Washington Halibut...........4 Days and done

[blackvelvet]

The new BC halibut regs are brutal, but just south of the border is way past retarded.

Washington state just had their coastal opening for halibut with a standing recreational north coast quota of 108,000 pounds......Commercial and tribal catch will exceed a million pounds in that same area......go figure.

The season is a measly 4 days, Thursday/Saturday, then the next Thursday/Saturday, then the DFW tally the numbers to decide if we get any additional days.

Last year we got 3 additional days and year before we got 4 additional days. This year they claim we caught 62,000 pounds on the first 2 days (tripled from last year). According to the DFW the average size halibut caught is just over 21 pounds, so according to the DFW there were approximately 3,000 halibut caught the first 2 days.........These numbers are mostly guesswork, but it's all they have to work with. So this year looks like we will have zero additional days.......That's it, 4 days of halibut and the same for ling.

On top of that our deepwater fishery beyond the 120' (20 fathoms) line is closed for any bottomfishing except on halibut days. Yep, that's right, no deepwater ling fishing except for the 4 scheduled halibut days.

We have our offshore chicken ranch same as WCVI where any dummy can get their hali (35 miles offshore), and we also have a huge biomass of big ling cod very close to the chicken ranch where it is common to catch a ling over 30 pounds, but most are high teens/low 20's..........our biggest out of the 4 days was around 40 pounds (46 inches).

No secret why so many wing nuts (WN boats) cross the border to fish......We have 4 days of hali and ling, no rockfishing, hatchery salmon only, 2 days of spot prawns (80 per person)........Yep, life south of the border is great, unless you own a boat, cause it'll sit in the driveway for 11 months a year.

Someday I may wise up and move north, till then I'll just remain a south of the border fish orphan................Maybe I could get Osama to adopt me and my boat so I could live in Bamfield. I love that place.............rant over.........for now.

 

[Aces]

Yes, and you are always welcome up here.

I guess our fishing regulations aren't so bad after all?

 

[Cuba Libre]

Damn-- thats brutal..

 

[bee15]

things will tighten up herealso, its already started.

 

[Andrew P]

We were actually talking about the USA regs as we sat on anchor waiting for the rod tip to bend on Saturday morning. We had the radio on scan and were not toooo far from the border so could hear lots of chatter about hali. Heard one boat say "we have our five and are heading in" at about 10am, so some people were doing well.

Those are some tough regulation!

So, does that mean that you aren't allowed to fish the bottom for salmon in the winter?? We catch 'your' fish deeper than 120' on regular occasion....

 

[seadna]

You can fish for ling in Wa outside of the hali season, rockfish too. I fish for both much of the summer in area 4. I just have to do it inside of the 120 fathom line but it's not hard. Admittedly I don't get many big ling, but I get some. The hali is another story and that's why I'll be making the trek to BC next weekend to buy my BC license in person.

 

[SerengetiGuide]

Ours aren't so bad but not where they should be either...

 

[blackvelvet]

You can fish for ling in Wa outside of the hali season, rockfish too. I fish for both much of the summer in area 4. I just have to do it inside of the 120 fathom line

That would be the "20 fathom line", or 120 feet..........lucky to land a ling over 25" (about 6-7 lbs) inside 120', and if you get caught with a yelloweye or any other protected species onboard they can and will seize your vessel.............it's all about protecting a few species of rockfish, and on hali openings there are plenty of uneducated fishermen who do not use a decending device on a bloated rockfish brought up from the depths. They cannot retain them, so they just toss them over and watch them float away and die, and everybody pays the price for that.

Recreational fishers are only allowed a certain amount of bycatch kill and until a decending device becomes mandatory the short seasons will only become shorter for Washingtons deepwater bottom fishery.

 

[spring fever]

I'd be selling my boat under those regs !!

 

[reelfast]

since statistics and computer models are my friends, i took on WDFW a couple years back about just how they go about generating their numbers for not only halibut but salmon. suffice it to say that after 3 weeks of daily emails, with a distribution list that grew to include the director and all of the commisioners (naw i didn't add these folks), the statistical department of WDFW has zero clue regarding the generation of valid data. so, we suffer pretty severly at their hands but for sure the 50% indian quota never seems to be impacted, go figure!!!!!

 

[Kildonan]

I'd be selling my boat under those regs !!

I would say... If one could find a buyer with those conditions.

Brutal regs.

