I am afraid that our "close to home fisheries" may come to a sudden Halt here soon. No hatchery returns/plants mean no fishing. Look at the Nisqually for an example(never had any hatchery plants but had enough Wild fish to actually sustain a fishery)..........Unless we can get the Dept of Fish and game to Plant/Seed the river(like they used to in the eighties) we are going to be Screwed on the local joint in to time flat.
It is going to be very hard for me to drive home on River road,While watching the nest out in full force(and I do mean in full force) to know that I cant participate in the catch.....or for that matter the catch and release while the "Nates" (speaking kindly here) fill their boats with targeted species and"By Catch" ..................
Definitely some issues to resolve in this state..............
I am pissed and there is no way to hide it. I am all for Wild steelhead, but all sides need to align or there is definitely a major problem. WE sportsman's have been taken to the cleaners as far as I am concerned and it is not getting better.
Sorry guys but the Puyallup river system is really close to my heart and I hate to see it all closed up by the end of December for the future...........I remember fishing in March and it was so nice to be able to float in short sleeves and really enjoy the river minutes from home, but still having a chance at a trophy fish.........
Done with the rant,
ED
I hear ya Ed, back in the days my dad used to get me out of school early to fish the Puyallup in March. Just a half day float from the dollar hole to the bmx. Man that was good fishing. I miss them days. The end of December closure is a joke, if they are gonna do that, then close the carbon and upper Puyallup as well. It seems ass backwards to me, why not close the upper reaches early and leave the lower open? Isn't that where the nates are going? The upper reaches? Don't get me started on the Nisqually, the tribe was solely responsible for wiping out that run. They were netted illegally and sold illegally, they sure proved to be stewards of the resource on that one, they were just greedy S.O.B.'s.

My dad told me stories of the Nisqually back in the 80's, I sure wish I could have fish that stream during the good days. The Nisqually is where he learned to row his drift boat.