Hawk,
I too took the time to write a personal e-mail to the WDFW, and like you am willing to travel all over gods creation just for the privilidge of hooking beautiful fish. Catch and kill was fine years ago, but times have changed, and it is time to embrace a new philosophy. Here is an excerpt from my letter to the commission.
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The sport of fishing is seemingly at an all-time high. With more and more anglers hitting the waters at a time when information is quickly shared to a mass audience, it is not hard to imagine the pressure that can be brought on a
productive river in a short amount of time. Five years ago, a fisherman needed a contact on the Olympic Penninsula in order to get a gage on river levels before making a three hour trip, only to find the rivers out of shape. Today, it is a click of the mouse to be able to see both river levels and fishing reports for that day. Needless to say, this has the ability to send several hundred fishermen to a given river system with something
akin to an 1849 gold rush. Given these circumstances, this can quickly deplete the number of Wild Steelhead one fish at a time.
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Now is the time to change