cowlitzfisherman,
Not sure why you think F&G is for C&R. Bob Gibbons who heads the steelhead area of F&G is totally against C&R. as are his understudies. At the Vancouver meeting Bob stood outside helping a catch & kill advocate with his speech telling the guy not to say this but say F&G science is the real science, etc.
From reading your posts over the last year& half I have a lot of respect for your hard work in saving steelhead down your way but you are wrong about where the F&G stand on steelhead release.
As for the questionier, F&G had it put out by an independent group and did it not ask the Question; "If wild steelhead runs are healthy would you suport C&R state wide"? 61% said yes even if the runs are healthy, 34% said no, that's all most 2 to 1. That surprised me because I thought the question was biased for the catch & kill advocates with the healthy run bit in the question.
As for the barbed hook discussion I would agree it may make little difference on adult fish but a barbed hook in June and July on smolts going to the ocean takes it's toll would you agree on that.
Land Tuna.