Walleye Express

Additional Info on the desease.

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSv)

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) virus is a serious pathogen of fresh and saltwater fish that is an emerging disease in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada.

Skin hemorrhages (bleeding) on a fish infected with Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSv)

© Dr Jim Winton (USGS, Seattle WA), Dr Mohamed Faisal (MSU, Lansing MI) and Dr Paul Bowser (Cornell, Ithaca NY)

VHS virus is a rhabdovirus (rod shaped virus) that affects fish of all sizes and ages. It does not pose any threat to human health. VHS causes hemorrhaging of skin, muscle, and internal organs, and death follows. Some fish infected with VHS will develop antibodies to the virus and will survive. However, after a period of time the fish may start shedding virus again and spread the disease to other fish.

In Wisconsin's Great Lakes

Based on the diagnosis of VHS virus in Chinook, walleye, and lake whitefish from Lake Huron in 2006, fisheries biologists believe the virus is probably already in Lake Michigan, and ballast discharged from ships may have moved the virus to port cities on Lake Superior.

In Fall 2006, the DNR, with the help of the US Fish and Wildlife Service La Crosse Fish Health Center and the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, tested spawning Chinook and coho salmon, brown trout, lake whitefish, bloater chubs, and yellow perch from Lake Michigan for VHS virus. Spawning lake trout, gobies, yellow perch, and emerald shiners from Lake Superior were also tested. VHS virus was not detected in any species.

What are the clinical signs of VHS?

The clinical signs of VHS may include hemorrhaging (bleeding), unusual behavior, anemia, bulging eyes, bloated abdomens, and the rapid onset of death; however, these symptoms could apply to many different fish diseases. VHS must be confirmed by lab tests. Additionally, some infected fish may not show any signs and transporting these fish to new locations could spread the disease to new waters.

Thumbnails link to larger images.

The clinical signs of VHS include hemorrhaging in the muscle tissue and internal organs, pale organs, and bulging eyes.

© Dr Jim Winton (USGS, Seattle WA), Dr Mohamed Faisal (MSU, Lansing MI) and Dr Paul Bowser (Cornell, Ithaca NY)

How is VHS spread?

VHS virus is shed in the urine and reproductive fluids of fish into the water and the virus can survive in water for at least 14 days. Virus particles in the water infect the gills of the fish and within 2 days, the infected fish will start shedding the virus. Thus, water discharged from live wells, bilges and bait buckets can spread the virus from infected waters. Moving live, infected fish from one location to another will also spread the virus. Fish can also become infected by eating an infected fish. Other ways that the virus may be spread include natural fish movements, recreational boating/angling, birds, ballast water discharge, and research activities.

Emergency Rule - Controlling the spread of VHS

The Natural Resources Board on April 4, 2007, adopted an amended emergency Administrative rule [PDF 240KB] that will aid the Department in controlling the spread of VHS to inland waters. This emergency rule goes into effect on Sunday, April 8, 2007.

What does the rule mean for anglers?

Leeches, worms, and insects are OK. The use of leaches, worms, and insects for bait is not affected by the new rules. In these rules the term bait means all or part of any frog, crayfish, fish, or fish egg.

Be careful with live bait. If you want to use live bait (crayfish, frogs, fish, or fish egg), the bait must be a) purchased from a licensed bait dealer, captured legally in the water to be fished, or c) captured in an inland lake or stream and retained for use in another inland lake or stream.

Be careful with dead bait. If you want to use dead bait (all or part of any fish, fish egg, crayfish, or frog), the bait must be a) used on Lake Michigan (including Green Bay and tributaries up to the first dam), used on the lake or stream where it was captured, or c) preserved by means other than refrigeration or freezing.

Kill your fish after fishing the Great Lakes or Mississippi River. You may not transport live fish or fish eggs (including both bait and game fish) away from waters of the Great Lakes or Mississippi River drainages (including tributaries up to the first dam), except under certain unusual circumstances (contact DNR office for information).

