The Rip

The Rip

August 1st marked the opener of the Buoy 10 season; it’s the time of year that all Pacific Northwest anglers wait for. The fishery likely offers the best chance at a freshwater caught chinook or coho salmon in the entire region, and with about 1.7 million of them coming back, you can understand why the […]

Unreasonable Access

Unreasonable Access

People who attempt to push controversial measures through Congress aren’t fans of straight talk. They rarely set out their goals in plain black-and-white language, preferring words likely to appeal to the public while cloaking their true intent. And then they garnish those words with assurances that their efforts are “reasonable” and merely “common sense.” Recent […]

And the Fluke Hits the Fan: With Summer Flounder, is it Really Time to Panic?

And the Fluke Hits the Fan: With Summer Flounder, is it Really Time to Panic?

I’ve been raving about the fluke (summer flounder) fishing for several years now. Because it’s been pretty darn good! I mean, it’s basically been a completely different fishery than it was 10 years ago. Simply put, there have been dramatically more and larger fish around, up until fairly recently anyway. It certainly wasn’t always this […]

Fisheries Law Needs to Protect Fishing-Dependent Communities and Small-Boat Fishermen

Fisheries Law Needs to Protect Fishing-Dependent Communities and Small-Boat Fishermen

June was a bad month for fishery-dependent, coastal communities. On the back of the passage of H.R. 1335—a bill that puts short-term economic gains ahead of sustainable fisheries—the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) failed to impose significant bycatch cuts to the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island trawl fleet. As was noted a few weeks ago, Pacific […]

Managing the Fish that Feed an Ancient Treasure

Managing the Fish that Feed an Ancient Treasure

Wait on ‘em Stevie, wait………..hold on……….hold on………. Okay, get him! It can often take a great deal of patience to catch a sturgeon. They’re not aggressive biters but fishing in the lower Columbia River estuary, where there are thousands and thousands of the beasts, is very exciting! This fishery is world-class, but you wouldn’t know […]

Going to the Mat for Fish and Fishermen

Going to the Mat for Fish and Fishermen

On one side: fish. On the other side: fishermen. In the middle: Zeke Grader. For more than four decades, the California-based fishing advocate has worked to find common ground between taking care of the environment and looking out for the needs of family fishermen. Armed with passion and determination, the law school graduate and former […]