I have followed this BB and others for the last year and a half and have come to a few conclusions. We as sport fishers are for the most part lazy and whiners. We complain about everything and everybody. From the tribes to WDF&W. Myself included. We complain about how wasteful the tribes are. But yet most of us will not say anything to a poacher or snagger much less call WDF&G. We complain about WDF&W's decision making process but most of the time we don't have the numbers/info to back our statements up. We trash each other because of our gear choices. We trash each other because some choose to keep a wild fish when legal to do so. Alot of us choose to not write letters or make calls when we need to about important matters. Alot of us waste water and elctricity. We drive cars and we use boats. We catch and kill/release fish as often as we can/or the wifes/gf's will let us. But yet we mitigate OUR IMPACTS on the fish the least! The fact is that WDFW has to make hard decisions based on the information they have(some of which may be flawed or outdated). They also have to try to make 350,000 sport, 3,000 tribal, and 1,500 commercial fishers happy(which is impossible). Most tribes make enormous contributions to the recovey of our fish. Does the Tulalip Bubble or the Nisqually king fisheries ring a bell. Thank the tribes for those opportunities. The tribes also do a helluva lot more restoration work then the government does. Keep in mind that the tribes have fewer illegal fishers than us sporties do. Most of what the tribes do happens behind the scenes. Netting just happens to be more noticable. What have we done to mitigate our impacts. Not much. Over the last three years I have been involved in 40 restoration projects in Snohomish County. Most of those have been streamside plantings. At these plantings most of the participants are boy/girl scouts, school kids and TREE HUGGERS! Most sportsmens club have a hard time getting help from their own members. Why is that? Because we are lazy and selfish! I put on a plant salvage on the 17th. I had almost 40 people turn out. There was myself, the county plant steward, his asst garderner, a county road crew member, almost 30 7-8 year old girl scouts and parents, and 4 fishermen! We will fish 365 days a year if given the opportunity but will we give up 1 saturday a month from Oct-Mar to plant along a stream or salvage plants to be put along a stream. Not a chance. We will come up with every excuse in the book to avoid this, especially if that excuse involves fishing! All the c&r and net free rivers in the state is worthless unless all those fish have good habitat to spawn in. Remember cutthroat, steelhead, and coho use those little tribs that run through our cities and wilderness areas. Those little tribs feed our main rivers which other salmonids spawn in. If you continue to c&r or c&k and do nothing to mitigate your impact than you are part of the problems and not the cure. Also if You are not mitigating your impact to the fish and the environment then you haven't earned the right to complain. Remember when you point a finger at another user group you have 3 pointed at yourself!
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR THE FISH LATELY?