Echskech
The Deschutes is a great fishery. I'm sure OP anglers will adapt. Oregon should be proactive and adopt the same regulations to discourage migration from Northern steelheaders. Bump up the out of state guide fees also.Looks like fisherman get the shaft again.
Yes, I imagine this will bring more pressure to the northern coastal rivers in OR. I feel for the guides, this will be crushing to them. They can still take clients out on a drift boat, just going to be a lot more challenging hooking fish from the bank. Personally, I have hooked WAY more steelhead bank fishing so I don’t care either way if OR does the same. It would suck for our guides as well, so I hope they don’t.
I'm not worried about the guides. I think good guides will still get their clients on fish, and do well financially. The new regs will weed out the less effective guides who only specialize in one type of fishing like bobber dogging or fly dogging. The guides who are great coaches will be able to teach their clients how to fish, instead of just moving their gear through productive water by boat control.I feel for the guides, this will be crushing to them. They can still take clients out on a drift boat, just going to be a lot more challenging hooking fish from the bank.
Yeah barbless would be tough with them crazy fish. I rarely use bait for steel unless it’s high OFF color water, so no worries there. And I seem to hook more without scent, don’t use that much either.But also 'no bait/no scent/no barbs'.
No thanks.
Not sure if you were talking about Oregon or Washington. Scent is not considered bait in Oregon.Also, scent and any rubber artificial lure like a soft bead, worm, etc are considered bait.
Makes sense. I looked at the WA regs and bait has to have scent or flavor, so if soft beads are scent free you should be able to fish them.I’m talking about for the Washington anglers. More of a reply to Hobsters comment. I fixed my original post by clarifying.
It’s been many years since I lived in Washington but when I was fishing certain rivers any soft plastic was considered bait. They may have changed that since then. I would still probably double check it.Makes sense. I looked at the WA regs and bait has to have scent or flavor, so if soft beads are scent free you should be able to fish them.
The WA and OR definitions of bait are surprisingly different.
There apparently was a meeting today in Washington with WDFW, the commission, and public. Don’t know what changes if any came out of this meeting. As I understand it this rule change was made by WDFW without the knowledge or consent from their own commission. The bait ban/selective gear rule is no big deal. The real issue is not being able to fish from a boat. Not sure what they hope to achieve from these changes. Things aren’t going to get better unless people begin to relocate to another planet.have they presented any factual, unbiased science that shows this was the right move?? Or was this a good old “do it or we will sue” from the NFS and the blind fly angler followers
WDFW must know that even if they saved 50 wild fish for example, what if the habitat has limited the carrying capacity on that given stream, so those extra fish that didn’t die due to issues associated with boat traffic. Then those “extra” fish would not equate to more fish. Every stream has a carrying capacity and ocean conditions dictate just as much. Plus you know.. commercial fishing and all of that.
In certain places I believe in limiting the amount of guides because everyone and their cousin is guiding these days even for trout, so I understand form that standpoint, but you shouldn’t be taking the ability to fish from a boat. Sell a limited amount of boat passes or limit guides or something at least and let people fish from a boat of the amount of boats is a problem.
taking bait away?? Well most wild trout streams are artificial only.. and most people I know don’t ever use bait for steelhead unless plunking. So that doesn’t seem too harsh. BUT you are still going to kill fish on accident if you handle them correctly and only fish single hook artificial. No matter how hard you try.
Bottom line is, if science is showing a crash and the fishery is in peril. Close the whole thing.There Is no in between especially trying to be this nit picky about it.
Washington already doesn’t allow wild fish to leave the water so I’m not sure why they think fishing from a boat is causing a bunch of harm unless it is from jet pumps stirring up redds.
If it is about limiting people so they come in contact with less fish in general by not being able to access all water, once again this goes back to fish will still die, and the carrying capacity will still have a limit. The amount of fish saved by a regulation like this is highly unlikely to make a difference which is why Regulation like this has no place in northwest fisheries, the only thing it does is limit angler opportunity, and furthermore bunches all of the fisherman into smaller areas, which is my point in this long rant.
I think this is likely going to add more traffic to north coast Oregon rivers definitely, and I think there should be some governing done about how many of these guides or people can come down here and jump on our already overcrowded rivers.but for personal reasons obviously. I don’t think any of us want to deal with more overcrowding than we have to. already have plenty of Washington visitors even all the way down on the mid coast thanks to our pals at addicted fishing
Guides are going to hurt from this for sure. You'll see a lot of guides shut down. Many guests are older and can't get in and out of boats very easily and much of the fishable water isn't accessible once your standing on the bank. Hobster, I think you should care as a bankie because it's going to put a lot more pressure on bank spots both walk in and boat in.Yes, I imagine this will bring more pressure to the northern coastal rivers in OR. I feel for the guides, this will be crushing to them. They can still take clients out on a drift boat, just going to be a lot more challenging hooking fish from the bank. Personally, I have hooked WAY more steelhead bank fishing so I don’t care either way if OR does the same. It would suck for our guides as well, so I hope they don’t.
Bank maggot for life!
taking bait away?? Well most wild trout streams are artificial only.. and most people I know don’t ever use bait for steelhead unless plunking. So that doesn’t seem too harsh. BUT you are still going to kill fish on accident if you handle them correctly and only fish single hook artificial. No matter how hard you try.
Bottom line is, if science is showing a crash and the fishery is in peril. Close the whole thing. There Is no in between especially trying to be this nit picky about it. Washington already doesn’t allow wild fish to leave the water so I’m not sure why they think fishing from a boat is causing a bunch of harm unless it is from jet pumps stirring up redds.