Commission E Barbless Hooks

Outdoors

Barbless hooks would be required beginning May 1 in every Washington stream under the state’s proposed 1998-99 sport-fishing regulations.

If adopted in January by the Fish and Wildlife Commission, the rule change would have a major effect on Columbia River salmon, steelhead, bass and walleye anglers.

The proposals will be discussed in Spokane Saturday at a commission meeting set to run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. The meeting will be at the Tamarack Room of the Doubletree Inn, at Sullivan Road and Interstate 90 in the Spokane Valley. According to the agenda, sportfishing proposals will be reviewed some time after 1 p.m.

Many Columbia River fishermen have multiple tackle boxes containing dozens of lures. Most salmon, steelhead, walleye and bass plugs have two barbed, treble hooks.

To be legal in the Columbia, hooks on those lures would have to be replaced, or the barbs pinched flat with pliers.

“It’s a blanket, statewide proposal for all species in rivers, streams and beaver ponds,” said Joe Hymer, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Vancouver.

Among the anglers who’d have to change their lures are:

Trollers pulling plugs for spring chinook at the mouth of Wind River, in Drano Lake.

Shad fishermen throughout the Columbia.

Walleye anglers trolling with plugs, or fishing with jigs, spinners and nightcrawlers in the Columbia River.

Bass anglers casting lures or jigs with plastic worms or grubs along the shore of the Columbia.

Bait and lure fishermen participating in the squawfish bounty program.

A Department of Fish and Wildlife synopsis of the barbless hooks proposal says, “Although it is difficult to scientifically show a difference in mortality between barbed and barbless hooks, requiring barbless hooks in all fisheries will enhance and encourage wild release programs in response to ESA (Endangered Species Act) concerns and in conjunction with the Wild Salmonid Policy and bring consistency to the rules.”

“I have no problem with barbless hooks for salmon and steelhead,” said Mark Hundley of Vancouver, secretary of the Columbia River Bassmasters. “But a blanket barbless hook rule for bass, walleye, perch, crappie, bullhead, that’s crazy. I’d bet a good chunk of my paycheck most clubs don’t know about this.”

Wild salmonid plan passes

In a unanimous vote, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has committed Department of Fish and Wildlife fish managers to a wild salmonid policy developed over months of negotiations with treaty tribes.

The Commission, meeting last weekend in Olympia, also directed the department to follow science-based conservation principles.

Department fish biologists will follow those policies as they negotiate plans to restore wild salmon and steelhead stocks in consultation with individual tribes, the government and the public.

Hunter success off

Abundant moisture followed by a mild fall is good for big game but not for hunters.

The Idaho Fish and Game Department said hunter success appears to be off in most regions of the state this fall. Official hunter surveys have not been conducted, but indications are that fewer than the normal number of tags were filled.

High big-game losses resulting from severe weather last winter were a factor in the Panhandle. Record snowfalls had a big impact on whitetail deer herds at higher elevations and to a lesser extent on elk.

More deer were found in Panhandle valleys where winter losses were fewer. But deer also remain a source of depredation complaints in agricultural areas.

Some Clearwater Region hunters have complained about finding fewer elk this fall, particularly in units around Dworshak Reservoir.

Aerial and ground surveys of elk in northern units of the Clearwater Region last spring showed no signs of unusual winter kill.

A warm, dry fall in the Salmon Region also brought hunter success down in that area. Bull elk harvest was estimated to be off as much as 25 percent and the take of buck deer was down by 40 percent.

Deer-hunting success also appears to have decreased in Eastern Washington, almost surely because of deer losses from last winter.

, DataTimes