Where dI'd the Halibut go? With answer

Do u you feel like it was harder to find a Halibut this year? Well you are right, it was. That is because there were less fish to be caught this year. Where did they go? Read my click bait to find out. Seriously though, read the article, we are getting screwed as sport fisherman.
https://halibutchronicles.com/2017/05/02/washingtons-sport-halibut-fishing-dirty-secrets-that-screw-sports-anglers/

I can say, unequivocally, that this author is an idiot.  That's probably why the fisheries manager blew him off.

Having a tribal longlining fishery a couple days before the sport opener sucks, sure, he got off to a good start, but then he train wrecks.  Maybe he could attend IPHC meetings and show up to the PFMC and NMFS meetings and see just how bad California gets screwed for halibut instead of complaining about our season.  Washington gets extra fish because of California, not in spite of it, and at Californias expense.  The entire 2A allocation scheme is driven by Washington and CA is a red headed stepchild.  Why not complain about the southern Oregon allocation south of humbug mtn?  They have a wide open season from May 1-October 31 or til filled quota, no all depth openers (or closures), and no restrictions on bottomfish possession while halibut are on board.

The numbers are good, the math is good, there is way more fishing pressure in WA than there is south of humbug mtn, and WA already harvests at well over 100% of sustainable harvest by borrowing fish from California for PFMC and IPHC accounting purposes. 

I can say, unequivocally, that this author is an idiot.  That's probably why the fisheries manager blew him off.

Having a tribal longlining fishery a couple days before the sport opener sucks, sure, he got off to a good start, but then he train wrecks.  Maybe he could attend IPHC meetings and show up to the PFMC and NMFS meetings and see just how bad California gets screwed for halibut instead of complaining about our season.  Washington gets extra fish because of California, not in spite of it, and at Californias expense.  The entire 2A allocation scheme is driven by Washington and CA is a red headed stepchild.  Why not complain about the southern Oregon allocation south of humbug mtn?  They have a wide open season from May 1-October 31 or til filled quota, no all depth openers (or closures), and no restrictions on bottomfish possession while halibut are on board.

The numbers are good, the math is good, there is way more fishing pressure in WA than there is south of humbug mtn, and WA already harvests at well over 100% of sustainable harvest by borrowing fish from California for PFMC and IPHC accounting purposes. 

Who asked you?

I can say, unequivocally, that this author is an idiot.  That's probably why the fisheries manager blew him off.

Having a tribal longlining fishery a couple days before the sport opener sucks, sure, he got off to a good start, but then he train wrecks.  Maybe he could attend IPHC meetings and show up to the PFMC and NMFS meetings and see just how bad California gets screwed for halibut instead of complaining about our season.  Washington gets extra fish because of California, not in spite of it, and at Californias expense.  The entire 2A allocation scheme is driven by Washington and CA is a red headed stepchild.  Why not complain about the southern Oregon allocation south of humbug mtn?  They have a wide open season from May 1-October 31 or til filled quota, no all depth openers (or closures), and no restrictions on bottomfish possession while halibut are on board.

The numbers are good, the math is good, there is way more fishing pressure in WA than there is south of humbug mtn, and WA already harvests at well over 100% of sustainable harvest by borrowing fish from California for PFMC and IPHC accounting purposes. 

Who asked you?

Same person that asked you.  I especially liked the part where you pointed out that I was wrong. 

I just thought it was harsh to call the guy an idiot for having an opinion.

Something about Halibut really gets us worked up here on the forum 

I just thought it was harsh to call the guy an idiot for having an opinion.

That's the thing about opinions though.  You can't call out facts, math, science, etc. and just say that its your opinion that it's wrong just because you don't understand it.  Facts and science don't care what your opinion is.  It might be your opinion that the earth is flat.  That makes you an idiot.  You can't defend something just by saying "well, that's my opinion" like all opinions are valid.  They aren't.  And you should expect to get called out on it.  Especially by the people that you are attacking or trying to take something away from when spouting your stupid opinion.

And yeah, halibut are like the third rail around here I guess.

Something about Halibut really gets us worked up here on the forum 

Totally agree, is there a reason for this?  It seems super secretive and if questions are asked they are typically met with aggression or simply ignored. . Not necessarily the case here but I have noticed it as a trend on this, which is odd because everyone on this site has been very friwndly and open with info.

No matter how you look at it, it is a poorly written article and argument.

-Allen

No matter how you look at it, it is a poorly written article and argument.

-Allen

I agree I was referring more to the site in general

No matter how you look at it, it is a poorly written article and argument.

-Allen

I agree I was referring more to the site in general

I think it is a byproduct of a couple factors.

1) Limited fishery, at least the Neah Bay one.  This is fishing, one should expect some secrets to be held.
2) For experienced kayak anglers only, often times fishing well away from the launch, in less than ideal and very exposed conditions.

-Allen

Halibut hole locations are handed down, entrusted to the closest friends, or found by hard work.  I don't find it surprising that halibut information isn't being passed around or shared openly.

No shame in that.

I also agree with Allen's thoughts about the difficulty factor just from being that far offshore.

I guses my point of posting the article was not to support the author and his ideas, but the fact that a couple days before we (in Washington) were "Alowed" to fish for Halibut, the tribes went out and raped the area. It seemed a lot less halibut were caught by sport fisherman this year than previous years (for opening week where weather wasn't really a factor). The tribes knew what they were doing, I believe it was intentional. Its a real kick in the shorts.

"Unequivocally"

I guses my point of posting the article was not to support the author and his ideas, but the fact that a couple days before we (in Washington) were "Alowed" to fish for Halibut, the tribes went out and raped the area. It seemed a lot less halibut were caught by sport fisherman this year than previous years (for opening week where weather wasn't really a factor). The tribes knew what they were doing, I believe it was intentional. Its a real kick in the shorts.

"Unequivocally"

Do you think that means the sporties won't meet their quota?  FWIW, in MA3 and MA4, roughly 43K of the 73K of quota was caught, after only 2 days of the season, with a possible 5 more days of season.  Many factors can go into a poor showing, but it doesn't change the fact that we sporties will regularly catch our full quota.

The real issue is that we're fighting over the scraps ...

-Allen

I guses my point of posting the article was not to support the author and his ideas, but the fact that a couple days before we (in Washington) were "Alowed" to fish for Halibut, the tribes went out and raped the area. It seemed a lot less halibut were caught by sport fisherman this year than previous years (for opening week where weather wasn't really a factor). The tribes knew what they were doing, I believe it was intentional. Its a real kick in the shorts.

"Unequivocally"

The real issue is that we're fighting over the scraps ...

-Allen

Ayup. 

That said, I think questioning the WDFW methods for estimating the catch rates is fair game.  There is a point to be made there, however inelegantly the author of the article in the OP made it.

If we're destined to fight over scraps, we should at least have confidence that we're getting all the scraps we're supposed to.