bassplayer17
12/24/2013 4:23:00 PMI know what you mean. Fished it a lot in the early 80s behind the tav. Miss it too....
spoonman
12/24/2013 9:30:00 PMThat was where my last pilchuck hook up happened. 2009 I think, on a matte silver bc steel spoon. Sucker tail walked all the way up that riffle around the corner from docs and all I could do was hang on. Probably a 15 pounder, an he spit that spoon and it came back and almost caught me between the eyes!
mikep
12/25/2013 9:25:00 AMWhy did the WDFW quit planting winter steelhead smolts in the Pilchuck river? Looking at the winter steelhead smolt plant information, I see the winter smolt plants in the Pilchuck river as 25,300 smolts in 2008, 31,200 smolts in 2009, and none in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Was this a budget issue? Or was it a WDFW goal of making the Pilchuck river a wild steelhead gene pool stream (WDFW is planning to stop steelhead smolt planting in the NF Toutle/Green River and in the East Fork Lewis river in order to make these streams wild steelhead gene pool streams).
spoonman
12/25/2013 10:45:00 AMThe way I understand it is they are not planting any streams that dont have a.fish trap. In order to keep hatchery fish from cross breeding with natives. Which is pretty dumb if you think about it, we have let them cross breed for almost a hundred years and probably have no true natives left. Now we are gunna make a big deal of protecting theses mongerel " native fish" and ruin steelheading in the vast majority of our streams while charging us more for a liscense. But hey, we got alot of ten inch rainbows in our lakes, smh
mikep
12/26/2013 1:27:00 PMLooking at the WDFW internet information I see that WDFW does plants steelhead smolts in some streams that do not have permanent fish traps as far as I can tell. I was unable to find any information on the Pilchuck river. There is the WDFW Statewide Steelhead Management Plan (SSMP) adopted in 2008 that guides statewide policies, strategies and actions pertaining to steelhead in Washington State. This plan calls for the development of regional watershed plans that further guide steelhead management at the local level. WDFW is currently developing regional watershed plans for all Lower Columbia River steelhead populations. I could not find any mention of Puget Sound river watershed plans.
I did find an extensive detailed research report on one somewhat small river in SW Wash. (WDFW presently plants about 10,000 winter steelhead smolts per year) and a temporary weir trap was installed on that stream for monitoring upstream and downstream fish migration (chinook, coho, winter steelhead, and searun cutthroat in this river).
I did find an extensive detailed research report on one somewhat small river in SW Wash. (WDFW presently plants about 10,000 winter steelhead smolts per year) and a temporary weir trap was installed on that stream for monitoring upstream and downstream fish migration (chinook, coho, winter steelhead, and searun cutthroat in this river).