Frank Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary

Big Bend Pool - Steamboat Creek photo by Mia

Frank Moore's footprint in the state of Oregon and in the fly-fishing community is enormous.  For starters, in 1957 he and his wife Jeanne started the renowned Steamboat Inn so anglers could rest after a day of fishing the North Umpqua. He and a core group of anglers started the Steamboaters to help preserve the natural resource of the Umpqua River in 1966.  He also had influence on the North Umpqua becoming a fly only regulation. He is also a renowned steelhead angler that prefers a waked fly over a wet one and still fishes with his single hand rod today. 

In the 1960s, Frank became concerned about logging's negative effects on watersheds. He collaborated with two friends, Hal Riney and Dick Snyder, to make the landmark film "Pass Creek." Then, flew his own plane all over the country to show it to the Forest Service, BLM, Congress, timber people, and conservation groups. The film had such an impact that major changes to logging practices were enacted.

Frank Moore's passion and dedication to wild steelhead and conservation is a model for all. In the few conversations I've had with him he's become a mentor and a friend. 

We applauded SenatorsRon Wyden and Jeff Merkley for introducing legislation, S.1448 , The "Frank Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary."  The bill will designate approximately 104,000 acres of Forest Service land as a steelhead sanctuary.  The Oregon senators named their legislation in honor of Frank Moore because of his outstanding accomplishments starting in World War II and then continuing for nearly two decades of conservation efforts along the North Umpqua River. 

Throughout his life, Moore has shared his passion for fishing, the river, and the outdoors with visitors from all over the world. 

The area identified is the North Umpqua River around Steamboat Creek. As a steelheader, I consider this place sacred, its one of the most important tributaries for North Umpqua steelhead.  There's a reason that Frank Moore and steelheaders such as Lee Spencer, Dan Callaghan and many more have dedicated their lives to the preservation of this watershed.  

Let your senators know you support the "Frank Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary" by signing the TU petition here. 

Track the bill here.  

Sponsor a Protester!

Must say this is cleaver! 

With Sandy river hatchery plants cut by half, stray rates below 10%, wild broodstock programs suspended and a precedent setting federal court ruling, the Three Rivers Sportman’s Alliance (a pro-hatchery “political action committee”) is planning to protest the NFS upcoming Annual Benefit Banquet and Auction April 11th.  

In response, Native Fish Society supporters and members have asked to provide an opportunity to raise additional support for wild fish by donating per protester. 

If you'd like to sponsor a protester please email tracy@nativefishsociety.org with your name, the amount you would like to donate per protester and your phone number. Thank you for all your support for wild, native fish!

Cast and Blast at Sunwolf

Cast & Blast April 4th-6th is a FREE event geared towards bringing unity, education, fellowship and fun into our community of Steelheaders. It is the perfect event to introduce new anglers to the pastime that we love so much. All of the educational events are completely free and are open to anyone.  There will be demos on casting, fly-tying and fishing or try the fly mini golf coarse.  Be sure to get your tickets for the Steelheaders’ Dinner April 7th to benefit the Steelhead Society of British Columbia, a fantastic organization that works hard to protect wild Steelhead and the habitat that they depend on. Get involved, sign up for the Ironfly tying contest and take part in our Fly Cast Mini Golf casting tournament.

The venues for the Cast & Blast is at the Mamquam Bar and the Sunwolf Conference Centre.

SUNDAY APRIL 6th sign up for the Western Canada Speycasting Championship at  Alice Lake Provinicial Park

A Steelheaders Passage

Words By: Asher Koles of Bloodknots Fly Fishing Photos by:Asher Koles and Bryan Roller

The water we fish is a part of us. We are protective, secretive, but  willing to open the lines of communication with people from all sides of the spectrum without spoiling the sense of discovery one receives as a steelheader . It’s not because we don’t want other anglers and guides to catch fish. It has much more to do with the process, experience and body of knowledge we have built through grinding out days in high water, low water, and prim-o conditions. Through hooking fish, farming fish, falling apart mid-run, scouting water, loosing flies, having banner days and heart crushing dry spells. Revealing the conclusions from those experiences would spoil one's passage as a steelheadders. We don’t want to diminish the discovery but be willing to guide anglers to the steelhead passage and educate on respecting the resources .

Mia and Marty’s devotion to the steelhead is apparent upon first meeting them. Their fervor for swinging flies, guiding, and protecting these fish has inserted itself into every aspect of their lives. Their daily routine is dictated by the ebb and flow of their home waters. They play an integral role in the community of fisher people, guides, industry folks and conservationists in their region that are all connected to these fish. Their livelihood is based on the health and sustainability of the river systems and the return of wild steelhead. It was very apparent that they would give up that part of their lives to ensure the health and longevity of wild steelhead.

