Hi guys, Just a couple of questions for you all.
I have been having a discussion with a few anglers about a particular regulation question.. The question is: On rivers that you are allowed to fish for salmon and steelhead, if you have reached your limit of salmon, are you still allowed to fish for steelhead? I have repeatedly checked the regs and could not find the part where it says that you are required to stop. The closest rule that I know of is; If you catch your limit of adult salmon first, even if the rule states that you can keep jacks, you may not continue fishing. However there is none that states you can't proceed to fish if you're fishing for another specie. I have called the WDFW hotline and asked the question and I was told you are allowed to continue to fish. I relayed this to the folks I have been in discussion with and they say they have received a different answer when they called the same number years back. What say you?
Second question:
Been fishing a particular river lately and have been doing incredibly good with the cohos. Caught a bright 6 lb hen and I was surprised how large its stomach was and how much eggs this hen was carrying. When I opened her up, she was full of eggs alright but not just her own. She had immature eggs of her own, but her stomach was so full of swallowed/eaten singular eggs. It was so full that her stomach looked like a third egg skein. In all my years of fishing, and volunteering at multiple hatcheries years back, I have observed fish take in, crush, then spit eggs. As others would say, for the preservation of their species or due to competition. But this is a first for me. This I know is more a characteristic of dollies, rainbow trout and SRCs as they feed on salmon eggs. Has anyone ever seen this before? Or anyone know the explanation for it.
Thanks in advance for the response..
Tight lines
John
I have been having a discussion with a few anglers about a particular regulation question.. The question is: On rivers that you are allowed to fish for salmon and steelhead, if you have reached your limit of salmon, are you still allowed to fish for steelhead? I have repeatedly checked the regs and could not find the part where it says that you are required to stop. The closest rule that I know of is; If you catch your limit of adult salmon first, even if the rule states that you can keep jacks, you may not continue fishing. However there is none that states you can't proceed to fish if you're fishing for another specie. I have called the WDFW hotline and asked the question and I was told you are allowed to continue to fish. I relayed this to the folks I have been in discussion with and they say they have received a different answer when they called the same number years back. What say you?
Second question:
Been fishing a particular river lately and have been doing incredibly good with the cohos. Caught a bright 6 lb hen and I was surprised how large its stomach was and how much eggs this hen was carrying. When I opened her up, she was full of eggs alright but not just her own. She had immature eggs of her own, but her stomach was so full of swallowed/eaten singular eggs. It was so full that her stomach looked like a third egg skein. In all my years of fishing, and volunteering at multiple hatcheries years back, I have observed fish take in, crush, then spit eggs. As others would say, for the preservation of their species or due to competition. But this is a first for me. This I know is more a characteristic of dollies, rainbow trout and SRCs as they feed on salmon eggs. Has anyone ever seen this before? Or anyone know the explanation for it.
Thanks in advance for the response..
Tight lines
John