 

[chris73]

Well, my fellow anglers in BC: brace yourself as we will be there soon enough. We are only a few years behind and we don't even have the salmon enhancement support by our government that Washington state anglers have. Go and support any of the organizations that have committed to fight for you so we don't end up there. Do nothing and you can see your angling future already down south.

 

[Aces]

Well, my fellow anglers in BC: brace yourself as we will be there soon enough. We are only a few years behind and we don't even have the salmon enhancement support by our government that Washington state anglers have. Go and support any of the organizations that have committed to fight for you so we don't end up there. Do nothing and you can see your angling future already down south.

Yes Chris

The shitstorm is on the horizon and we can't get anyone to come to meetings around my area.......sad.

 

[seadna]

That would be the "20 fathom line", or 120 feet..........lucky to land a ling over 25" (about 6-7 lbs) inside 120', and if you get caught with a yelloweye or any other protected species onboard they can and will seize your vessel.............it's all about protecting a few species of rockfish, and on hali openings there are plenty of uneducated fishermen who do not use a decending device on a bloated rockfish brought up from the depths. They cannot retain them, so they just toss them over and watch them float away and die, and everybody pays the price for that.

Recreational fishers are only allowed a certain amount of bycatch kill and until a decending device becomes mandatory the short seasons will only become shorter for Washingtons deepwater bottom fishery.

Correct - 120' is what I meant. I manage to land plenty of ling's over 25" but I do travel a bit to find them. Most everything within 15 miles of Neah Bay is 1/2" shy of the 24" legal limit (and yet some tell me that recreational angling has little impact on fish stocks). I know what yellow eye and canary look like an I don't retain either. I catch plenty of legal rockfish in the water that is <120' deep (most in the 60-90' depth). The value of a descender for rockfish brought up from <120' is questionable if you ask me. Once the swim bladder is so expanded that everything is bulging out of the mouth, the barotrauma will kill most fish regardless of the use of a descender. In 60-90' of water, the results are much better. I definitely wish we had a better allocation of the hali quota and really wish that the season was open in July or August when the water is decent. The current seasons are created to drive tourism $'s to the coast during the off season (the Thurs Sat thing is designed to force you to stay several 3 nights to fish 2 days). For me the big issue is to get more quota from the commercials.

 

[spring time]

I think there prawn season for rec is two weeks. also

 

[CIVANO]

spot prawn season is only the following 5 half days - May 4, 8, 15, 18, and 22nd in most areas in Washington. Can only drop a pot at or after 9 am and all pots must be out by 1 pm. Limit is 80 shrimp per person and no more than 4 pots and 4 limits per boat. Sports gets 70 % and Indians 30% for a change

 

[sammyslabber]

Yes Chris

The shitstorm is on the horizon and we can't get anyone to come to meetings around my area.......sad.

Yep we’re an apathetic bunch in B.C … just look at our last election, a mere 50% of registered voters voted.

 

[Slabby20]

spot prawn season is only the following 5 half days - May 4, 8, 15, 18, and 22nd in most areas in Washington. Can only drop a pot at or after 9 am and all pots must be out by 1 pm. Limit is 80 shrimp per person and no more than 4 pots and 4 limits per boat. Sports gets 70 % and Indians 30% for a change

I live in Everett and our prawn season in Area's 8 and 9 was only two days, May 4th and May 8th. We blew through our quota in two days.

 

[blackvelvet]

spot prawn season is only the following 5 half days - May 4, 8, 15, 18, and 22nd in most areas in Washington. Can only drop a pot at or after 9 am and all pots must be out by 1 pm. Limit is 80 shrimp per person and no more than 4 pots and 4 limits per boat. Sports gets 70 % and Indians 30% for a change

What pamphlet are you reading ??? The hood canal gets those 5 partial days, but the whole Puget sound from Olympia to port townsend gets 2 days.


seadna : Your assumption that bulged eyes and swim bladder equals dead fish is 100% wrong and that attitude is the heart of the problem with our deepwater bottomfishery. The DFW has studied survival of decended rockfish and according to their college educated experts.....90% of decended rockfish will survive. Your observations of death on a bloated rockfish is true in your case cause if you leave them floating which leaves no doubt about their mortality.

 

[trophywife]

holy cow talk about anglers getting walked on.... I had no idea it was this bad. That is a slap in the face as far as i am concerned, and purposelessly made to get you guys to bugger off.... It is designed just like the east coast of canada to give the entire resource to businesses/corporations...than the residents get nothing.

a-greed!!!