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Wild Umpqua River Steelhead
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Well, this piece has been a long time coming, but it’s finally here, and I couldn’t be more excited. Last winter my close friend Niall Boggs introduced me to this issue and I challenged him to create some text that might inspire a few individuals to get involved. Niall is a passionate angler who loves everything about steelheading, so I wasn’t surprised that he poured his heart and soul into this work. He has worked together with prominent local anglers in Southwest Oregon to bring us this piece. For my part, I added a few edits, created an online petition, and made a promise to introduce this important issue to as many fellow anglers as possible through my affiliations with the West Yellowstone Fly Shop. I urge everyone who loves big wild fish to read on, and if you are inspired to do so, take action and express your support for the changes we are advocating.
Cheers,
Matt
HELP PROTECT THE UMPQUA RIVER’S WILD WINTER STEELHEAD!
By: Niall Boggs
Last winter, while floating the main stem of Oregon’s Umpqua River, I witnessed the legal killing of a magnificent, wild, female, winter steelhead. The two “gentlemen” who dispatched the fish with a wooden bat across the head yelled out for all to hear, “18 pounds!” as bright, red blood shot out of her gills.
They killed a beautiful fish that day, but worse than that, they also killed the thousands of eggs – future steelhead - that she was carrying to the spawning grounds.
This event was shocking for its brutality, and because allowing the sport harvest of wild steelhead is a practice that is illegal on nearly every other river in the Western United States that supports wild/native populations of steelhead. This is due to the fact that wild steelhead populations are in massive decline across almost their entire range (see sidebar.)
Below the flyfishing only water on the North Umpqua and down the main stem of the Umpqua River sport anglers are currently allowed to kill wild winter steelhead. The regulations allow for the harvest of one wild fish per day, five per year. These regulations have been in effect since the winter of 2005-2006, but I, and many others, believe they should be changed. We are coming to you looking for help and support. TAKE ACTION NOW. Let your feelings be known by signing our online petition that will be presented to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) in early July, 2007. If you are uncomfortable including your complete mailing address on the petition, we ask that you please include your city and state/province/country so that ODFW can see that support for the proposed regulation change is both local and worldwide.
Read on for more about the Umpqua River’s incredible steelhead…
Recently, I discussed the ODFW’s regulations allowing the killing of wild winter steelhead with Scott Howell, one of the region’s top flyfishing guides (www.scotthowellfishing.com).
Howell grew up in Oregon and has been fishing the Umpqua system since the 1970s when he was a young boy. He has guided professionally for 19 years in fishing Meccas from Northern California north to Alaska’s Bristol Bay and west across the Bearing Sea into Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. He has spent seasons fishing British Columbia’s Skeena system, Vancouver Island and Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, getting to know these regions’ rivers and steelhead intimately.
Howell believes the wild winter steelhead run on Umpqua River system rivals any in the world.
In addition to the impressive numbers, the Umpqua system is known as a trophy fishery. Howell’s biggest steelhead while guiding this winter went an estimated 26 pounds.
The main wild steelhead producer for the system is the North Umpqua, which is managed as a wild winter fishery, and is unique in the fact that it has never had hatchery plants of winter steelhead. Coupled with the large wild run up the Main Stem and North fork, the South Umpqua has a robust hatchery program.
The other main tributary of the main stem Umpqua is the South Umpqua, where wild winter steelhead stocks have declined precipitously over the last few years. On the South Umpqua, no harvest of wild steelhead is allowed.
One of the biggest problems is that a majority of the steelhead fishing occurs just downstream of the confluence of the North and South forks during low water periods. Anglers are targeting fish from both North and South Forks, including South Umpqua fish that according to ODFW shouldn’t be harvested.
The Umpqua is a river that, at times, is literally teeming with large, bright winter steelhead while many other rivers in the Pacific Northwest are on the decline or nearly void of winter steelhead. Guess where all the steelhead anglers head? During our interview Howell told me he has seen about a tenfold increase in angling pressure during the last decade despite documented decreases in overall number of anglers pursuing winter steelhead.
