State Floating Rules Changes For Fishermen

No party is being planned by The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department to celebrate the year 2000, but the agency is popping the cork on numerous changes in hunting and fishing regulations.

Last week, officials released a large package of proposals to change fishing rules for the next three years.

The possibilities range from restricting trout fishing on Rock Creek to slot limits on bass and doubling the walleye limit on portions of the Columbia River.

The proposals are based on staff recommendations and public comments in letters and at public hearings this summer.

Anglers with opinions on the proposals, which are available at department offices, have a month to be heard. The Fish and Wildlife Commission will vote on the rules package during a Dec. 10-11 meeting in Vancouver.

Hunters have a little more time before formal proposals are compiled, but they can sniff the winds of change in a survey that must be completed by Nov. 25.

Next week, I’ll delve into more detail on potential changes in hunting. Meantime, take the survey on the telephone by calling (800) 318-3243 or on the Internet at www.wa.gov/wdfw/ and click on 1999 Hunter Survey. You’ll need your 1999 hunting license number to file comments.

Fishing enthusiasts have plenty to ponder right away.

Bass anglers must decide whether they want to change from a five-fish daily limit with no more than three fish longer than 15 inches to the proposed five-fish limit that requires the fish to be smaller than 12 inches or greater than 17 at many lakes. Only one fish longer than 17 inches could be kept.

Department research indicates an increase of fishing pressure on bass in the 12- to 17-inch range is reducing the bass population’s ability to eat enough sunfish to keep forage fish numbers down to reasonable levels.

Fishing for bass as well as for crappies, bluegills and perch will be better if a larger contingent of 12- to 17-inch bass remains in the lakes, biologists say.

Walleye limits on the Columbia downstream from the U.S. Highway 395 bridge would be increased to 10 fish a day with no more than five longer than 18 inches and only one longer than 24 inches.

This is a compromise with Oregon, which has approved this increase in the walleye limit to begin Jan. 1. Washington talked Oregon officials into backing off from more liberal limits.

Kokanee anglers on Lake Roosevelt certainly will favor a change from the current rule that limits them to keeping only kokanee with clipped adipose fins.

The proposal would allow anglers to take five trout, excluding kokanee, no more than two longer than 20 inches, and two kokanee with no minimum size.

The current wild kokanee release rule would be dropped, since anglers have been hooking and killing large numbers of fragile kokanee as they attempt to catch a keeper.

Trout anglers who prefer catch and release waters should appreciate the proposal for Rock Creek in Adams and Whitman counties.

Eight miles of the stream south of Lamont runs through a block of property purchased by the U.S.Bureau of Land Management. Easy public access to the stream likely would result in overfishing, biologists say.

The proposal calls for a catch-and-release season, June 1-Oct. 31, with gear limited to artificial lures and flies.

Families would be the priority at Bear Lake north of Spokane, where fishing would be limited to juveniles and licensed adults accompanied by a juvenile, as well as holders of disability licenses.

Fly fishers likely would appreciate the plan to open Dry Falls lake March 1 rather than the last Saturday in April.

Among the most controversial proposals, which would prohibit trout fishing on rivers such as the Methow and Okanogan, is being forced by federal efforts to revive salmon and steelhead runs.

Since trout and smolts are virtually indistinguishable, the National Marine Fisheries Service wants rivers such as the Methow to be sanctuaries for the endangered species.

Anglers who know how good the trout fishing can be in portions of the Methow, for example, are pleading for a little casting room. The Fish and Wildlife Commission will need to be convinced, as well as federal officials.

Methow Valley fly fishers suggest a springsummer fishing closure on the lower 17 miles of the Methow would protect smolts as they head out to the Columbia.

Spawning and rearing areas in the Upper Methow, Twisp and Chewuck rivers could be protected by year-round closures.

With those provisions, the Methow anglers say, endangered fish would be virtually unaffected by a catch-and-release season in the middle portion of the river. Local anglers are proposing selective fishery rules, which restrict anglers to artificial flies or lures with single, barbless hooks.

Not a bad idea for two reasons: Keeping anglers interested in fisheries is important to fish managers trying to save fish.

Keeping legitimate anglers on rivers helps the precious few enforcement agents police the streams for poachers who will only have more freedom to ply their illegal activity if decent anglers are banned from the stream.