May Newsletter
Thursday, May 10th, 2007Hey Everyone, May 9, 2007
How is everyone doing? We have had a very busy spring. On all the keeper sturgeon days in April I was doing double days. I did a full day then a half day. Getting up at 4:00-4:30 am and getting home at 8:00-8:30pm everyday was a lot easier 10 years ago. I am becoming a big fan of “The Nap”. But, we did it and had some good trips however we had a few slow ones too. Folks, in this newsletter I am going to jump right into something that I am probably standing as a minority but I just believe I am right. Some of you have been getting my newsletter for several years now and you have heard me get on my soapbox well I have to do it again along with some ranting and raving. We have a great problem arising in our sturgeon and spring salmon fisheries. In years past we have always started our keeper sturgeon fishing in February and went through mid May. Those days are done. I have videos of early March where we are throwing back 15 or more keeper sturgeon a day and a lot of those are in the 50 inch range and we are doing that along with catching 40 other sub legals. Those days are gone. Why? What is going on? What do we do to fix it? We have the biggest population of White Sturgeon in the world and it is in one of the most beautiful places in the world, that being the Columbia River Gorge. I have fished the Northwest since I was a teenager and this is the worst I have ever seen. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to one of the F&G guys at the dock and he told me that they can account for 400 over size sturgeon killed by Sea lions. I know that you will find a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes in my newsletters but this is not one of them. I said 400 not 40. WE CANNOT SUSTAIN THAT! I remember about 4 years ago and this is when the F&G started messing with the sanctuary below Bonneville Dam. The F&G were in an uproar when we had 36 oversize sturgeon that came up dead. We were averaging about 12-15 a year and this was off the charts to them. So, they reacted and lowered the sanctuary. For you that are not sure what I am talking about. Years ago we implemented a sanctuary below Bonneville Dam and it is for a place that the over size sturgeon can go and spawn without being bothered. This was fine then when the 30 some sturgeon came up dead they lowered the dead line to give them more protected water. This was a political move and had nothing to do with the fish. I have too much to write about so I am not going to get into that too much but I will say that the lower river has been trying for years to close the fishing below Bonneville Dam so that when people book fishing trips the lower river is the only show in town. They have to book a lot of people to fill those big cattle boats. Lowering the dead line was a tool for them and not for the fish. There has NEVER big a fatality of a sturgeon being caught by rod and reel when done correctly. Anyway, there was an uproar of 30 some trophy sturgeon coming up dead and now we are seeing 400. We have to do something about that and do something about the fact that the keeper sturgeon in the spring are not coming up river. I know that I am kind of jumping around in this letter but I think it all is related. First we need to remember that the sturgeon are eaters and they are going to migrate to the food source. Since I was a kid the food source for keeper sturgeon in the spring was smelt that came up river by the millions and fill most of the tributaries of the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam. Now for the last many years we are seeing the smelt run depleting at a rapid rate and the spring sturgeon fishing has been falling at the same rate. I believe but I can’t prove it that that is the reason for our spring salmon run being so bad also. When you would catch a spring salmon in the lower river in March they would be stuffed full of smelt. The smelt are gone and so are the spring salmon. The difference is that salmon can replenish every 3 years. It takes sturgeon decades. Now for the trophy or oversize sturgeon, this is huge. It takes a female sturgeon 23-28 years just to get her reproduction system and a male 15-18 years. We CANNOT sustain the killing of these wonderful fish. Just this year in my little world I have seen 4 trophy sturgeon killed by sea lions and there is over 100 miles of river that the sea lions are working. Up to 5 years ago you never heard of a sea lion killing a sturgeon and now it is an epidemic. Sea lions are smart mammals and once they learn something it is taught to them all. I see more sturgeon killed by sea lions then salmon. But, what do we do? Sure we would all like to go hunting and take out these sea lions but are they are protected Federally. Are you going to jeopardize your hunting and carrying a firearm for a sea lion? Not me. We have to do something NOW. We are already have an impact that we cannot sustain and we will see closed fishing in 10-15 years when the impact hits us. See what happen to California’s sturgeon fishery when they were able to keep over size sturgeon for so many years. They fish all day now for 2-3 bites that is why they come up here and fish. Our slowest day is better then their best day and it is because they killed off the breeders and it takes so long for sturgeon to become adults. Here is where I am not going to be very popular. I believe we need to act now. Today. Immediately. I think the river from Bonneville Dam down to the mouth should be closed to catch and release only and the commercial nets and personal nets for smelt should stop now. I know we get some great bait from these commercial boats but we all have to hurt and bleed a little for the fishery. The sad thing is that it will get political and there will be one group that will pay for the whole fishery. That is wrong. The whole river needs to close to killing these fish. This is why I believe this. I think if we let a few million sturgeon make it through the threshold of 60 inch (which is our limit of size to keep) then we can flood the breeder age with fish and the impact will not be so huge in 10-15 year. I want to catch sturgeon with my grandkids and hopefully their kids. Until we can get the laws changed with the sea lions and start seeing the smelt come back we need to do our part for conservation and everyone needs to sacrifice. I don’t know why we still have commercial gill nets in the river anyway. We are the only fresh water in America that I know of that allow gill netting. You know if I was smart enough to do it I would get it on the ballot and let the people in Washington and Oregon vote if we should allow gill netting in our rivers. Running hounds for lions and bears along with baiting bears were sure taken away from us so why can’t we do this? I guess that is another newsletter. Anyway, I am going to send a letter with this information to Washington and Oregon F&G and also to the Commissioners. If you believe in this please join me. If you have any questions just contact me and I would love to talk to you about this. But I will tell you that I have customers that book with me since I started my business every year for spring sturgeon. A lot of them always booked in Mid March and it was good fishing now they are all fishing as close to the end of April as they can. I have heard all the excuses why the catching is slow on the Columbia River and the one that makes me laugh the most is that the river temperature is too cold and the funny thing is that I bought into this also for a few of the slow years but not any more. I have caught sturgeon on the Columbia River when ice was floating down and the river was just above freezing. No, we have to act now. If the sea lions quit killing sturgeon today we still have to do something to flood the fish into the spawning age and that is stop killing fish. As Forest Gump would say, “That’s all I have to say about that”.
