'Swing North' .....new video on Nor Cal winter Steelheading

[Mark Kranhold]

Once this season. Maybe twice.

The certain one was on a river with a lot of floating algae. Once I hooked up the algae snagged on the line at the hook and a 14" brown suddenly weighed 5 lbs. I got him into the net and just cut the tippet and removed the hook from his end instead of trying to unravel it from the mess. Spent some time reviving him until he could swim off, but found him later.


So it goes.

Steelhead are a lot tougher than trout! Yes I could see that happening to a trout, especially one being suffocated by algae! A ocean going trout that has been out to sea and back can handle much more stress, however treat these treasures with respect and care and get them revived and back to there lye as soon as possible! I'm not saying it cannot happen to a steelhead because it can. I have a friend that was running a stinger hook pointed up and hooked a big ol' hen in the top of the mouth, snapped a photo and something didn't look right in the fishes eyes. He tried reviving it with no success... belly up! The guide said he had seen this happen before ,the hook penetrated up through the brain. Sad to see a chrome wild BC Steelhead float away.

[TonyMuljat]

I have caught and released a number of fish. Probably not as many as some of you. I'm just getting back into the game after a long layoff. I have caught several fish that I doubted actually survived. Particularly at Lake Crowley, where even with a 6 weight rod, the fish can take a long time to land, and they are exhausted. I don't think anyone knows for sure what happens to the fish after we release them. I have caught a lot of very small rainbows on mountain streams that were so spunky it seems predictable that they survived, but I practically lifted them straight out of the water they were so small.

Steelhead are large fish. They take a long time to land (provided they don't break off). I have to imagine that those steelhead are now completely exhausted, despite swimming away.

There is a subculture of dry fly fisherman that use flies tied on a hook with no bend or point. The sport being just to get the fish to hit the fly.

We as fisherman are seemingly most happy when we land the fish and then perhaps subsequently photograph it. I have read on this forum of well respected fisherman that are no longer taking the time to photograph the fish.

It is a personal preference. We're not talking about breaking the law. Everyone has their own version of ethics in this case.

One of the known threats to Steelhead is fishing pressure. To what "percentage of the total threat" is up for debate. But if we acknowledge that fishing pressure is one of the threats, there is no argument that eliminating the fishing pressure would only be good for the fish.

[Mark Kranhold]

[QUOTE=Dustin Revel;141182]

y'all smoke too much dope!

I wish I could!!

[Walter]

Personally I would love them to stop putting any hatchery salmon or steelhead in these rivers and close them to all fishing for 10 years plus keep working on fixing them and taking dams down.


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Bill you spent the latter half of your life profiting from these rivers and now you want them closed down? Isn't that a little late change of heart?

The "Greatest Generation" couldn't control the wrath of mankind and now my generation is supposed to not fish? That's messed up. Show me a study that says angler impact outweighs everybodys apathy? That taking guys off the river will help the fish when none of the things that count are being done. Where are the wardens to enforce the rules? How does the Klamath bag limit go up to 4, just to support a fishery centered around people snagging overtly at the mouth? Close that mouth. It's rediculuous.

How about we get miminum flows out of Lakes Pillsbury, Mendocino and Sonoma? That will help fish. Oh wait, they cant manage those dams, the water or the sedimentation filling them in. Oh wait, the backdoor wheeling and deelings keeps anybody from establishing a real reparian buffer zone to agricultural encroachment. Oh wait, they protect the seals and sea lions as they come off the ESA list but nobody can seem to fight for minimum flows out of the dams they claim help fish. Minimum flows would keep the mouth of the Russian open enough for the coho to come in the river. The fish they now want to start closing the whole river for in the fall/early winter, cant even come in this year because they dumped 62% of the capacity of the Russian Dams in 6 days last winter, for a storm that never came. All SCWA had to do was read the freaking Farmers Almanac.

The Press Democrat recently touted the existance of Lake Sonoma saying there would be no fish in a dried up Dry Creek. There might be 50,000 steelhead still without those dams. Steelhead are different than trout because they either choose to or are forced to go to sea to thrive or survive. Fish dont need water in Dry Creek year round, Sonoma and Marin County water users do. Steelhead NEED the spawning ground they have lost to those godforesaken dams, to survive as a species!!

