wind river spring chinook

WDFW FISHING RULE CHANGE   
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov

May 4, 2007

Spring chinook daily limit and area increased
on the Wind River beginning Saturday, May 5

Action:   Up to two spring chinook or hatchery steelhead may be retained in the daily limit from the Wind River beginning May 5.  In addition, the area upstream from Shipherd Falls opens to fishing. 

Species affected:   Chinook and steelhead

Effective dates: May 5 through June 30, 2007

Location:   Wind River from mouth (boundary line/markers) to 400 feet below Shipherd Falls and from 100 feet above Shipherd Falls to boundary markers approximately 800 yards downstream of Carson National Fish Hatchery

Daily limits:   Daily limit is two spring chinook or two hatchery steelhead or one of each.  Release wild steelhead.  Release wild chinook downstream from Shipherd Falls.   Minimum size 12 inches for salmon and 20 inches for steelhead.

Other information:   Night closure and non-buoyant lure restrictions are in effect.  When non-buoyant lure restrictions are in effect, only fish hooked inside the mouth may be retained.     

Wind River from 400 feet below to 100 feet above Shipherd Falls and 400 feet below to 100 feet above the coffer dam remain closed to fishing.  In addition, the river from the boundary marker downstream of Carson National Fish Hatchery upstream, including all tributaries, remains closed to all fishing. 

Reason for action:   In-season monitoring shows the spring chinook return to Wind River is likely larger than originally forecasted.  Only 2,100 adult spring chinook were expected to return in 2007.  Based on Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag recovery data from returning adult chinook at Bonneville Dam, twice as many fish may be headed back to the Wind.  Already, nearly 100 fish have been counted at the Shipherd Falls trap and the first fish of the season had returned to the hatchery.             

Information contact:   (360) 696-6211.  For latest information press *1010. 

I gave Drano a try for springers last Friday in the x-Factor from 5AM to 8AM.  Trolled herring and orange wigglewarts.  Nothing to show for it.  Fishing seemed really slow.
Mike