Drain your boat and live well. After fishing or boating on the waters of the Great Lakes or Mississippi River (including tributaries up to the first dam), you must immediately drain all water from the boat and boat trailer, including any bilge, ballast tank, bait bucket, and live well.

Additional Information about Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) [exit DNR]

University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute [exit DNR]

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia in New York [exit DNR]

VHS Briefing Paper [exit DNR] - Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources

VHS Fact Sheet [PDF 994KB]

Contact Information

For specific information on the VHS virus, please contact:

Sue Marcquenski

Fish Health Specialist

(608) 266-2871

A rubber band stretched under a fishes strain, that suttle tap shooting up my arm when jig fishing, a Rooster Pheasant flushing in front of my dog or 50 Mallards circling overhead on my favorite corn field, are the only things left that still excites me. If you don't believe me ask the wife.

Rattle Tot's 40 to 90 back with a piece of nightcrawler on the belly hook. Stinger Scorpion slider or Spoon Harness rig with Gulp or crawler if things got tough. Gotta love the 2 S's. Simplicity and Success.

April 3, 2007

Contacts: Kelley Smith 517-373-3375, Gary Whelan 517-373-6948 or Mary Dettloff 517-335-3014

Fish Disease Halts Walleye, Pike and

Muskellunge Production and Stocking

The rapidly increasing distribution of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSv) in Michigan waters is forcing the Department of Natural Resources to place a one-year moratorium on walleye, northern pike, and muskellunge production and stocking to ensure the disease is not inadvertently spread by DNR activities, and to protect the state’s fish hatchery system.

“All of the DNR’s egg sources for walleye and one key source for northern pike are from Great Lakes waters that are, or are highly likely to be, infected with VHSv,†said Kelley Smith, chief of the DNR Fisheries Division. “Muskellunge egg sources, as well as two other sources for northern pike are located in very high risk waters, based on our understanding of the movement of bait fish around the state, as well as the amount of recreational and angler boat traffic between those waters and the Great Lakes.â€

Smith said that currently it is not known whether eggs from these species of fish can be disinfected, adding that disease testing takes four to eight weeks, thus making it impossible to determine which egg sources are infected before moving the eggs into state hatcheries.

VHSv has already caused widespread fish mortalities in Lakes St. Clair, Erie and Ontario, and is an international reportable disease. In late 2006, the DNR determined it had spread into Lake Huron, as far north as Cheboygan and Rogers City. The disease entered Michigan waters from the Maritime Region of Canada, likely in the discharge of infected ballast water from cargo ships that took up ballast water in previously infected waters. The virus does not affect humans in any way.

“If VHSv would inadvertently infect a state fish hatchery, all of the fish at that facility would

have to be destroyed and the hatcheries completely disinfected. The economic loss to our state would be between $40 and $60 million,†Smith said. “Since we only rear coolwater fish at Thompson and Wolf Lake State Fish Hatcheries, incubating potentially infected walleye, muskellunge and northern pike eggs at these two facilities would put at risk all of the state’s production of steelhead, 40 percent of the Chinook salmon and a number of other species.â€

Prior to making the decision to place a moratorium on the production of these species, the DNR examined a range of options. They included:

* Developing isolation areas within existing hatcheries - it was determined that this cannot be done without substantial risk to other fish species in the hatcheries.

* Undertaking off-site rearing at other DNR facilities - this was rejected because sufficient water of the proper quality and temperature was not available and appropriate effluent treatment could not be done.

* Undertaking off-site rearing at other cooperator facilities - the DNR determined that the liability risk is too great, since contaminating a non-DNR facility with VHSv would result in substantial costs for the DNR to disinfect and clean up the facility.

* Obtaining fish from other agencies - this concept was investigated, but genetically compatible sources of walleye and northern pike are not available in the Great Lakes region. However, this may be an option for muskellunge, and is being pursued by the DNR.

