By Bob Brown
It is not uncommon for anglers to get their line and hook hung up on a tree branch, root wad or wood debris while fishing a river or stream. At times, the hangup can be frustrating and even maddening. However, the National Forest Foundation recently published a pretty interesting article on why fish need wood. In the article, the foundation said there are seven reasons why fish need wood.
In some rivers and streams, in-stream wood debris has been drastically reduced by questionable forest management practices. Also, stream-0cleaning was sometimes conducted to remove trees from streams for beautification, to prevent damage to infrastructure downstream, and also in a misguided attempt to assist fish migration. Counter to what common sense would suggest, adding large woody material, including whole trees, logs and root wads, to forest streams can be beneficial to fish and is ecologically important for a number of reasons:
• It can help spawning gravel accumulate by slopping the gravel from moving downstream.
• Pools can form, which provide important juvenile rearing habitat, as well as habitat for all fish during periods of low-flows.
• It can help slow stream speed, which helps adult fish as they move upstream and shelters rearing juveniles from using too much energy fighting currents.
• It provides shade and pockets of cooler water and can help lower the temperature of an entire stream.
• It provides fish with refuge from predators.
• It can help stabilize banks, prevent erosion and decrease sediment movement downstream that can harm downstream fish habitat.
• It’s important to the aquatic food chain because it traps organic material and provides habitat for insects and invertebrates, which are food for fish.
All of these elements add complexity to a stream. When it comes to fish habitat, complexity is a good thing, and one of the best ways to make a stream complex is to add wood.
Attention, crabbers
Winter recreational crabbing closed in all areas of Puget Sound Dec. 31 and will remain closed until next summer. Reminder: State fishing rules require all sport crabbers with winter catch record cards to submit catch reports for the winter season to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) by Feb. 1, even if they did not catch any crabs. Sport crabbers also need to be aware that if they fail to submit a winter catch report, they will receive a $10 fine when they purchase their 2017 crab endorsement.
Crabbers who plan to report their catch online should be aware there are some changes to the WDFW online system. Rich Childers, shellfish policy lead for the department, said, “Because of those changes, crabbers should be prepared to take a few extra minutes to navigate our new online system.”
To report online, crabbers will need to establish an online account. Individuals can use these accounts for a variety of purposes, including crab reporting and purchasing hunting and fishing licenses.
Anyone who has questions about the online system can contact WDFW’s Licensing Division at 360-902-2464 or licensing@dfw.wa.gov.
Crabbers may also mail their catch record cards to WDFW CRC Unit, 600 Capital Way N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091.
Bob Brown lives in Roy and is a freelance outdoors writer. He can be reached at robertb1285@centurylink.net.
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