Washington Coast Winter Steelhead Rules Proposal Out Ahead Of Fish Comm Meeting

Washington Coast steelhead rules for the 2024-25 season are coming into increasing focus, including the proposed reopening of sections of some Grays Harbor rivers and boat fishing on all of the Hoh, but no bait in December after all.

Those are some of the highlights from a presentation WDFW fishery managers will make to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission’s Fish Committee starting at 10 a.m. this morning. The regs must also be finalized with tribal comanangers before the final package is announced later this month.

At a meeting earlier in November, WDFW had floated allowing baits such as eggs and sand shrimp in December up and down the coast for the first time in over half a decade, but now it looks like the agency will stick with selective-gear regs, which bar bait and scent, along with the usual one-single-barbless-hook and release-wild-rainbow-trout rules.

Per the presentation, while there was support for using bait in December to boost harvest of hatchery steelhead, there were also concerns about the impact on early-returning wild fish – they’re not just a February-May run.

“We were attempting balance additional opportunity with the use of bait coupled with the understanding that some additional mortality on those early-returning wild fish would occur,” explained Kelly Cunningham, WDFW Fish Program director, in an email this morning. “We have received a lot of comment about the use of bait – some in opposition and some in support. I’ve had numerous conversations with recreational anglers and a few guides who have shared their perspective that the use of bait is inconsequential to their ability to catch fish. For these reasons, we have reconsidered the use of bait in these December steelhead fisheries.”

Where the Chehalis and Humptulips were shut down last season due to below-escapement forecasts, they would reopen in part for this winter, thanks to improved expected returns, with the Hump open through February 2 up to Highway 101 and the Chehalis below the Skookumchuck, as well as lower Skookumchuck, Satsop below Shaffer Park and Wynoochee below the 7400 line bridge open through the end of February.

Fishing from a boat would be allowed daily on the Hoh. Last year saw only one portion open and only on select days for a gear study.

Rules for the Quillayute and Willapa Bay systems look similar to last winter.

Where earlier in this winter’s season-setting process WDFW suggested that the popular April fisheries on northern coast streams were still to be determined, none appear to specifically have been proposed.

“We’re still in conversations with co-managers,” stated Cunningham. “That said – and I mentioned it at last week’s town hall – I remain concerned about kelts.”

Survival of these postspawn outmigrating steelhead has dwindled from 20 percent in the early 1990s to 12 percent in recent years, per a recent review.

As for the Queets and Quinault Rivers, no proposals are spelled out and they are subject to a meeting early next week with the Quinault Indian Nation. The state and feds, and QIN disagree on the escapement goal for the Queets by 1,700 fish, but the return-to-river-mouth forecast of 4,345 tops the higher of those two goals by 145.

The coastwide wild steelhead forecast for this season is 36,756, which is down a bit from last winter’s actual rivermouth return of 39,392 and spawning escapement of 37,051 but also 11,000 fish more than 2020-21’s nadir that kicked off all the heavy restrictions.

The sharpened 2024-25 coastal steelhead proposals come after two WDFW town halls earlier this fall with anglers and others, and they also follow on last week’s worrisome findings that Olympic Peninsula fish are at “moderate risk of extinction,” per a federal status review team.

Factors include ongoing and future climate change impacts and past harvest rates, among others. A joint state-tribal working group also pointed to North Pacific pink salmon abundance, sea surface temps and currents as affecting the long-term viability of the population because of their correlation to lower smolt and kelt survival.

While a final decision on an Endangered Species Act listing for the distinct population segment is still to be determined and wouldn’t affect this season’s regs, Cunningham noted earlier this week that “the report has us thinking hard about the regulations for this year.” 

The release of the status review may or may not have been forced by the threat of a lawsuit from Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler, which had petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service for a listing back in September 2022 and led the feds to initially conclude one “may be warranted” early last year, kicking off the 12-month deep dive into the stock.

In the overall winter steelhead season-setting process, Cunningham said WDFW has been attempting to balance fishing opportunities with conservation.

“We remain concerned about these coastal populations and continue to look to the Statewide Steelhead Management Plan and the associated Viable Salmonid Populations parameters as guidance.  Those parameters include diversity, productivity, spatial structure, and abundance,” he said.