* Obtaining eggs from other inland sources in Michigan - this option is not feasible because insufficient numbers of fish are available to meet the state’s egg-take needs, and the potential sources of eggs are at high risk of VHSv infection.

The DNR is taking the following steps to ensure that walleye, northern pike, and muskellunge production can resume in the future:

* Experiments will be conducted this spring on eggs collected from walleye and muskellunge populations in Lakes Erie and St. Clair that are likely infected with VHSv to determine if standard iodine disinfection techniques will work for coolwater fish. If the experiments demonstrate that the standard techniques are effective, then normal coolwater fish production will resume in 2008.

* Extensive VHSv surveillance and monitoring of current coolwater broodstock populations will be conducted to allow the DNR to determine the prevalence and intensity of infection in each broodstock population. These efforts should help to identify potential broodstock sources and rearing locations for the future.

* Determine other potential out-of-state sources for coolwater fish for future rearing options.

* Develop additional backup options to incubate and rear coolwater fish outside of the state’s hatchery system, including the development of fully contained mobile incubation and rearing facilities and the potential use of other off-site incubation and rearing facilities. The cost of additional mobile incubation facilities is approximately $22,500 per one million walleye fry.

“Implementation of these measures will require a substantial commitment of effort and dollars, at a cost that will greatly exceed what would be expended for coolwater fish rearing under normal circumstances,†Smith said. “There are no new dollars for such efforts, so we are reprioritizing our existing work plans and budget to ensure the work is accomplished prior to the 2008 coolwater fish production season. We have, however, requested emergency funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, but we do not yet know if and when these funds might be available to help us meet the threat posed by VHSv in the Great Lakes.â€

For more information on VHSv, visit the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr and click on the Fishing section.

The DNR is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural resources for current and future generations.

If you only knew how many compliments and sighs of relief I get when I say "We leave the dock at 8:00am" you'd be shocked. Of course I'm only running one trip a day reguardless if it's a half or a whole day. And walleyes seem to be more cooperative after daylight then do the salmonoid species.

Underwater fence to be built between U.S., Canada

April 1, 2007

BY ERIC (NOT SO) SHARP

FREE THINKING OUTDOORS WRITER

Worried about the continuing arrival of new fish diseases, the U.S. government will spend $2.3 billion to build an underwater fence that will separate American and Canadian waters along the 1,100-mile length of the Great Lakes.

Stretching from Duluth, Minn., on Lake Superior to the head of the St. Lawrence River in northern New York, the fence will be funded by a $10 federal excise tax for 10 years on each fishing license sold in the eight states that border the Great Lakes, and a 1 cent surcharge on each minnow or worm bought by anglers.

"The idea came to me when I was watching that guy on CNN who rants about how we need a fence along the Mexican border to keep illegal immigrants out," said I.M. Lyon, director of the U.S. Natural Utilities Technical Services (USNUTS). "If we can build a fence to keep out something as big as a Mexican, it should be easy to stop something as small as a fish."

A disease called viral hemorrhagic septicemia, which appeared in the Great Lakes in 2005 and caused large fish kills, was traced to the Canadian Maritime provinces. It almost certainly reached the Great Lakes in the ballast water of a ship from Canada.

"It was yet another undesirable from north of the border, like Lorne Greene's singing and Bob Probert, and for our biologists, it was the final straw," Lyon said. "The sensible thing to do would be to ban all salfront butter ships from coming into the Great Lakes. But the shipping companies and their clients own too many congressmen and senators for that to happen, so we decided to try the fence. What the heck, if nothing else, it should boost the USNUTS budget."

The U.S. government has banned the movement of live bait and game fish out of the eight Great Lakes states and the two Canadian provinces that border the Great Lakes. That ban has drawn howls of protest from anglers, who say it is senseless when the fish can swim across borders on their own.

