-avoidable, unless you don't fish, hence my reason for setting a cut-off date for certain rivers. If we really want to be altruistic about it we should just stop fishing for steelhead, period, and I don't think anybody wants to do that.

[Darian]

We seem to be coming to a conclusion here. Catching/hooking spent fish is unavoidable during the legal fishing season. Since it's legal to do so, it's a matter of personal choice/conscience whether you do or don't.

IMHO, there are some issues here that haven't been addressed.
Maybe the question ought to be: should we fish for spent, natural spawning Steelhead in rivers where there are no hatchery fish
If Steelhead are truly scarce enough to warrant protections from the government, why fish for them at all until their numbers are recovered... Neither does catch/release address this issue as it's unknown how many of those downstreamers "released in good condition" actually survive over the next few hours or days or how many times a spent fish may be caught/released before returning to the ocean environment.

To me the answer is things are OK as they are ; since it's unlikely that Steelhead ever will recover to their historic numbers due to environmental/developmental/polical pressures. Our best efforts haven't really changed this situation, so far.

These type of philosophical questions arise during times when we have little else, in terms of fishing, to do. However, I don't believe that we'll ever solve the issue....

[lee s.]

The issue should be a personal one, absolutely. For someone to try to disuade someone else from performing a legal activity is absolutely wrong. If they so choose to not participate themselves is just fine. And for someone to believe and promote that we are impacting said fishery by C&R'ing spent fish is.....well, it is just less than intelligent.
.....lee s.

[Darian]

Hmmmm,.... Lee, I'm not sure I think intemperate comments about the intelligence of anyone on this BB is overly acceptable. You could've easily made your point without being disrespectful....

[sculpin]

Well no one has ever called me overly intelligent, but some have called me a smart ass a few times. There are a lot of things that are legal, like killing native steelhead in some areas and whacking big female stripers. C&R of downer steelhead isn't exactly the same thing and anyone that fishes for steelhead is going to catch some, but targeting them doesn't seem right. I guess I don't see anything wrong with trying to discourage things that have a negative impact as long as I stay off the soap box,

Mark

[Tony Buzolich]

Carl, and all.

What makes anyone think Lee is getting hot or uptight. I didn't read his responce with that tone at all. Reading these comments doesn't allow any of us to raise or lower our voice, it's the reader that puts in the accentuate or emotion be it good or bad.

This is supposed to a friendly forum so don't read more in to something that may or may not be there.
TONY