ltlCLeo,
Your concerns are valid but don't blame the WSC for trying to divide fishermen. They have tried to unite fishermen with good science and reasoning. When the WSC was formed much discussion was about do we need to get the rivers closed down to save wild steelhead or is there another way? Can you imagine the out cry from all fishermen if the WSC decided to fight for closing all rivers? I can only speak as a proud member of the WSC and not for the organization itself. The way it went from my point of veiw was that most felt by going C&R all who fished would still have the opportunity to do so without doing too much harm to the fishery. Things that you brought up like barbless and bait were talked often and there was division amongst members but in the end after going over all the scientific data we agreed it was more important to keep more fishermen on the rivers participating in conservation than to piss off more folks by making un-scientific restrictions on them. The loss to barbs and bait of wild winter fish does not seem drastic enough when compared to excluding those who fish that way from fishing.
You mention where are the young people fishing? If the rivers are closed then the Teen Tylers and the Ryan's who by the way is old by Tylers standards will be lost forever. You are right about not many young people fishing but lets keep ones we got fishing at least C&R. I have not seen any action by the WSC to divide or resrict anyones right to enjoy going fishing they want everyone to be able to fish more. What they want is the end of the deliberate killing of wild steelhead when less and less of them exist. These folks in the WSC are not PETA or some fern feeler group, They wish there was a way to keep wild steelhead too but realize that in the world we all now live in sportsmen are going to have to do something to save them instead of eating them. Soon enough the way it's going all our rivers will be shut down year around, a couple bad years and welcome Uncle Sam and the ESA.