Well, there's another angle here. When the chinook salmon season was open briefly on the Yakima during the summer of 2000, it was a kill fishery. It was opened in the upper C&R section of the river. And the gear folks were out there on the river throwing whatever they throw. And as we all know, trout don't discriminate between big-ass, multiple-hook metal lures and single-hooked barbless flies. My guide buddies on the river say they saw trout being caught by the gear/salmon fishermen.
Trout flyfishermen have one quality C&R river within a couple of hours drive of Seattle. Just one. And it's plenty crowded enough these days. In contrast, there are numerable fresh water salmon fishing opportunities all over the west and east sides of the Cascades. My vote: Yakima River = Wild Trout = Fly-fishing only. Gary Meyers Kirkland > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Willy Gevers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 1:29 PM > Subject: RE: Yakima Report-TARGET SALMON > > >> Finally a breath of fresh air and candor - We should all be for the >> protection and C&R of our wild and endangered runs - but hatchery bred >> salmon in the Yakima? I don't plan on fishing for them myself - but I do >> empathize with Milburn... > > well, i will say this. the yakima hatchery was supposed to be one of a new > breed of hatcheries that uses wild brood stock in an attempt to help bring > back wild, naturally spawning salmon. with wdfw's track record, this may > not actually be true... but let's see. salmon belong in the yakima as much > as the trout, and those salmon that come from the yakima do provide sport > for the coastal offshore fishermen (myself included). wouldn't it be nice > to have wild salmon spawning in the yakima and providing more nutrients > along with providing some more fishing opportunities. i don't want to see > the trout fishing suffer... but killing fish based solely on the fact that > they aren't rainbows seems pretty counterproductive to me and reminds me of > other species such as dollies that were once killed solely because of > alleged impacts on "worthwhile" fish species. > > chris > >
