BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
The Icicle Creek spring Chinook sport fishery has not only been postponed – it’s been canceled for the entire season.
“We are not going to open the Icicle this year. Surveyors have confirmed that the fish have migrated past the recreational fishing boundary meaning there is no longer a fishery to open,” stated a WDFW spokesman around 10:45 this morning.
They said more information would be available later this week.
Last Wednesday, May 27, WDFW had announced that the Leavenworth-area stream would open for hatchery spring Chinook fishing beginning at sunrise this past Sunday, May 31, but then an after-hours rule change issued Friday evening, May 29, said the opener had been postponed “until further notice.”
They blamed the delay on an “inoperable fish ladder that is preventing broodstock collection” at Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, which is just off the Icicle south of town.
In their emailed notice Friday evening, WDFW initially said that fishery managers would reassess the situation “beginning Monday, June 1.” Online, they changed that to a more nebulous “beginning next week.”
Yakama Nation fishermen were told on Tuesday, May 26, about problems with the ladder and that the tribal fishery was closed.
WDFW’s switcheroo – open then postpone – was subsequent to that.
On Saturday, May 30, Badger Fishing stated that the facts around WDFW’s reason for the closure “are not true” and, citing a purported text from internal sources, said it was related to tribal managers concerned about state angler catch rates before their fishermen were on the water but that the water issues would be used as a cover story.
USFWS sources tell me that water intake issues at Leavenworth NFH began in early May with a leak in a main water pipe to the facility, and that led to the discovery of a failing section. The result was no surface water for the juvenile holding ponds, and so around 1 million smolts had to be transported to another hatchery while repairs were made.
And without that water source, the fish ladder was also rendered inoperable, which meant no broodstock could be collected, they said.
Crews began work on a temporary solution to pump enough water into the ponds and ladder, and that system was in place by Saturday, allowing managers to run water into the hatchery and for springers to swim up the ladder.
As of midmorning today, Leavenworth NFH reported 550 adult Chinook in the holding enclosure.
A Yakama Nation Fisheries post yesterday said the hatchery needs 1,000 adults to meet broodstock goals and that no fishing would be allowed till 700 had entered the facility.
“Co-managers are meeting daily to discuss brood collection, and fishing options,” tribal managers said.
A total of 1,700 Icicle springers are forecast this year, a below-average return but at least enough for WDFW at one time to have authorized daily fishing with a one-hatchery-Chinook bag limit.
As it stands, perhaps Yakama fishermen will still be able to tap into this year’s run, given where they fish right near the hatchery. Good luck.
And as for state anglers, on the bright side, if every last Chinook is indeed already through the sportfishing portion of the Icicle, this cancellation will save them a whole lot of wasted time and fruitless efforts on the creek.
True, this is a really strange situation with the pipes and ladder, but if there are some late or lingering fish downstream in the Icicle, this is a troubling and frustrating development that has resulted in lost opportunity at a time when Highway 2 Chinook fisheries are being lost left and now right of Stevens Pass.
