ReiterRat

You're right on! Some of you others guys…well some things never change!!!

One day you complain that we got way to many hatchery fish completing with the wild fish. The next day you say that we will be "fishing" way too much and causing harm to the wild fish if we fish too much for hatchery fish.

Now you see why WDFW is so screwed up! You can't cut your cake and eat it too on this one. More people like harvest then not…that's just the way it is!

So let's just say that we "Purchase" ANOTHER punch card. Well exactly what will that do to save or enhance the recovery of "wild fish"? That money will just go right back into the general fund again and pay for some jerk to figure out a way to get on L and I or some other state run scam. Why not stop all the 4 day work weeks? Hell that will make "some difference in fishing pressure". Think about it, all those state and federal boys will have to stay off the rivers on those Fridays! That means that fishing pressure will be eliminated one more day a week by thousands of employees…that too should help recover all those "wild" fish that those guys hook and release (that should generate a few flames back).

Think of it this way, the game wardens wouldn't have to be spending all your tax dollars writing some guy up for over limits or not punching his fish out immediately after catching it. That same game warren could be out there catching that guy who's poaching that wild fish that so many of you are trying to protect…right?

That way you wouldn't have to have them spending so much time on places like the Cowlitz or North Fork of the Lewis…right?

It wasn't that long ago that WDFW cut back the number of punches on their salmon cards…right? What did that do when it first started out…It made you "purchase" another card and for what…the general fund!

I have spent thousands of hours in the past raising fish in net pens so that those fish could be harvested by sport fishermen. So why not harvest them? It really irks me when people nock the Cowlitz. Before you guys nock the Cowlitz and its fishery, you need to look into your own "back yard"! Like it or not, we get the zoo fishery because people outside of this area are brought here by your newspapers. Just look at who homesteads the area around Blue Creek… they ain't us! Those aren't locals camping down their.

It would make more sense to me to create a special fund through legislation that would mandate a "wild" catch punch card. That way, all you guys that truly support wild fish recovery can really make a difference. Even if you chose not to kill your quota, you have made a special contribution to the recovery of wild fish. Look at the good side of doing this; when that special wild fish that you have hooked to deeply start's bleeding or you have fought him to long and to hard, he won't have died for nothing.

Look at anther good side of it; for all of you that think that the Tribes are getting all of your hatchery raised fish, now you can get all those "hatchery fish" first before they do!
I know the same old guys will hate what I have just wrote…but what's new? If there are no limits on hatchery fish, how will the tribe get their haft?

Here's one last thought that I will leave with you to plunder your minds with. What will all those fishing guides do if there are no limits on hatchery fish? I won't even begin to reach into that can of worms…well maybe just a little bit!

Take the limits off hatchery fish, and enjoy fishing for what it is. If you don't want to harvest or kill hatchery fish, do whatever works for you.

Remember, its only my opinion before you attempt to bit off my head!

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????