“ODFW is playing with regulations that allow the harvest of wild fish at the same time we are experiencing an exponential increase in fishing pressure,” he said. He spoke of one of those days when the bite is really on and everyone is catching fish.
“In this one hole there were 30 to 40 boats,” Howell said. “I saw probably 50 or more wild fish killed in that spot. I bet you that over 100 wild fish were killed on the river that day.”
Howell said ODFW believes a 35 percent harvest rate on the winter steelhead run is sustainable without a conservation threat. He said that 22,400 wild fish are reported to return to the system each winter. That 35 percent harvest rate translates into 7,840 dead, wild steelhead.
ODFW estimates 4,000 winter steelhead were harvested this winter season from the Umpqua, according to Howell, with about 70 percent of those being wild fish. Of those harvested fish, 644 are guessed to be wild South Umpqua winter steelhead -- the same depleted stock that cannot sustain harvest. What is ODFW thinking?
This season, according to ODFW, 9,631 winter steelhead crossed Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua as of April 30. A number of these are hatchery strays from the South Umpqua, up to 1,000 fish by some estimates. So, there is potential to really make a dent in the wild fish of the forks. The big question is, how many wild steelhead could have returned to spawn this year?
What I see as being the greatest danger of the current regulations is the probable slow decline in the quality of the fish we encounter in the Umpqua River system. The current regulations offer no protection to the very largest of the wild Umpqua steelhead. They do not take into account human nature, which will almost always choose to keep the largest trophy steelhead, such as the 18-pound hen I saw killed last winter.
Howell says he sees this play out quite a bit on the river. The current regulations allow you to keep one wild fish per day. On those days when a catch-and-keep angler is hammering fish, the trophy hunter in that person comes alive and the angler only wants to keep “the big one.” So there is an artificial selection pressure on the population that allows all the small six-pound fish to spawn, while the 15-pound plus trophies are taken out of the spawning population with higher frequency.
If there is doubt in your mind that this happens, I refer you to the Kenai River in Alaska that was once known for trophy Chinook Salmon topping 90 pounds. Kenai anglers and sport fishing magazines these days will explain how the big fish “glory days” of the Kenai are pretty much over due to people only keeping their trophy catches and releasing the smaller fish. This happened in only two or three decades from when it became a very popular trophy fishery. Scott says of the Kenai “the fish have gotten smaller and smaller, and now 60-pound salmon are considered big up there.” It used to be the “big” fish up there were in the 70-80-90-pound range. This same scenario will likely happen on the Umpqua system if the regulations are not changed. No more steelhead pushing 30 pounds. No more multiple fish over 20 pounds seasons. Just average fishing for five- to 12-pound fish. Don’t let this happen to the magnificent Umpqua fishery.
So what can you do to help save this unique fishery? I have included a link to an online petition that will be submitted to ODFW in early July. If you are uncomfortable including your complete mailing address on the petition, we ask that you please include your city and state/province/country so that ODFW can see that support for the proposed regulation change is both local and worldwide. TAKE ACTION NOW.
Signing this petition should take less than two minutes of your time. This petition is the same as the one that is circulating around Southwest and Central Oregon fishing shops and has the endorsement of the Umpqua Fishermen’s Association, a coalition of fishing guides on the Umpqua River. Scott Howell and the others who originated this petition are optimistic about turning the Umpqua kill regulations around. The most important way we can influence the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is to let them know that a majority of the angling public wants to protect this tremendous run of wild steelhead. Regardless of whether or not current run of wild, Umpqua River winter steelhead can support a sustainable harvest, as concerned anglers and citizens, we feel that the recreational, cultural, and economic benefits of a catch-and-release fishery for wild/native steelhead throughout the Umpqua River watershed far outweigh the questionable and undocumented benefits of continued harvest of non-adipose fin clipped fish.
