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Cedar River

3K views 28 replies 23 participants last post by  jasmillo 
#1 ·
Hey all,

Quick question here. I haven't followed the whole NOF process super closely. However, as I understand it, essentially all rivers and lakes in the Puget Sound with anadromous populations are closed and will be closed until there is some resolution. The Cedar River has become one of my favorite summer fisheries, but as things stand now, there won't be any opener in June. Is that correct?

Brian
 
#5 ·
With all that is closed or is going to close, where do you guys fish?? In the bath tub or all the put and take lakes.

To get above all the barriers on most rivers you have to really get up high. And most don't have roads to the top. Lots of hiking involved.
 
#14 ·
With all that is closed or is going to close, where do you guys fish?? In the bath tub or all the put and take lakes.

To get above all the barriers on most rivers you have to really get up high. And most don't have roads to the top. Lots of hiking involved.
Montana, get ready for Puget Sound refugees!
 
#9 ·
Not really Larry.
All of their bass tournaments scheduled for Lake Washington & Sammamish are cancelled as of now due to the failed NOF negotiations.
No salmon, no trout, not steelhead, no perch , no bass, no crappie, no.....in many places you wouldn't think would be closed due to NOF.
SF
 
#11 ·
If it ends up closed all season this year, I hope fish and wildlife send a whole bunch of people out to the Cedar to enforce on all the poachers/people not following the regs, and to ticket litterers and/or force them to pack out their trash.

It is a frustrating river, as for every law-abiding person, seems like there are two or more people who ignore the regs with impunity. I've sometimes tried to explain the regulations to folks.....with mixed results.

Frankly, if everyone truly stopped fishing it for a year it would probably benefit the fishery, which has declined over last few years. However, if the flat-out poachers, the litter-bugs and the "I practice C&R, dude - I unhook trout from all the barbed hooks hanging off my Rapala, just as soon as I get my hands on the fish after dragging it up on the rocks" folks still abuse the river freely, that will suck.

Thus ends my rant. I typically get one anti-littering rant in per year. Normally, I pen it after a day hauling out trash in one hand and holding my fly rod in the other. With this rant submitted "in advance," I now owe the universe at least one trash pick-up day at later date.
 
#21 ·
I'm generally a silver lining, let's find the bright side of this kinda guy, but this is whole NOF shutdown is a tough one.

I rarely fish the salt (although I always tell myself 'this is gonna be the year') but I feel for the guys that do. I do fish the Cedar quite a bit. It's my 'go to' after work stress relief during the summer, and usually provides enough good memories to get me through a good part of the winter.

Kyle is right, this isn't going to benefit anadromous fish in the least - the regular annual season on the Cedar already takes that into account.

But, like Brian W. mentions, it is going to make the illegal fishing on the Cedar a whole lot easier to spot and maybe that will mean less of it....and maybe a year off will improve the health of the fishery. Still, I feel like I'm reaching for some very thin silver linings here...

Perhaps this will be the year of focusing on unlocking the secrets of Green Lake for after work stress relief...
 
#26 ·
I'm probably moving to the US Virgin Islands soon and will be visiting for long periods of time for the next 6 months. The tropics are looking better and better!

BTW, re the South Fork Sky drainage, indeed... Gary Knowels and I saw quite a few salmon way up on a certain piece of water up there. It was surprising. Bummer if that whole drainage is shut down this summer. Add to my growing list of why WA sucks. (I've lived here all my life, I'm entitled to say that)
 
#28 ·
Wow. I had heard this might happen, but didn't know it was for real. That's heartbreaking. I learned to fly fish on that river last summer and I credit the time I spent out there in July and August with pulling me out of a really bad place I had been in emotionally for a year or so. It sounds cheesy, but fly fishing the Cedar literally changed my life. I've been counting down the days to the first Saturday in June ever since it closed last year.

And for the record, closing that stream to protect salmon runs is bullshit with a big capital "B." I spent hours - if not days - on the water and saw literally one salmon. If they really want to replenish the runs, fire up the Black River again.
 
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