"The anglers had a point," said Dr. Wada Loada-Bool, chief researcher at the Government Office of Fish Science (GOOFS). "That ban won't stop the spread of the disease. USNUTS figured out the only way to do it was to keep those nasty Canadian fish from swimming over and infecting our American fish."

Loada-Bool said the fence would be like a giant gill net, but with mesh so fine that no fish bigger than a half-inch thick could swim through. The top will float at the surface, and the bottom will extend to the lake beds.

As a backup, the fence will be patrolled by 10,000 freshwater pink Amazon River dolphins from South America carrying automatic multishot spearguns mounted on harnesses on their backs. The dolphin program was designed by famed Sino-Franco biologist Dr. Foo LaKrepp at the Basic Animal Neurological Adaptation and Naturalization Administration Service (BANANAS) in Bolles Harbor.

"If something gets through the fence, it will set off an alarm, and with 10,000 of those Amazon River dolphins in the lakes, a dozen will never be more than seconds away. The dolphins will be trained to blast every fish in sight near the fence," LaKrepp said.

Petty Officer Lou Nahtik, a U.S. Navy special weapons researcher, has been training the dolphins at a secret Navy Organic Weapons Assessment Yard (NOWAY), whose location we can't tell you because then it wouldn't be a secret any more.

Nahtik said tests with the pink dolphins have gone well "except for one little hitch. Whenever a boat goes over them faster than 40 miles an hour, the dolphins' sonar seems to register it as a group of escaping fish, and they open up with their spearguns.

"During one test run, one of our trainers had a spear come through the bottom of his boat and just miss his keister. But that's not a big problem, because most boats don't go that fast, and there aren't all that many boats out there in the deep water where most of the dolphins will be."

Lyon said his office had received several complaints from anglers about the net and dolphin plan, which he attributed to their unwillingness to pay another $10 for their licenses.

"Those people don't have a leg to stand on," Lyon said. "I was sitting on a dock in Bolles Harbor last summer when I saw a guy going out for a day of walleye fishing. I suddenly realized that if fishermen could afford $20,000 for a boat, $2,000 for fishing tackle and $200 for beer, they could sure as heck afford $10 for us to build an underwater fence.

"So we don't care what the fishermen say. We're starting to build that fence today --

Attachtments regarding recent information and action.

Long term, stable funding of the DNR is the ultimate goal. It appears there are additional interests that would like the same for their State run programs also, the 2008 ballot could be loaded.

The Legislature is NOT hearing many in support for the License fee increase only from those opposed. It is important that they hear from you now with support or severe cuts in Hunting and Fishing programs may take effect after fiscal year ending this coming October.

General tax funding for natural resources management and environmental protection has vanished and our state leaders don’t seem to be concerned!

http://www.saginawbay.com/pdf/natural_resource_fact_sheet_member.pdf

http://www.saginawbay.com/pdf/conservation_leaders_given_call_to_action.pdf

Sent off letters to all reps and the Governor. I'm never thrilled about paying more for anything. But anyboody enjoying any of our resources needs to monitarily support them, and lobby any way we can for our share of the tax or general fund pie. Take the time to (at least verbally) support our natural resources.

My Letter.

Wanted you the Governor and all my state reps to know that I support the suggested Michigan fishing/hunting license fee increases. I'm not a fan of price hikes but see no other way out of the shorfall you guys got us into. And now our state is faced with budget cuts and lack of funding that will start our beautiful state on it's way to possible resource ruin. I urge you to get off your butt, save and support through general funds or whatever else possible, those things that bring in the Billions to this states economy every year, it's Natural resources. When we have little else left, I'd stilll like to be able to enjoy the beauty and wild bounty of this state.

