Salmon limit change for 2018-2019

[Rossflyguy]

Moke has great returns and a lot of it has to do with water release and smolt handling for best results.

[winxp_man]

IF you KEEP the necessary environment, we will NEVER impact a healthy fishery with a "stick and string" fishery, be it sport fishing or commercial TROLLING. However, no matter the ludicrous limits we apply, we are going to lose the fishes and fishery due to pollution and environmental decimation, which we will NOT address.
When you become as efficient as an unhindered population of "griz" or seals, especially with a stick and string, let me know and we'll notify the media and create a real "splash".
....lee s.

Having fished for salmon for a long time.... I have seen it all. And trust me there can be damamge to numbers with just a stick and string. An example, the lower American river has a place where salmon get channeled. My brother counted 130-150 (just one side) fishermen lined up. I say at least 50% get their limit. Then they fish three times a day, and almost everyday during salmon season. Some days are not as packed with fishermen. But it can get hectic out there. There are quite a few fish taken for sure. Not even adding snaggers/illegal fishermen.

Not saying that fishermen make an impact like commercial. But there is a number that gets taken that has its own impact. I know of guys that would get into 20-40 fish every other night. Law enforcement did catch up with them but a bit late after years of doing it. There is a black market for this resource and it does have its impact.

This is just my experience, and what I have seen. In no way am I trying to say that you don’t what you’re posting about. But there is a dark side to anything in this world.

[Rossflyguy]

130-150 fisherman on one side of the AR? I floated the AR a lot this past year and maybe seen 10-15 in a line at most. Where on the AR is there room for a line of 150 anglers at once? And the lines I seen maybe 7 of the 10-15 got their one fish limit in the morning and the fishing died when the sun came up for anyone else who stayed or came later. I’d like to know what part of the river is holding that many salmon in a day to be caught multiple trips by that many anglers. Unless your referring to the basin which is off limits now.

[winxp_man]

I don’t feeling like posting the spot. But trust me it’s there. Close friends of mine on this forum know about it. We talk about the craziness there all the time. My brother counted the line up a couple of years ago. It’s not like that every day like I stated. The average numbers are 60 or so people at this hole. Point being is the limit of fish that is allowed to be taken is pretty crazy. And we need to remember that the possession limit in the fridge is not followed whatsoever. Oh and the population since the 80’-90’s has also gone up some. Go to the feather river outlet and see fishermen numbers. Haha crazy out there to!

Facts are that pollution and dams are hurting numbers of fish. But so are the people that fish everyday and take their limits everyday. Some, like I wrote above, even taking the trip limit three times a day if not more.

To each their own. And everyone sure is entitled to their opinions. Fact is laws are broken against this precious resource on a daily. From over fishing in certain instances, to pollution to water usage, dams in place on some rivers that don’t make sense and so on. All this is what adds up to numbers issue.

[OceanSunfish]

At this point, reducing limits on salmon to one, two, etc. will ONLY work if there is law enforcement and judicial priority to enforce the law. Until the will of the "people", as in, "we, the people", hold lawmakers accountable to enforcing fish and game laws, including the CVPIA of 1993, fisherman fishing by legal methods, lose out.

It's all about the culture. Where does fishing, sport or commercial, fall into the culture of 40 million people in CA?

For example, there would be more outrage at the closing of a Starbucks on a street corner in Sunnyvale vs. the closure of another commercial salmon season

Change the culture of CA.......back. "Eat Wild California Salmon" like in....... "Drink (more) Milk"........ Instead, we have the Resnick's marketing Wonderful Pistachios, Cuttie Oranges, POM, etc.

[Bob Smith]

OceanSunfish - very well said!

[ycflyfisher]

The sport take based on abundance modeling that Bob is referring to and what's being discussed here (willful exceedance of take and possession limits.. straight up poaching) are two entirely different issues. While there's definitely some legit concerns that the modeling can overestimate in-river abundance and consequently 'take' of all types, there has to be something, some system that projects future abundance to better manage for over-harvest and other aspects. The reality is that marine survival is extremely difficult to predict and hard to model.

IMO we've definitely seen regulation that's been driven by the desire to curtail abuse everywhere Chinooks collect or are encountered in high densities on all the watersheds I frequent:


On the Klamath, new regs for the spit and the Blue Creek buffer.


On the Feather the earlier above the 70 bridge closure and the entire LF closure to the take of Chinooks.


The Feather outlet this season was a total fiasco and the wardens pulled numerous CHP and County staff to enforce the numerous and repeated public safety violations along with take and possession violations on multiple back to back days.


The reality is there's limited enforcement staff and when need to enforce exceeds what staff can provide, the last tool is closure of areas where lots of abuse occurs. I don't think there's been a disregard to do that. I do think there is some trepidation because they know if they go that route, they're by default limiting opportunity for large groups of anglers that simply are not part of the problem.