LittleZoZo and I have tossed a couple emails back and forth since his misreading of my post in the snagging thread. My last response to him is something that I feel that I might as well offer up to the board and take my lumps. Here it goes:

***

What it comes down to for many of us family men is putting food on the table. Sadly, my folks went through a difficult time financially when I was growing up so we relied on my father to bring home the bacon. I wish it was bacon, but it was fish. Salmon and steelhead, three to four meals a week. Baked, steaked, broiled, barbecued, you name it. And I got SICK OF IT. To this day it's just not what it should be.

Now I catch it to feed to my wife and kids. She doesn't like cooking it so it's up to me to prepare it without gagging. Don't get me wrong, though. It's good eating, but I still have that twitch in my belly from those days of fish.

I don't get many opportunities to fish, and my tackle is far from the Loomis/Lamiglas groups. So, when I do go fishing for salmon I'm going for food. While I haven't ever lined fish (knowingly), when the fish are thick and lockjawed and that bump I feel turns out to be something other than their mouth, I'm not against keeping the fish. The tackle I use is specifically for a mouth-take, but if something else presents itself and it means feeding my children then so be it.

So no, we really aren't too far away from each other. This year is the first year that I've really gotten any salmon fishing in since probably 10 years ago. I'm a horrible cast with a levelwind but the coastal creek I fished this year didn't require much casting. Actually, the Wind River cleanup was my first salmon fishing in a long time, and Ramstrong probably feared for his life every time I casted. Maybe if things get better (like maybe my position in the government getting graded where it's supposed to be, which would be a roughly 25-40% salary increase) I'll be able to fish more and become more successful. Until then, I take what I can get.

When money's tight, it's all about putting food on the table. We know this.

David

***

Okay, I've put on my flame-retardant waders. Sling it at me. Tell me I'm wrong. By the letter of the law I am, and if I was ever caught I'd (somehow) pay the fine. But damnit, my kids need food. And if I'm running out of time in the day and can't get them to bite it's gonna be hard for me to let that 10-20 lbs of FOOD go back in the water.