Have you ever tried explaining politely to someone that they have caught a smolt and not a trout?

Just last Saturday, after hearing that the Sol Duc hatchery had released a half million smolts, I tried to convince a friendly enough fellow at the Bark hole that the fish he had just caught, since it wasn't a cutthroat, was almost certainly a smolt. The fact that its adipose fin was clipped actually had him even more convinced that what he had caught was a hatchery trout!!!

Are most people aware that resident trout are nearly nonexistent in our Western rivers?? That anadromous smolts out-compete most resident trout for food and holding water to the point that their numbers are statistically insignificant is lost on most fisherman I think.

Todd your thoughts on bait bans with meaning are right on the money. Why bother with a bait ban in december when the only fish around are mature adults, the evidence suggests that mortality on these fish is negligible if hooked and released. I would support a statewide ban on bait during the summer fishery or at any time there was a fish population in the river that would be at risk, including late Spring when there are so many downriver fish present.