Ya. It took me a while to get the seating down to where I wanted it. I finally took those two (back facing) bench seats out, installed two smaller jump seats, one on each side. Then simply bought 2 very nice folding, arm rest Captains Chairs I store in the cabin till needed. That way If I have 4 people for a charter, two set up front on the bench seat on passenger side, the other two in the jump seats. 6 people, I break out the captain chairs and they fit nicely in the corners near the front. We've had as many as 3 fish being played at once in the back with no problems. :D

Not really much to list as equipment, since I stripped her of all her Salmon fishing extras when I bought it in 1996. Just lots of rods, lures and my custom built rod holders. But she's still pretty sharp for a 1978. Do love the TR-1 Auto Pilot and 8 horse Yammie I bought for my walleye trolling needs though. Took 5 chaters out last summer and only used 61 gallons of gas. Almost felt guilty......ya right.

Heres my battleship.

Heres the last one I got 4 days ago. Hope Gary Roach don't get to upset about me being called Mr. Walleye. Imagine, an Auditor General with a Yahoo address. To corny.

Dear Mr WALLEYE

I am contacting you individually for a business transaction involving GBP £30 Million and I hope that you will contact me at your earliest convenient for this possible business transaction.

I am the Auditor General, and Chairman, Audit Committee of Bank of Scotland, with your sincere assistant and co-operation,I have determined to work this deal with you if you can do the business.

At the moment,I am constrained to issue more details about this business until your positive response is received.

Please take a moment of your time schedules to read this and send your response or better call me with this mobile number : +44 704 57 06187 for further information concerning this transaction.

I assure you that this deal is worth taking and highly profitable.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Yours truly,

........................

Mr. jim mark,

Auditor General,

Bank Of Scotland Plc.

Tel: +44 704 57 06187

Email: [email protected]

Cap't Dan,

I already ordered some spoons from you a couple weeks ago. You dropped them off at my house. Thanks again.

Tom

Oh yea, sorry. Sold 4 of every color to a guy in Southfield named Tom. Had a Tom come from Mayville yesterday to pick some up. Just to many Tom's in this world. ;)

Cap't Dan,

Just wondering if your concerned at all about the amount walleye being taken out of the bay/river this winter. I know there is a lot of fish in the system, but with all carnage going on I'm curious as to what this spring and summer holds??

By the way, are you selling any spoon rigs out your house this year? If not, can you let me know when you send them to Frank's.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom.

I have 117 spoon rigs left to sell and then there gone till next year. I started out with over 350. I will not be taking any out to Franks this spring, so contact me now for purchase details if you want any for the season. [email protected]

As far as my concerns for the fishery and alll the little ones being caught, killed, illegally taken or harmed. Here is an E-mail correspondence I had with my DNR biologist buddy recently that would explain things better.

>>> <[email protected]> 03/12/2007 3:59 PM >>>

So, Dave.

Any more word on the 2006 Saginaw Bays natural walleye survival rates. And does the DNR plan on taking any eggs at all from the Tittabawassee this spring considering the VHS findings. Dan.

Dan.

The catch rate of Young-of-the-year walleyes in our trawling this past September was much lower than the last three years (which were all record numbers) but still represented a year class that was about average compared to most stocked years (for the long term average) before the recent surge the past three years. Alewives are still scarce in Lake Huron and we believe that the conditions are still optimal for very good reproductive success for walleye but as we also predicted that at some point, these other very strong year classes would begin to suppress newer walleye year class strength of subsequent years through competition and even cannibalism. This is a common phenomenon in walleye populations (a strong year class will suppress the following year class) thus its unusual to have two strong year classes in a row and three in a row (like we have) is almost unheard of. So the fact that the 2006 year class is not nearly as strong is not surprising and not particularly disturbing. Besides, there is still a 2006 year class there, and not out of line with the long term average despite the lack of stocking in 2006. The exciting news is that it now appears that the 2005 year class is much much stronger than we previously thought (compared to how it showed as young-of-the-year). It appears to be as much as twice as strong as the 2003 year class. This is based on catch rate of yearlings in our survey nets. Yearling catch rate is the best expression of year class strength because they have survived their first winter and the true (lasting) strength of the year class is usually set by then. It appears as if the 2005 year class enjoyed much better over-winter survival than the 2003 and 2004 year classes did. This very strong 2005 year class explains partly why everyone is still catching many many sublegal walleyes. The 2003s are fully legal size by now and the 2004s will be this summer too. The future continues to look very bright for Saginaw Bay walleyes sans the VHS issue.