We are still fishing hard and every day. We have been getting our keepers on most of the days and we are starting to see the trophy sturgeon coming up river a little more every day. We hooked up 3 trophy sturgeon a week or so ago and it will keep getting better as the shad come up. The shad are the main food source for the trophy sturgeon and we average around 5 million a year. My mid May we will average 4-8 trophy sturgeon a day that are 200-400 pounds. These fish make the best videos you can imagine. They will tail walk as good as any marlin and then dive as fast as any tuna and the great thing this is done in fresh water. I still have a few dates available and at the end of the letter I will give you available dates for trophy sturgeon and shad fishing in May and June.
Shad run about 2-5 pounds and they are a blast to catch. This fishery will start May 16th and it usually will last through the first week of July. I love watching kids fish for shad because they are all pros in just a few minutes. I have a lot of group that book half-day trips for shad to get their crab bait for the year. Shad makes the best crab bait I have ever seen. I even took some to Alaska with me last year and caught some halibut using them. I even hooked some shark on them. It is a great time.
PRINCE OF WALES, ALASKA
Remember I will be heading to Alaska July 15th and guiding for a good friend of mine up there. This is an awesome place. We are Southeast Alaska on Prince of Wales Island in Thorne Bay. We are on the Inside passage side of the island so it is like fishing on a lake. Everyone can halibut fish. We don’t have to use 2, 3 or 4 pounds of lead. We only have to use 16-24 ounces. The place is beautiful and I think every day we were fishing last year we were seeing whales and porpoises. The island itself is also beautiful. It is chuck full of rivers that are full of trout and in August fill up with silvers, pinks and chum salmon. My wife and I love it up there. The guy I am working for is such a great guy. Like I tell people, I have had many job offers up in Alaska and have never took one because the situation I have here on the Columbia River is a great one but the business my friend is offering is also great and I couldn’t pass it up. I would not be there if it wasn’t an first class outfit. We still have room for bookings this year and since there is still available room in August that is where I would recommend. You can learn more about Thorne Bay Lodge by going to his site at www.ThorneBayLodge.com or to my site which is www.JonsOutdoors.com. If you have any questions about our Alaska trip please contact me.
HUNT WYOMING
I am so excited about buying this hunting outfit in Wyoming. I can’t wait to get over there in September. I have picked up 2 more leases which are supposed to be good mule deer leases. One I know is but I have not been on the other but the guy I bought the outfit from assured me it was a good one and this guy is the greatest. He and his wife have been so wonderful to work with while buying the business. They have helped us in every way they can. As you know the Wyoming draw for deer and antelope was over March 15th but we are positive that there will be left over tags available in July. I called the Wyoming F&G and I was told July 10th we will know. Now a lot of you have been contacting me about the left over tags. Here is the real deal. The minute I know on July 10th about the left over tags I am going to email every. You will have to go on line and buy your license. The antelope licenses are $238 and the deer licenses are $273. Last year I was told that there were over 1000 antelope licenses available and they were gone in about a week so you will want to jump right on this. This is awesome hunting and very good facilities. Last year when my daughter shot her antelope I think Larry told me that she was the 627th successful customer in a row and that is for archery and rifle hunting. Folks there is a lot of game. While staying with us and after you have taken your animal we are not just going to send you home. We want you to stick around and just enjoy our place and do some management on the prairie dogs. They are all over some of our leases. If you are interested in a hunt this year or next give me a call some evening and let me tell you about it.
Well, on the home front I also have some news. My 20 year-old son is going into the army and he leaves next Monday. I am very proud of him but scared at the same time. He scored very high on the test and got to choose just about anything he wanted to do. He chose Ranger Air Bourne Medic. I guess he has some real intense training to go through. I know a lot of you are going through this with a son or a daughter also so you know what I am feeling. If you think about it please pray for him and all of our troops to be safe. Thanks.
I think I have given you all enough to read so I will get off this sticking computer but I first want to give you the dates that I have available for May and June. I have May 16, 22, 23, 30 and 31 available. I have June 7, 9, 24, 27, 28, 29 and 30 available. For shad fishing I usually fish them in the afternoon after my full day trip. Believe me a half-day is plenty. Just give us a call if you are interested in any of these dates.
Also and I hate to do this but as everyone knows the gas prices are going out of the roof. We are all feeling it. I did not go up in my price this year like most of the guides did however I am going to have to for next year. Starting 2008 my prices will be $175 per person per day. Now if you book with us before January 1st, 2008 you will still get the $150 per person price. I hate doing this but we really have no choice. Thanks for understanding.
Well thanks again for being such great customers also remember school will be soon and there will be a lot of kids that do not have the opportunities to go hunting or fishing. Take a look in your community and see who you can take with you on your next trip. You will be blessed beyond belief. Talk to you all soon.