Angler impact is nothing compared to the apathy of people in the fly fishing industry and our government. Ban me again for saying this, but I wont spend my money to watch these guys catch fish. Yvone can bring down a dam in Sonoma or Mendocino County and then he will have more of my respect. He is the only guy from the "industry" actually doing anything.

Minimum Flows coming out of the damns on the Trinity and Stanislaus Rivers have done wonders to help anadromous fish. They might have gone extinct in those places without them, some think. They came in the nick of time. I strongly urge you to create the conversation demanding minimum flows for anadromous fish in tailwater fisheries. Force them to properly manage the water. Lobbyists get water, not fish.

[Walter]

....and exploiting Redwood Creek like that they should be ashamed. The last idiots that went in there and video taped got fly guys rigs messed with for a couple years. The locals were nasty enough already. Thanks fly-fools. Lets hope the movie makes them enough cash to go fish the tropics this winter, so only I will end up with my tires slashed and my windows graffiti-d.

[BobT]

For those of you who think that the fishermen are the primary cause for the declining steelhead populations in the Russian River are most likely misinformed. The fishermen are down on the list of problems with the river. The most significant problem is water. Water usage from the reservoirs, water diversion for agriculture, pesticides from agriculture and then County agency with their need to furnish water to a growing population along with a profit motive. This does not even take into play the politics in the watershed.

Look at the causes: The Russian River has been impacted by gravel mining, channelization due to agriculture of the middle reach from Healdsburg to Jenner that is now mostly devoid of habitat for survival of smolts and sanctuary for fish on their upstream journey. When the river hits a flow of almost 12,000 cfs in this region, the sediment load is almost one foot as recently been uncovered by recent geomorphic studies. These are the killers.

Closing the river for 10 years will do nothing in returning fish to this watershed, without major changes in the water delivery methods and water quality in this region. De-watering of creeks by agriculture and the marijuana trade kills countless juveniles in the upper reaches of the watershed. All these factors need to be addressed. No one is willing to take on the agriculture industry due to huge lobbying in Washington.
The problems to this watershed are very complex, but fishermen are not the cause that will return this fishery to it glory of yesteryear. The watershed will most likely never return without major habitat restoration and water policy changes.

The Sunday edition of the Press Democrat has a lead article that 10 owners control more that a quarter of Sonoma County vineyard holdings. Tell me these owners do not have undue influence in politics in the watershed.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...eyard-holdings

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...nmental-policy

If people really want to get involved, groups such as the Russian River Wild Steelhead Society, Russian Riverkeepers, Russian River Watershed Association and others need funds to combat these problems. These grass root organizations are fighting the fight for the watershed. Donate if you are concerned and care.

Oh Yea….the fishermen are the problem!

[Ryan e]

I have spent time in DC lobbying certain elected senators and congressman for an industry I'm not going to bring up on this forum . The only way to get things to change .

#1 money in the right politicians campaign .
#2 a significant amount of votes or support toward that politicians campaign and this person knowing you can get them .
#3 similar to number two but a formal indorsment from a very respected professional group .

Politics are dirty but they drive the only change this nation and state every see .

[STEELIES/26c3]

As most of us know... The politics of water and watersheds is only as complex as it is corrupt.

The solution is simple but not so easily attainable.

I have a shirt I bought from CSBA at a CDFW public meeting on proposed striper regs...

It reads;

"Instant fish... just add WATER"

Fishing pressure has little impact on most of our (steelhead) fisheries when compared to the impact of habitat loss from dams and de-watering.

It matters not how many fish you catch and release or simply opt to not fish for if the fish have nowhere to spawn and no water for their progeny to develop and succeed in.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I guess wine grapes and dope farms use up a lot of coastal water.

[STEELIES/26c3]

Water use is perhaps the slighter, top-end problem... heavy pesticides, nitrate fertilizers, and myriad other chemical and toxic runoff into the watershed is likely even more devastating to the riparian habitat and all flora and fauna within~;(

I know quite a few pot smokers and growers who steelhead fish...

The world is full of irony 'aint it?