If you have a little more ambition, in addition to signing the petition we recommend that you write a letter to Jim Muck, Umpqua Watershed District Fish Biologist, and the members of the state commission expressing you concerns.
Mr. Jim Muck Umpqua Watershed District Fish Biologist 4192 N. Umpqua Highway Roseburg, OR 97470
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission 3406 Cherry Avenue N.E.Salem, OR 97303-4924
Skip Klarquist Zalutsky & Klarquist, PC, 215 SW Washington Street, 3rd Floor, Portland, OR 97204
Zane Smith Jr. 1243 Delrose Drive, Springfield, OR 97477-1594
Dan Edge Department of Fisheries and Wildlife OSU, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331-2910
Carter Kerns 503 N Main St., Pendleton, OR 97801-2243
Jon Englund Englund Marine Supply Co, Inc., PO Box 296, Astoria , OR 97103
Bobby Levy PO Box 69, Echo , OR 97826
I have included a rough draft of a letter that will get you started. Please feel free to use it as a base and tweak it however you feel appropriate. Heck, if you are feeling lazy, all you have to do is fill in the date at the top and your name at the bottom and send it off.
Letter Rough Draft
Date, 2007
Mr. Jim Muck Umpqua Watershed District Fish Biologist 4192 N. Umpqua Highway Roseburg, OR 97470
RE: ODFW regulations for wild steelhead harvest on the Umpqua River
Dear Mr. Muck,
The current regulations for wild Umpqua winter steelhead need to be revised for the 2008 season to prohibit the harvest of wild fish. The reasons for changing the regulations are many; they relate to the health of the Umpqua’s wild steelhead fishery, to the economic benefit of the fishery and to the quality of the Umpqua fishing experience.
The current regulations offer no protection to the very largest of the wild Umpqua steelhead. They do not take into account human nature, which will almost always choose to keep the largest trophy steelhead. This puts an artificial selection pressure against large fish in the population.
The Umpqua’s large, wild steelhead are what make the river such a special place to fish and what attract anglers from all over the country. The quality of the habitat throughout the Umpqua system, and most particularly on the North Umpqua, has the potential to offer the best winter steelhead fishing in the United States. High numbers of big, wild fish mean lots of dollars pumped into local economies by visiting and local anglers. Reducing the size and quantity of the species will reduce those dollars.
The decision to allow the killing of wild fish was made during the 2003-2004 season. That season represented the highest returns in recent memory, when more than 14,000 winter steelhead crossed Winchester Dam. The Pacific Ocean was in the peak of a number of productive years, and high runs were reflected in other anadromous fisheries across the Northwest. In the following season, 2004-2005, nature once again showed her cyclical side, and the winter run dropped to 7,500 fish.
It certainly seems as though a shortsighted decision was made in a year of plenty without regard to the long-term health of the fishery. The wild winter steelhead in the Umpqua system have excellent habitat and genetics working for them. I believe that with a little help from ODFW, the runs of these fish could be second to none in the lower 48. The regulations should be permanently altered to protect the wild steelhead of the Umpqua harvest by anglers.
Thank you,
Your Name
Cc: Skip Klarquist, Zane Smith Jr., Dan Edge, Carter Kerns, Jon Englund, Bobby Levy
SIDEBAR
In the past few years there has been considerable research documenting the decline of the wild steelhead populations. I refer you to the following:
1. the Afterword to Dec Hogan’s book, A Passion for Steelhead written by Peter W. Soverell
2. Salmon Without Rivers by Jim Lichatowich
3. A speech by Bill McMillan at the 2007 Native Fish Society auction - http://www.nativefishsociety.org/documents/BillMcMillansSpeech.pdf
4. Status of Wild Steelhead and Their Management in Western Washington: Strategies for Conservation and Recreation, released by the Wild Steelhead Coalition - http://www.wildsteelheadcoalition.com/Repository/WP2_5.10.pdf
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