Our foray into this community was intimidating at first. Our experience with people that swing flies, was that they were generally vague, covert, elusive and purposely baffling about their practices. Bring a camera into the room and things get quiet quick. We are as guilty of this behavior to anyone outside our circles as much as the next guy. From our first introduction to Mia, Marty, Brian and their friends we got the feeling that this tight knit culture was in turmoil. Not only the steelhead, but the anglers and organizations that are involved in one way or another were at odds concerning the best way to manage the future of the fish, river-ways, and economic opportunities that beckon. 

What keeps coming to mind in all of these different aspects of protecting and managing steelhead is the simplicity of the fish. The fish has few goals: be at the top of the food chain, and pass on the best genes to the next generation to ensure biological succession. The goals of anglers and interest groups are convoluted and anthropocentric at their core. We want to catch fish. Some of us want to catch and release wild fish, some want to harvest fish. We want to do it a certain way. We think some ways are better than others. What we all have in common is the connection to the fish and the rivers.

When explaining the passion we have for steelhead, we are commonly asked, “Well if you care so much about this fish, why do you potentially threaten their well being by catching them?”. Before spending time around the Sheppards and their friends, that was a hard question to answer. The anglers are the reason these fish have any protection. Without the stewardship of the angling community, the fisheries and natural resources that are connected would continue to be mismanaged by politicians and government entities that have no tactile interactions with the ecosystems. We are the voice of the fish. It’s a double edged sword in many ways because of the multitude of the connections people have to these fish, but at the end of the day we as anglers, guides, scientists, politicians and conservationists must come to common ground on deciding the future of wild steelhead. The fish will keep running, spawning, doing their part. Let’s ensure that they are in a position to do so for both species sake.

Project Background:

Bloodknots is in the process of crafting a documentary on the connections the steelhead angling community, scientists and conservationists have to these fish. What drives both these species (human, salmonid) to go to such lengths to make the connection (swung flies and drive to the home waters)? Investigating what the primary threats are to the fish, what is making their journey harder than ever, and what are the passionate anglers, conservationists and scientists doing to restore sustainable conditions and populations?

Stay tuned on the film’s progress on our website, www.bloodknots.com and our blog, http://bloodknots.tumblr.com

FB: https://www.facebook.com/bloodknotsflyfishing

Concerned about Columbia River Steelhead

If you fish the Columbia you are well aware of the record Fall Chinook run happening, right now. Currently there are over 700,000 Chinook that have passed Bonneville Dam and the run is expected to hit 800,000.  Steelhead on the other hand is below the 10 year goal with only a total 200,000 across Bonneville Dam with about 100,000 across The Dalles. 

Why aren't there more steelhead crossing the Dalles Dam, could it be the warmer temperatures in the Columbia averaging 72 degrees, if so one would expect steelhead to seek refuge in the cooler tributaries such as The Wind, Klickitat and Deschutes but reports of very slow fishing have anglers wondering.

On one hand this is a success story for the Fall Chinook, granted the low number over the last 10 years but at what expense.  The Deschutes River is known for its superior steelhead summer steelhead run. In September it is common to hook five or more steelhead in a day. In the last few weeks talk of slow fishing, is painfully being heard   I even heard one guide say he was going to go look for the steelhead and went to a river on the Washington side and had no success.

Where are the 100,000 steelhead that have not crossed the Dalles dam?

 “With the development of hydroelectric projects, habitat degradation, interaction with hatchery fish and fisheries, these changes have caused declines in the wild portion of many salmonid populations (including steelhead) within the basin (national research council). The decline in steelhead populations has led the National Marine Fisheries to list several steelhead on the Columbia and Snake as threatened or endangered according to the article “the migratory timing of Adult Summer-Run steelhead in the Columbia River over six Decades of Environmental Change.  

What they fail to mention is the impact of gillnetting that is voluntarily regulated in Region 6, above Bonneville Dam.

Are we losing our steelhead at the expense of the Fall Chinook run? Why isn’t the gillnetting in Region 6 monitored?

A report today from an angler on Facebook said there are thousands of nets, more then he has ever seen above Bonneville Dam, it’s depressing.   Something needs to be done. 

Send letters to ODFW and NOAA Fisheries telling them that Region 6 needs to be monitored for incidental take of wild steelhead.  