As for walleye stocking in 2007 (this year), its all very much undecided at the moment. The final decision will probably be made this week. Because egg disinfection procedures for walleye eggs are unproven at present, there is a real possibility that no walleye egg collection or culture will take place in any state operated hatchery this year (in an effort to keep the disease out of our hatcheries). That decision hasn't been made yet, but its a real possibility. If that decision gets made (to not rear any walleye in 2007) that will be a decision only for this year and will again be revisited for future years once egg disinfection techniques are established for walleye. There's a good possibility that no walleye stocking will be recommended for Saginaw Bay in 2007 even if walleye rearing were to take place because of the three to four strong year classes currently present and because alewives continue to remain scarce. That decision is under advisement and we should have the final word here soon as well.

Check back with me in a week or two and I can tell you more then.

>>> <[email protected]> 03/12/2007 3:59 PM >>>

So, Dave.

Any more word on the 2006 Saginaw Bays natural walleye survival rates. And does the DNR plan on taking any eggs at all from the Tittabawassee this spring considering the VHS findings. Dan.

Dan.

The catch rate of Young-of-the-year walleyes in our trawling this past September was much lower than the last three years (which were all record numbers) but still represented a year class that was about average compared to most stocked years (for the long term average) before the recent surge the past three years. Alewives are still scarce in Lake Huron and we believe that the conditions are still optimal for very good reproductive success for walleye but as we also predicted that at some point, these other very strong year classes would begin to suppress newer walleye year class strength of subsequent years through competition and even cannibalism. This is a common phenomenon in walleye populations (a strong year class will suppress the following year class) thus its unusual to have two strong year classes in a row and three in a row (like we have) is almost unheard of. So the fact that the 2006 year class is not nearly as strong is not surprising and not particularly disturbing. Besides, there is still a 2006 year class there, and not out of line with the long term average despite the lack of stocking in 2006. The exciting news is that it now appears that the 2005 year class is much much stronger than we previously thought (compared to how it showed as young-of-the-year). It appears to be as much as twice as strong as the 2003 year class. This is based on catch rate of yearlings in our survey nets. Yearling catch rate is the best expression of year class strength because they have survived their first winter and the true (lasting) strength of the year class is usually set by then. It appears as if the 2005 year class enjoyed much better over-winter survival than the 2003 and 2004 year classes did. This very strong 2005 year class explains partly why everyone is still catching many many sublegal walleyes. The 2003s are fully legal size by now and the 2004s will be this summer too. The future continues to look very bright for Saginaw Bay walleyes sans the VHS issue.

As for walleye stocking in 2007 (this year), its all very much undecided at the moment. The final decision will probably be made this week. Because egg disinfection procedures for walleye eggs are unproven at present, there is a real possibility that no walleye egg collection or culture will take place in any state operated hatchery this year (in an effort to keep the disease out of our hatcheries). That decision hasn't been made yet, but its a real possibility. If that decision gets made (to not rear any walleye in 2007) that will be a decision only for this year and will again be revisited for future years once egg disinfection techniques are established for walleye. There's a good possibility that no walleye stocking will be recommended for Saginaw Bay in 2007 even if walleye rearing were to take place because of the three to four strong year classes currently present and because alewives continue to remain scarce. That decision is under advisement and we should have the final word here soon as well.

Check back with me in a week or two and I can tell you more then.

