1. I suppose barbless circle hooks would help, although I'm just now getting around to trying them.

2. If you can ID the fish before you try to net it, and get good with one of those "hook-stick" things, you can release it with almost no impact.

3. Use a sturdy line so that you can bring the fish to the boat promptly without breaking the line.

I think that you would cause very low mortality if you did these things. Once you net the fish, or if it's bleeding, I'd guess the mortality goes way up.

As for the WDFW's convoluted regs, I dunno. I can see why they split Area 7 off from the rest, because any salmon that end up in Area 7 are probably Canada-bound, not Puget Sound-bound. I kinda wonder why they are sticking with the wild coho release thing this year, since by all accounts, this year's coho run is very strong.

I personally think the 1 rockfish per day rule is stupid, since it motivates fishers to keep C&R-ing rockfish until they get one big enough for their liking, and rockfish mortality is really high regardless of how gently you treat them. They might as well just shut down rockfish until they are sufficiently recovered.

Regards.

Mike
Woodinville