Bruce,

Asking too much? Not at all. We're not going to get any action with personal attacks, or heated arguments. We all need to keep a level head, and converse with our fellow fishers to find COMMON ground, rather than argue the finer points of what we can do to preserve fish.

That being said, it is very dangerous, in my opinion, to trust the science being used by the state to measure what is considered a healthy run. You must remember that they nearly ALWAYS wait until a run is in critical condition before implementing ANY regulations to improve the odds for the fish. Look at the Skagit system as an example. It's been "bonk away" right up to the point of closing the system altogether. Where was the science in this case?

The problem is, if you would have brought up a mandatory C&R season on wild steelhead on the Skagit system 6 or 8 years ago, the Wildcattters and others would have laughed, pointed their fingers at the nets and commercials, and pulled their political strings to shoot down any such proposal. Would the C&R regs have helped the system? Who knows for sure, but the fact remains that the sporties were as much to blame (in their own capacity, of course) as any other group for doing their share to hurt the fish population, rather than help it.

I don't believe ANY of us are that far away from common ground. We all love the fish and fishing, we have just chosen to focus on our differences, rather than our similarities. We do the same thing throughout society, so I guess it just comes with the territory. Sooner or later though, if we continue down the same path, RICH G's kids and grandkids will hear RICH talk about the steelhead and kings that USED TO BE in the rivers he lives by, rather than being able to teach them to fish for them like RICH used to. Crap, I've grown up listening to the same stories myself. Stories about how the Dosewalips, Duckabush, Goldsborough Creek, upper West Fork of the Humptulips, and others scattered around Puget Sound and the coast that used to have great fishing for native steelhead and salmon. The state used to consider these healthy runs and they allowed them to be be wiped out, either through loss of habitat, or by overharvest on the commercial, recreational, and tribal sides. We can do something about the recreational group NOW and then work toward changing the other groups in the future.

Good talking with you Bruce. I don't have all the answers, and I may not have any. I still like discussing the topic, though, and seeing what other points of view are out there. So far, I've found your opinion not all that different from my own, or RICH G's. Let's remember that as we continue to discuss what we can do to help the fish.