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http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081113/LIFE/811130301
Decent numbers of albacore tuna, halibut helped anglers weather the worst salmon year on record
November 13, 2008
By Mark Freeman
Mail Tribune
776-4470
mfreeman@mailtribune.com
Oregon's old, second-tier ocean fisheries carried the load again this year, forcing anglers to look far and deep to make up for the worst ocean salmon-fishing season on record here.
Oregon's recreational fleet spent fewer days fishing for coho and chinook salmon and caught fewer of these Pacific Northwest mainstays than they did for either albacore tuna — which are caught far offshore — or Pacific halibut, which ply the deepest waters off the coast.
"That was a really good season for us on halibut," says Wayne Butler, a Bandon charter-boat operator. "Salmon fishing was so spotty, so hit-and-miss that I didn't want to do it. But for halibut, it was 100-percent success every trip."
This shift in effort and success was the short-term answer for anglers trying to make the best of a bad situation. In the longer term, prospects appear brighter, with some biologists saying the state may have hit the bottom of the current salmon slump.
"That's pretty safe to say because this year was so bad," says Brandon Ford from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Marine Program in Newport. "When they said that salmon fishing stunk, they meant it. They weren't whistling Dixie."
It was a double-whammy for anglers fishing out of Brookings, where recent years have brought enough good tuna fishing days to lure people like Medford's John Hardey as far as 60 miles offshore.
But this year's ocean currents seemed to bypass Brookings and steer closer to Charleston and Newport, leaving Hardey and others with freezer space they didn't anticipate.
"We didn't do very well at all out of Brookings," says Hardey, who was skunked on two of his four tuna trips. "It was so bad, I just can't take it. Hopefully, things will get better."
Consider it paying your dues.
The recreational salmon season this year was the most restrictive ever, ratcheted down to make up for poor chinook returns coastwide after a string of years with poor ocean-rearing conditions.
Oregon-wide, recreational chinook landings came in at about 1,700 fish, compared to the long-term annual average of 25,200 chinook, Ford says.
The catch was more than half that of the worst-ever prior year, when anglers landed about 4,000 chinook in 1998, Ford says.
The fishery for fin-clipped coho salmon was not much better.
Anglers brought to port just 12,100 fin-clipped coho, the lowest harvest since the ban on killing wild coho in the ocean went into effect in 1999, Ford says.
Since 1999, sport anglers landed an average of 50,300 hatchery coho.
Not only were catches down, but effort plunged, as well.
The pleasure-boat fleet — and charters collectively — saw just 30,200 angler-trips for chinook and coho salmon this year, well under one-third of the average of about 96,900 angler-trips seen here since 1999, Ford says.
"To sum it up, that's just sad," Ford says.
The bright spots, however, were halibut and tuna.
Both fisheries were active, even though the final tallies were down from the record-setting success of 2007.
Fueled mainly by mid-coast anglers, about 7,100 angler-trips last summer netted about 24,300 albacore tuna, Ford says.
Those numbers likely would have been higher except for rough seas and high fuel prices that kept anglers at bay more often than they wanted, Ford says. Still, the trip numbers were more than twice the long-term average for this expanding fishery, and this year anglers averaged 3.4 albacore per trip, Ford says.
"It's not as big as last year, but there is definitely a dedicated group of guys going after tuna," Ford says.
Southern Oregon tuna anglers, however, had trouble reaching the fish.
With tuna-friendly currents often 60 miles offshore, it took a 12-hour trip to target them, Butler says.
"That's four hours out, four hours back and four hours fishing," Butler says. "That's not conducive to a good trip.
"Every year is different," Butler says. "We have to play it as it comes. This just wasn't our year."
Anglers also landed more than 15,100 Pacific halibut in 2008. That was 1,300 fewer halibut than in 2007, which was the most successful halibut year on record.
But the decrease was expected, because the International Pacific Halibut Commission set a lower quota for Oregon this year.
Conditions that make for good tuna fishing generally make for poor salmon-rearing conditions, because tuna need warm water and salmon prefer cooler, rougher seas that create more feed, such as bait fish and krill.
With most scientists pointing to friendlier conditions for salmon smolts that entered the ocean this year, better salmon returns are forecast for 2010 and beyond.
So an in-between year like 2008 could be a sign that a return to Oregon's more traditional fisheries may be on the horizon.
"Regardless of how interesting and exciting these other fisheries like tuna and halibut were, salmon is still the quintessential fishery of the Northwest," Ford says.
Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com.
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
Decent numbers of albacore tuna, halibut helped anglers weather the worst salmon year on record
November 13, 2008
By Mark Freeman
Mail Tribune
776-4470
mfreeman@mailtribune.com
Oregon's old, second-tier ocean fisheries carried the load again this year, forcing anglers to look far and deep to make up for the worst ocean salmon-fishing season on record here.
Oregon's recreational fleet spent fewer days fishing for coho and chinook salmon and caught fewer of these Pacific Northwest mainstays than they did for either albacore tuna — which are caught far offshore — or Pacific halibut, which ply the deepest waters off the coast.
"That was a really good season for us on halibut," says Wayne Butler, a Bandon charter-boat operator. "Salmon fishing was so spotty, so hit-and-miss that I didn't want to do it. But for halibut, it was 100-percent success every trip."
This shift in effort and success was the short-term answer for anglers trying to make the best of a bad situation. In the longer term, prospects appear brighter, with some biologists saying the state may have hit the bottom of the current salmon slump.
"That's pretty safe to say because this year was so bad," says Brandon Ford from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Marine Program in Newport. "When they said that salmon fishing stunk, they meant it. They weren't whistling Dixie."
It was a double-whammy for anglers fishing out of Brookings, where recent years have brought enough good tuna fishing days to lure people like Medford's John Hardey as far as 60 miles offshore.
But this year's ocean currents seemed to bypass Brookings and steer closer to Charleston and Newport, leaving Hardey and others with freezer space they didn't anticipate.
"We didn't do very well at all out of Brookings," says Hardey, who was skunked on two of his four tuna trips. "It was so bad, I just can't take it. Hopefully, things will get better."
Consider it paying your dues.
The recreational salmon season this year was the most restrictive ever, ratcheted down to make up for poor chinook returns coastwide after a string of years with poor ocean-rearing conditions.
Oregon-wide, recreational chinook landings came in at about 1,700 fish, compared to the long-term annual average of 25,200 chinook, Ford says.
The catch was more than half that of the worst-ever prior year, when anglers landed about 4,000 chinook in 1998, Ford says.
The fishery for fin-clipped coho salmon was not much better.
Anglers brought to port just 12,100 fin-clipped coho, the lowest harvest since the ban on killing wild coho in the ocean went into effect in 1999, Ford says.
Since 1999, sport anglers landed an average of 50,300 hatchery coho.
Not only were catches down, but effort plunged, as well.
The pleasure-boat fleet — and charters collectively — saw just 30,200 angler-trips for chinook and coho salmon this year, well under one-third of the average of about 96,900 angler-trips seen here since 1999, Ford says.
"To sum it up, that's just sad," Ford says.
The bright spots, however, were halibut and tuna.
Both fisheries were active, even though the final tallies were down from the record-setting success of 2007.
Fueled mainly by mid-coast anglers, about 7,100 angler-trips last summer netted about 24,300 albacore tuna, Ford says.
Those numbers likely would have been higher except for rough seas and high fuel prices that kept anglers at bay more often than they wanted, Ford says. Still, the trip numbers were more than twice the long-term average for this expanding fishery, and this year anglers averaged 3.4 albacore per trip, Ford says.
"It's not as big as last year, but there is definitely a dedicated group of guys going after tuna," Ford says.
Southern Oregon tuna anglers, however, had trouble reaching the fish.
With tuna-friendly currents often 60 miles offshore, it took a 12-hour trip to target them, Butler says.
"That's four hours out, four hours back and four hours fishing," Butler says. "That's not conducive to a good trip.
"Every year is different," Butler says. "We have to play it as it comes. This just wasn't our year."
Anglers also landed more than 15,100 Pacific halibut in 2008. That was 1,300 fewer halibut than in 2007, which was the most successful halibut year on record.
But the decrease was expected, because the International Pacific Halibut Commission set a lower quota for Oregon this year.
Conditions that make for good tuna fishing generally make for poor salmon-rearing conditions, because tuna need warm water and salmon prefer cooler, rougher seas that create more feed, such as bait fish and krill.
With most scientists pointing to friendlier conditions for salmon smolts that entered the ocean this year, better salmon returns are forecast for 2010 and beyond.
So an in-between year like 2008 could be a sign that a return to Oregon's more traditional fisheries may be on the horizon.
"Regardless of how interesting and exciting these other fisheries like tuna and halibut were, salmon is still the quintessential fishery of the Northwest," Ford says.
Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com.
Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://ca.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250
