IFPAG Meeting, Part 3 -- 2-Pole Rule Update

[Don Wittenberger]

This spring, the Legislature passed a bill authorizing an additional license fee to fish with 2 lines. This is important to muskie anglers because it makes possible multiple-line trolling setups, which are more efficient for finding suspended muskies in open water away from structure. The standard trolling setup developed in eastern U.S. muskie fishing areas uses 6 lines, but even 2 anglers using a 4-line trolling setup can troll more effectively than with 1 line each.

WDFW requested this legislation to help fill a budget shortfall, and hopes it will raise as much as $2 million a year. In Arizona, for example, about 20% of license buyers opt for the 2-pole stamp, which nets over $400,000 a year for that state’s wildlife agency. WDFW says it will use the 2-pole revenues to maintain trout production at state fish hatcheries and "reinvest" in 2-pole waters.

WDFW proposed a $10 fee for the 2-pole “stamp,” but the fee enacted by the Legislature is $20 ($5 for seniors), and WDFW can’t lower it – that requires a future Legislature amending the law. The fee is the same for resident and non-resident anglers.

The new law doesn’t establish the 2-pole program, but only authorizes it. As WDFW requested this authorization, and its purpose is to raise money for WDFW, adoption by the Commission is a foregone conclusion. In fact, WDFW isn't waiting for Commission approval; the department plans to adopt an Emergency Rule that could begin 2-pole permit sales as early as Aug. 15. WDFW expects the Commission to adopt a permanent rule that will take effect on May 1, 2010.

Here’s how the 2-pole system works. If you buy the permit, but your fishing partner doesn’t, you can fish with 2 lines but he (she) can’t. In this scenario, your boat could run a total of 3 lines, but if you fish with only 1 line, your buddy who doesn't have a 2-pole permit can't use your second line.

Even if you buy the 2-pole permit, you’ll still be limited to 1 line on certain waters. WDFW calls these waters (mostly lakes) “excluded waters.” Fishing with more than 1 line will be prohibited on these waters even if you have a 2-pole permit. WDFW used several criteria to determine which waters ended up on the “excluded waters” list. For example, 2 poles are not allowed at juvenile fishing ponds.

Mayfield Lake is the only tiger muskie lake on the “excluded waters” list. It's on the list because it has a migratory anadromous fish population, which was one of the criteria. Thus, tiger muskie anglers fishing at Mayfield can have only 1 line in the water at a time, even if they have a 2-pole permit. However, they will be able to use this permit at the other 6 tiger muskie lakes.

This is the list of “excluded waters,” i.e. places where the 2-pole permit is NOT valid, that WDFW staff distributed at Saturday's IFPAG meeting, in alphabetical order (county of location in parentheses): Aeneas (Okanogan), Aldwell (Clallam), Amber (Spokane), Anderson (Jefferson), Baker (Whatcom), Bayley (Stevens), Bear (Spokane), Beaver (Clallam), Beda (Grant), Big Four (Columbia), Big Twin (Okanogan), Black (Okanagon), Blackbird Island Pond (Chelan), Blue (Cowlitz), Blue (Okanogan, near Wannacut Lake), Bradley (Pierce), Brookies Lakes (Grant), Browns (Pend Oreille), Bumping (Yakima), Cady (Mason), Campbell (Okanogan), Carrie Blake Pond (Clallam), Cases Pond (Pacific), Castle (Cowlitz), Chopaka (Okanogan), Clear (Yakima), Coffeepot (Lincoln), Coldwater (Cowlitz), Columbia Park Pond (Benton), Cougar (Okanogan), Cowlitz Falls Reservoir, Cushman (Mason), Damon (Grays Harbor), Davis (Okanogan), Dayton (Columbia), De Coursey Pond (Pierce), Diablo (Whatcom), Dickey (Clallam), Drano downstream of markers on point of land downstream and across from Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery and upstream of Hwy. 14 bridge (Skamania), Dry Falls (Grant), Dusty (Grant), Easton (Kittitas), Ebey (Snohomish), Ell (Okanogan), Fort Borst Park Pond (Lewis), Fortson Mill Pond #2 (Snohomish), Garfield Juvenile Pond (Whitman), Gibbs (Jefferson), Gibbs (Jefferson), Gissburg Pond, North (Snohomish), Gorge (Whatcom), Granite (Skagit), Green and Lower Green (Okanogan), Grimes (Douglas), Headgate Pond (Asotin), Hidden (Okanogan), Homestead (Grant), Horseshoe (Jefferson), Jennings Park Pond (Snohomish), Kachess (Kittitas), Keechelus (Kittitas), Kennedy creek Pond (Thurston), Kiwanis Pond (Kittitas), Koeneman (Kitsap), Lake Washington Ship Canal, Leech (Yakima), Lenice (Grant), Lenore (Grant), Lewis River Power Canal and old Lewis River streambed between Swift No. 1 and No. 2 powerhouses (Cowlitz), Lincoln (Clallam), Lions Park Pond (Walla Walla), Long (Ferry), Long’s Pond (Thurston), Lucky Duck Pond (Stevens), Mayfield (Lewis), McDowell (Stevens), McLane Creek Ponds (Thurston), Medical (Spokane), Merrill (Cowlitz), Merry (Grant), Middle Nemah Pond (Pacific), Mill Creek Pond (Grays Harbor), Mill Pond (King), Monte Cristo (Snohomish), Mooses Pond (Pacific), Mud (Yakima), Munn (Thurston), Muskegon (Pend Oreille), Myron (Yakima), Naneum Pond (Kittitas), North Silver (Spokane), Northern State Hospital Pond (Skagit), Nunnally (Grant), Ohop (Pierce), Old Fishing Hole Pond (King), Owens Pond (Pacific), Packwood (Lewis), Para-Juvenile Lake (Grant/Adams), Pass (Skagit), Ping Pond (Grant), Pit (Douglas), Pleasant (Clallam), Portage Bay (King), Prices (Mason), Promised Land Pond (Grays Harbor), Quail (Adams), Quigg, located at Friends Landing near Montesano (Grays Harbor), Rat (Okanogan), Rattlesnake (King), Ravensdale (King), Rigley (Stevens), Rimrock (Yakima), Ross (Whatcom), Salmon Bay, Sammamish (King), Sarge Hubbard Park Pond (Yakima), Scanewa a/k/a Cowlitz Falls Reservoir (Lewis), Shye (Grays Harbor County), Silver (Cowlitz), Silvernail (Okanogan), South Bend Mill Pond (Pacific), Spada (Snohomish), Squalicum (Whatcom), Stump (Mason), Sutherland (Clallam), Swans Mill Pond (King), Swift Reservoir from dam markers to approximately mile below Eagle Cliff Bridge (Skamania), Tanwax (Pierce), Teal (Jefferson), Lake Union (King), Vance Creek Ponds #1 and #2 (Grays Harbor), Vancouver and all other waters west of BN Railroad from Columbia R. drawbridge near Vancouver downstream to Lewis R., Vogler (Skagit), Walupt (Lewis), Wapato (Pierce), Lake Washington Ship Canal, including Lake Union, Portage Bay, and Salmon Bay, waters east of a north-south line 400’ west of the Chittenden Locks to the Montlake Bridge (King), Lake Washington including that portion of Sammamish R. from 68th Ave. NE bridge downstream (King), Wenatchee (Chelan), Whatcom (Whatcom), Willame (Lewis), Wynoochee (Grays Habor), Yakima Sportsmen’s Park Ponds (Yakima).