I've been having a real (moral) dilemma this year while fishing out near Sekiu. We've had days where we caught & released 50 unclipped fish to keep 10 clipped coho.

I know that there is a certain mortality rate from this catch & release, and I purposely have fished almost exclusively single small siwash hooks, mostly spoons, to lessen the mortality rate.

But I've been considering the options... either I don't fish there at all, or I fish this way. I've been asking myself, if WDFW changed the rules next year and made it so you could keep just the first two fish you caught, would I like that? Because I do enjoy fishing a lot, and would probably like to fish most of the day, rather than be done first thing in the morning. But I also do enjoy eating fish, too.

So I'm still not sure what I'm going to do come September 1st, am I going to keep the first fish we catch, until our limits are full, or am I going to catch & release until I have the fish I want?

I think that in cases where WDFW is truly concerned about fish in a particular area (saltwater), that area should remain completely closed, or there should be much stricter gear restrictions in those areas... to lessen the C&R mortality impact... like you can only use single hooks 1/0 or smaller... something that won't brain or go through the eye of a smaller fish.

Then again, WDFW is so f***ked up when it comes to making sound scientific decisions, that I just don't trust their decisions. Example, how can they justify having openings in Area 5 and Area 7, but Area 6 has none? Never mind any net fisheries they allow... that just throws all C&R, all "protect the wild fish" theories out the window.

So I guess I'm looking for input, because I don't think many 18lb hooknose's will get released off my boat after September 1st, I think they'd all go in the fish box, wild or otherwise (If they weren't there in healthy numbers, WDFW wouldn't open the season, right?)

-N.

[ 08-22-2001: Message edited by: StorminN ]