IS THIS SO MUCH TO ASK?
More Fly-Fishing-Only Rivers, Please
By Bill Schneider, 4-10-08
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Before all the non-flycasters get excited about the headline, I should say that I like all kinds of fishing, not just fly fishing, a problem that has made my life a constant struggle against poverty. In fact, I have more spinning and baitcasing rods than fly rods, and probably use them more, too.
Nonetheless, today, I’m feeling sorry for those anglers who only use fly rods. I think fisheries managers should throw them a bone by designating a few stretches of a few rivers as fly-fishing-only--especially a few rivers with steelhead in them.
If you’ve been reading my NewWest.Net articles lately, you know I’m hooked on steelhead and now part of the Steelhead Fever pandemic. I recently caught my first steelhead on a fly, and during that little adventure, it became clear how tough it is for the fly-fishing-only among us.
When you go to a steelhead river, you always find lots of steelheaders, and most of them aren’t fly fishing. Many steelhead rivers aren’t well suited for fly fishing. Of those that are, I believe only three sections of three rivers in the entire Pacific Northwest are reserved for flycasters to have their experience without competing with anglers fishing with bait and jigs.
Two of those rivers are in Oregon, parts of the North Umpqua and Rogue, and one is in Washington, one section of the Hoko. Idaho has a lot of steelhead water, but no sections of any river restricted to fly-fishing-only.
Ditto for the other steelhead hot spot, the Great Lakes region. I could have missed something in my little survey, but I called the fisheries folks in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. These states have all great steelhead fishing, but none of them have a single section of any stream reserved for fly-fishing-only.
Michigan has an “artificial fly only” designation, which seems like a strange regulation to me. It means people can either fly fish or rig up a spinning rod with a strike indicator and weighed fly, which isn’t much different than fishing with a bobber and a jig. (I suspect there’s some overlap between a feathered jig and a weighted nymph, and I’d hate to be the game warden who had to tell the difference.) But the “artificial fly” compromise might be a good idea worth exploring out in the Pacific Northwest.
Washington has something similar called the “one hook, no barb, no bait” regulation. This cuts out bait anglers and prevents back trolling with plugs and casting with spinners and other treble-hook lures--and thins down the crowds of steelheaders. So, let’s call both the Michigan and Washington “fly-fishing-friendly” regs a step in the right direction.
One reason fisheries managers don’t favor fly-fishing-only regs for steelhead is the goal of removing hatchery fish from the system to emphasize wild steelhead reproduction. Agencies can’t require anglers take steelhead home for dinner, of course, but they can encourage it. Since flycasters are, by their nature, much more likely to release fish, it becomes counterproductive to promote fly fishing.
After reading this column, non-flycasters might be saying, okay, then let’s have some rivers for bait fishing or jig fishing only. To that, my answer would be, that seems fair. Most big, deep-running coastal rivers in Oregon and Washington are, by nature’s design, de facto no-fly-fishing streams. In general, coastal rivers aren’t suited for fly fishing until the gradient kicks up in mountainous upstream sections. But most inland rivers in Idaho and eastern parts of Oregon and Washington and in the lake states are better designed for fly fishing.
Is it so much to ask that a small percentage--let’s say about 2 percent--of these steelhead rivers be set aside for fly-fishing-only? If an equal amount of stream (or more) must be set aside for non-fly fishing, I’m sure flycasters wouldn’t object.
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Comments
I spent a long time talking to the Michigan DNR yesterday and they told me what I reported in the article i.e. no rivers with steelhead in them designated for fly fishing only.
I have no problem with people using a weighted nymph on a spinning rod. Just thought "artifical flies only" was an odd regulation.
And I still think a few fly-fishing-only rivers would be nice for us to not have to compete with bait anglers every day on every river, but it's not something that will make me break up my fly rods.
Bill
In Washington these rivers are fly-fishing only. The Stillaquamish River, North fork, Stillaquamish River, South fork, Browns Creek, and Rocky Ford Creek. The lakes in Washington that are fly-fishing only are Cady Lake, Pass Lake, Vogler Lake, Rocky Ford Ponds, Long lake, Mcdowell Lake, and Quail Lake. W.D.F.W. (2008)
in Idaho. The list of rivers and creeks that are fly-fishing only in Idaho are as follows, Little Wood River, Stalker Creek, Silver Creek, Fish Creek, and the “Snake river north henrys fork From the lower Harriman State Park “ I.D.F.W. (2008)
In Oregon, Gold Lake, parts of the Willamette River, Davis Lake, Odell Creek Channel, Fall River, Hosmer Lake, Metolius River, and Sparks Lake are fly-fishing only. O.D.F.W. (2008)
I hope not. I called the fisheries departments in all three agencies and they told me there were no rivers with stellhead in them that were designated fly fishing only, except those three listed in the article. Perhaps the streams and lakes you mentioned are fly fishing only, but do not have steelhead.
Bill
Moon