Bruce,
Say what?!?! First you say, correctly, that stock declines are a result of all of the factors already listed. There are others, but those are the controllable ones. Then you say that we need to find the 'root cause' of the declines. Didn't you just point out that there isn't a single root cause, but a combination of factors?

Since OP stocks aren't habitat limited, the 'root cause' of any declines, as far as we can control, is that we're killing too many of them before thay can spawn. Any reduction in our take of pre-spawners, via sporties or commercials or whoever, is good, right? C&R may kill some fish, but it is undeniable that it will reduce the take of pre-spawners while still allowing people to enjoy the resource. How can that be bad? So what if C&R is a band-aid? Chucking carcasses in streams and placing structures in streams are band-aids, but they are useful.

Bottom line: If C&R can contribute to escapement increases that may lead to larger adult returns that may increase populations enough to support sports harvest, isn't that a good band-aid?

If there is something bad about C&R that I don't know, please inform me. Otherwise I'm going to think that your argument is more of the same tired "the indians aren't stopping killing fish, why should I" BS that will eventually prove Robert Lackey (in STS) correct.

Stinkfoot