Third Straight

Good signs for possible winter opener as state managers also hope

By MD Johnson

Yes, folks, it’s that time again. Will we dip? Won’t we? Maybe? Of course, I’m talking about a smelt season. Who cares if it’s only for a handful of hours on a Saturday morning at the Cowlitz, with 10,000 of our closest and dearest fiends. I mean friends.

It’s always a crapshoot with smelt these days. There’s a lot that goes into getting a season – numbers, estimates, evaluations, regulatory permission, commercial netting that may – or may not – point toward a recreational opener. Columbia River smelt are, after all, listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, so there’s hoop after hoop after hoop. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service has to get involved. So does the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. And – thanks, Covid! – in recent years so too the Department of Health, which has the ultimate say in whether or not to allow said 10,000 people, some of whom may actually have the Covid, to gather in one place at one time. Whew! Yes, sir. It’s a lot.

Fortunately, we smelt hopefuls have Laura Heironimus, WDFW’s smelt, sturgeon and lamprey unit lead. Heironimus, as should be obvious from her title, wears many hats for the agency, and has since stepping into her current role in January 2018. I had the opportunity to talk with Heironimus briefly in early January about, among other things, smelt and the possibility that the now-traditional one-morning late winter opener might take place.