Tia, The Swampscott Dory on a Columbia River Journey

Scott Sadil is a an English teacher in Hood River, accomplished writer and a passionate fly fishermen that has started a new journey, a voyage from the mouth of the Columbia to Lewiston, Idaho in a stitch-and-glue Swampscott dory he built last spring. 

Sadil hopes his journey will increase awareness of the health of both the Columbia and Snake rivers and their dwindling runs of native anadromous fish. He just completed the initial 170-mile leg of his journey. Here's some insight into his journey, read on if you are ready to be inspired. 

About the journey?  I built Tia last year and for the first time in my life fell in love with boats and all they offer in terms of exploring new water.  I didn't know how to sail.  I didn't know how to row.  All I knew was that a wooden boat was a beautiful thing, a delight to build and have has a companion on the water.

Last August, I made an experimental trip from Astoria to Prescott Beach, between Ranier and St. Helens (The story of this maiden voyage will appear in two parts in the Small Craft Advisor, a magazine for small boat adventurers published in Port Townsend.) Inspired by the possibilities of this sort of river travel, I decided I wanted to experience the river all the way to Lewiston, following it upstream like the adult anadromous salmonids.

I had no idea if it was really possible.  Robin Cody, whose book Voyage of a Summer Sun, chronicles his 82-day journey down the length of the Columbia in a canoe, passed through Hood River this spring and told me I was nuts:  

"You intend to go against the current?"  Nevertheless, I've made it to Hood River, a little more fit, a little more confident in Tia and my sailing and boat handling skills.

But there's a long way to go.  I launch again Thursday morning, July 11.  I have a list of locals who I'm calling on to help shuttle me around the dams, both literally and symbolically the biggest obstacles for getting upriver.  On the Snake I think I'll be able to go through the locks.  I wonder if it's that easy for the fish.

Anyway, besides the sort adventure that people approaching the seventh decade of their lives really should embrace while they can, I hope this trip is also a little something to give back to the rivers and fish that have enriched so much of my life.

Suction Dredging on Oregon Rivers

This video was made by the Karuk Tribe. The Karuk's sued the U.S. Forest Service June 2012 to put a halt on suction dredging in the Klamath Basin, the lawsuit is still pending.

A Brief History:
California created a moratorium on suction dredging in July of 2009, this moratorium has increased the number of suction dredging permits in Oregon. In 2010 there was approximately 1,100 miners suction dredging in Oregon, last year 1600 permits were issued.  The rivers most impacted are in Southern Oregon such as the South Umpqua, The Rogue River, and the Illinois to name a few. This increase in dredging on Oregon rivers is causing habitat alteration, and has a negative impact on fish which could ultimately reduce salmon and steelhead runs.

Suction dredgers operate during the open water work window, this window is roughly between July 15th to September 30th, however there are reports of individuals working outside that time because of the limited enforcement. An individual can obtain a permit from DEQ for literally nothing and there is no limit to the number of permits issued. This has to stop, the regulations need to change. sign the petition. 

Problem: Impact on rivers/wildlife habitat due to suction dredging :

The basic configuration of a suction dredge is a floating system, or sluice box, attached to a suction hose that sucks up the river bottom. The stream sediments are run through the sluice box, gold is filtered out and the sediments are discharged back into the stream. The size and power of a dredge can vary, with motors typically ranging from 2 to 50 horsepower and the vacuum nozzle ranging from 2 to 10 inches. As with all in-stream mining, suction dredging impacts streams, fish and aquatic life. Here is a brief description of some impacts.

The River (hydrology and geomorphology): Suction dredging of any scale or magnitude instigates some degree of erosion, transport and deposition of sediment, along with potential modification of the channel form and stream flow hydraulic conditions. These impacts can include the physical mobilization of alluvial sediments (material deposited from running water) and the removal of such sediment from bars or riffles that are used as habitat for aquatic species. Miners also move and re-locate cobbles and small boulders to access finer sediments and thereby alter the channel bed and aquatic habitat.

See more about it on the Rogue River Keepers site.

Cascadia Wildlands has created a petition, sign the petition to the governors of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Idaho, and pass this all along to others. 

Steelhead Recovery in Puget Sound Petition

Will Atlas writer of the Osprey Steelhead wrote a petition to Steelhead Recovery in Puget Sound. The Petition states that in watersheds where wild populations have been deemed too fragile for catch and release sport fishing the state MUST substantially reduce or eliminate hatchery supplementation to comply with federal mandates for recovery in threatened Puget Sound Steelhead.

Its really tragic that in the last two years rivers such as the Skagit, and Skykomish, have closed down in January do to low wild returns. Let Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife know they need to make a change in management and sign the petition.