boater,

I can tolerate you disagreeing with me, and I've tolerated you being a jerk over the course of many threads on the various BB's, but I think I'm done tolerating you putting words in my mouth.

I said that I'd like to see the rivers at 100% escapement for any sort of fishery. I said that I'd rather not see any harvest of fish based on models that aren't accurate, and don't control how many fish are harvested, or when they're harvested, or by whom.

The only possible statement you can base your predictably useful and insightful comments on is that I'd feel better having a fishery over a run that is predicted to be at 80% escapement if those predictions were much more accurate.

There's quite a difference between "feeling better" about something and liking it. I don't think that there's any reason to have directed harvest on wild fish, but I'd sure feel better about it if the runs were accurately predicted to be over 100% and that the harvest would not lower the run below that 100%.

Do you understand the difference that I am making?

At the risk of repeating a fairly obvious statement, here it is, again:

"I'd feel better about fishing over an 80% escaped run if I knew that the run hadn't been subjected to a harvest season already. It's pretty clear that we won't be able to accurately assess the run until after we've bonked on it, if at all. At least if we're cnr'g the wild fish, we can be confident that somewhere around 95%-98% of those we release will still be out there spawning.

I'd prefer to have every river's escapement and capacity measured with great accuracy, I'd like to have models that are fool proof, and plug in indisputable numbers. Then I'd prefer that all the rivers come out to be around 100% escapement and that we all can fish until April each year on each river. I bet all the gas stations, mini marts, resaurants, hotels, and guides that depend on steelhead would like those things, too."

Any more helpful comments? How about some comments, boater, about all the rest of the above post, say, about run prediction models, and in-season assessments, and the generation of more accurate carrying capacities? I'm sure that won't be as fun as your usual nice one-liners, but I'd like to hear what you have to say about it.

Fish on...

Todd.