I agree with Dan S. too! Excellent post. And no, Gooose, I certainly don't believe in socialism. Dan S and I are perfect examples of what is going on here. Dan S. grew up here, fished all over and knows all the whats, whens, and wheres to fishing in WA. You all say, "paid his dues." BS... He was born into it, just like money only better. I grew up in WI fishing for bass and muskies(I've got some zipperlips too). Moved out here seven years ago and have been struggling to raise a family and get a little fishing in now and then. My steelhead experience has consisted of Blue Creek and Barrier Dam. Yuck.

I'd love to explore other areas, but whenever I've found time to get away from the family(two young-uns), the bad thoughts creep in, what river? exactly where?, what pole?, what bait?, what if I go where the river is closed?, etc, etc.. That sport fishing rule pamphlet may make perfect sense to you, but it scares the hell out of me.

The point to this is that Dan S. is now in the minority(native stud-fisherman Washingtonian) and I'm in the majority(clueless import). There are what, 4 million people in WA? How many buy a fishing license? How many of those, fish more than once or twice a year? In order to protect the resource(politically) we need MORE happy fishermen. Blue Creek fishermen are not happy no matter how many they snag.

This doesn't mean spill your guts about every place you fish. It means pepper this bulletin board with useful, shareable info whenever possible and less bragging.(Thank you Spawnout. My kids had a great time herring fishing in Westport.) A post saying, "Look at this picture. Joe and I caught this 20lb steelhead on our zipperlip yesterday." makes people envious, and inflates your own ego a bit, but doesn't do anything to promote fishing to the general public. In fact it says, "Look what I was doing while you were working to pay your taxes!" "Oh and would you pay more taxes to support the environment so I can catch more of these beautiful fish while you are working?"

Now that I think about it, "zipperlip" shouldn't be allowed. The word just screams elitism. "I know where to catch them and I'm not going to tell you..." Can't you at least say the river to get me excited? Hell, I'd prefer a lie as long as you didn't send me out fishing on a river that I'd get arrested on.

This is a long post so it will undoubtedly get misconscrued, but remember, if this website weren't so damn good, I wouldn't be posting this at midnight when I have to be up at 5...to work... dammit.