As February approaches, local sportsmen and women start to think about smelt dipping.
Will the popular smelt dip take place on the Cowlitz River this year, or is the run supposed to be too depressed to allow recreational harvest?
The prospects are good for at least one dip this year, according to Laura Heironimus, the sturgeon, smelt and lamprey lead for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“We had pretty good ocean conditions the last two years,” said Heironimus, “and last year was one of the strongest runs we’ve had in the last few years. Our run expectations for this year are similar to last year.”
She said most ocean indicators are good, but there are some questions.
“There is a little bit of uncertainty about the ocean indicators,” Heironimus said. “Some ocean indicators are really good on the one side, but at the other end there are some indicators that we are not exactly sure how they relate directly to the smelt returns.
“Generally, I think it’s still going to be another strong run.”
She reported that the department will get a much clearer idea of the run size once the commercial nets go in the Columbia River.
“We use that commercial monitoring data to help inform us on the abundance of fish,” she said.
Smelt, also called Columbia River eulachon or candlefish, are a small anadromous fish that are known for their high oil content. They are usually from 4 to 8 inches in length.
When the schools return to spawn in the winter, usually in February or March, the state determines if the run is strong enough to allow harvest.
Unregulated harvest led to a crash of the smelt runs around the turn of this century, and in 2010 they were listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened. Since that time the states have had to closely regulate smelt dipping and the commercial harvest.
In 2018 and 2019 there were no open recreational seasons for smelt because the runs were depressed.
