It looks like earlier reports that Lake Quinault will be off limits to non-tribal member this year were true. I think this is a pretty big deal, especially if you live in my neck of the woods. The lake is the main selling point for most of our tourism and this could really hurt some local businesses. On the other hand, the lessened pressure can only be good for our fish.
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| A Beautiful Sunset on Lake Quinault |
This isn’t the first time the tribe has pulled the plug on the non-native recreational fishery in the lake. When I was younger there was a year they did the exact same thing, I believe back then they cited non-natives illegally harvesting sockeye salmon from the lake as justification for the closure. At the time the community was very upset, but the closure was only for one year. I remember fishing the opener the year after with my dad. It was one of the worst Aprils I remember weather wise and opening day was blessed with a ferocious east wind. The rain came down in sheets and out little john boat was the only one we could see on the lake, though visibility was less than 100 feet so I can’t be sure. I still remember that day as the best morning of trout fishing I have ever had. We landed trout ever 2-5 minutes. We stopped counting at 30. Among the many fish we brought to hand was a handsomely golden 24 inch cutthroat that remains to this day my personal best of his species.
The reasons for this closure seem to be slightly different and to be completely honest they seem puzzling at best. The main reason for closure according to the major news networks of Western Washington is concern about the water quality. The tribes President, Fawn Sharp, allegedly blamed pollution cause by non-tribal members leaky sewers. This doesn’t make much sense to me, I fully support water quality monitoring and aggressive stewardship where the lake is concerned, I just fail to see how closing the fishing season on the lake improves that situation. There are seasonal houses on the lake, but I doubt the fishing has an impact on how many seasonal residents we have. Fawn is an extremely reasonable woman and is an intelligent and committed president, so I have to assume something else is going on here. I plan on getting the story from the horses mouth soon, so I will leave you to speculate until then.
What we can discuss right now is how this will impact the fish, citizens, and economy of Lake Quinault. The most obvious side affect of this closure is the lessened pressure on the fish. I don’t think Lake Quinault was anywhere close to what you’d call heavily pressured, but if this year off has the same affect as the last break, I am all for it.
In fact, if we see a giant bounce back like last time after only one year of closure, that could really set a precedent in fisheries management. Imagine a world where instead of all steelhead rivers slowly dwindling to short focused seasons, not only eliminating recreational opportunity but also focusing all the pressure on the steelhead that return during those windows and further decimating the genetic diversity of our streams, We put rivers into 4 year cycles. For instance, during one year the Upper Quinault might be open all year while the Queets and Humptulips systems are closed during Winter. The following year the Quinault is closed along with the Queets Mainstem and Humptulips while the Clearwater and Salmon rivers are open. The third year the Queets can be open, then the Humptulips the fourth year. I am, however, getting ahead of myself.
The flip side to this of course, is that most of you can’t fish the lake anymore. The regulations are stone set yet, but if the tribe manages the lake like they do other restricted reservation water a smart Native with a guide license will start offering Lake trips on his website.
That guy could do pretty well for himself this summer
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