I believe the majority of those were coming from the Chippewa. It hadn't even begun to break up until Friday, so theres bucu ice chunks that have to come down yet. Plus the flow rate and water color are climbing into the crap zone fast.

Tom.

We got Keel Hauled 2 or 3 times while at anchor yesterday when not paying attention. And some of those floes are 12 inches thick or beter. You sure as heck would not want to strike one when on plane. :eek:

Today, not being quit like yesterday, after the ice jammed cleared away from the ramp. When everybody up near the Spillway was catching fish. The river today was not giving up her bounty very easily. The water was more stained and in fact, I/we never seen another fish landed by anyone this morning or all day for that matter, nor did we hear or see any at the ramp with any when we took off. I caught a 20 inch Pike on my second cast this morning at 9:30am, then we never had another hit until after 12:00pm when they opened the Dam at Sandford. It was then and only then, I could put a program together with a reliable idea of where to find these hide and seek walleyes. Sandy current seam edges/ledges, between deeper holes and shallow flats was the only place we could get bit. And you had to pay the utmost attention to details, how you hopped you jig and exactly where it was in these seams. In total we got 14 bites all day and landed 11 fish, so that wasn't to bad. Here's the picture from today.

These Gal's can do more then that. They chartered me twice last summer. We/they limited both times and are as savvy as any I've ever fished with. They own 2 boats themselves. A 19 foot Lund for when their here in Michigan, and an 18foot flats boat they use when in Flordia to fish for Sea Trout and Red Fish. We went to the local tavern after the last trip and the one on the left drank 2 more Magnums of Killians then I did or could. These women are a class act.

Here ya go Caz.

Now I don't want you printing this picture and heading off into the bathroom for any prolonged periods of time.

Oh, Man.

Just give me 1 or 2 days on the Tittabawassee in my Jet Boat with them pre-spawn walleyes before the closing on the 15th and I'll be in heaven.

If they lower the limit to one Salmon and shrink the Master Angler qualification down to 30 inches or 10 pounds, the season should be a stellar one. :eek:

That's not a Chinook. That's one of them rare Chin-Orka's.

And like many of the salmon I caught back then. I caught that 28 pounder on a 1/2 ounce Hot-N-Tot. #136. Drop back fished Drift Boat Style.

If I love anything about the Association I belong to (MCBA) is that they keep on top of things like this and will have a working plan laid out for it's Captains long before it's to late. I'm also hopeful and confident both them and NACO will continue lobbying for making these new laws easier for us Joe legal Blows.

Back in the early 1980's when I started guiding on the Rivers out of my Drift Boat, I had a "Fish-On" guarantee or the trip was free. I'm talking on, not landed. Of course I was pretty confident and cocky back then, having only the third Drift boat sold in Michigan at the time, being virtually alone on the river systems I fished, and successfully using a technique that was proving deadly on both the Steelhead's and Salmon running the rivers I guided on. I had that same kind of fish in the box confidence you open water guys on the West Coast have been enjoying for 3 years in a row now, because of good fish planing and the sustaining Baitfish and Salmon population survival numbers being at their peak. You older charter guys who went through the rough times during the late 80's early 90's know how much easier and nice the fishing is now. Anyway, when these tougher times hit me on the rivers too, I started to re-think my guarantee. What cinched the deal was actually a charter client who changed my mind and policy. I worked my butt off one day trying too get him a hook-up, but we skunked out anyway. As we were parting company, he shoved the full amount of the charter in my pocket and told me something I'll always remember. "Only Jesus guaranteed fish before the trip out" I have not guaranteed fish since that trip. What I do guarantee now is the only thing mortal man can guarantee. That I'll do my best.

Hey guys, there is one more step to the scam. I got the same e-mail. I told them I'd be more than happy to book the trip. When I did so, the next e-mail they wanted me to charge 4,000 more than my rates, and send their "booking agent" the 4 grand via western union. I responed by deleting the e-mail .

Could anybody that stupid even pass the Captains License exam?