A.C, so if the indians are gonna kill their half of the fish, then you might as well kill your half too because it is lawful? Dont you get it...wouldnt you rather have that fish spawn and its offspring come back?

Lets say the Skagit has an escapement goal of 5,000 fish, and 7,000 come back. THe indians get 1,000 and sportsman get 1,000. The indians kill off their 1,000 right away. Bam, 6,000 fish left...sportsman go out and do the same thing, kill their half. Now you are at dead nuts 5,000 fish in the system. If river conditions suck or a huge flood hits you wont be fishing for thier offspring will u? BUT, if sportsman would have released all their fish, there would be more fish coming back four years down the road.

What im saying is, why cut everything to the wire. If there are 2,000 fish over the "escapement" goal, why not let that number keep growing? Why cut into it every year and screw our selves over in the long run?

Bottom line is; i would rather hook fish after fish than go the whole season hooking two because i could keep 1. Hatchery fish are for the table, thats why they are stocked throughout the fricken state . Let the wild ones go so someday we can have a reason for waking up at 3 in the morning.

Wonder if the North sound rivers will be open in the spring....hmmmm sure had fun this winter targeting hatchery fish...not!

enough from me.... Cowlitz, you did bring up some good points, even though i disagree on the theory that wild fish can be harvested some how, some way.
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"I have a fair idea of what to expect from the river, and usually, because I fish it that way, the river gives me approximately what I expect of it. But sooner or later something always comes up to change the set of my ways..."
- Roderick Haig-Brown