Good post Rich, WDFW is barking up the wrong tree. I sat on the Steelhead Comittee of Trout Unlimited in 2001-2002, we looked at lobbying the WDFW for 100% wild steelhead release in WA, but the rest of the comittee represented areas where their membership would not support catch and release(this is TU right?) I resigned my position over this issue. The argument is this; we (non-indians) must catch and kill all the fish that we can or we lose the fishery to "forgone opportunity". And of course, the fish allocated to sporties is based on MSY. Canada and California are using "maximum sustainable biomass" models, where they look at not how many fish can be killed before it damages the run, but how many species of what size, etc... can a river support? Typical short term thinking, reminds me of the DNR meeting we had in our community. Kill or cut everything we can for a buck today, screw tomorrow. Sad way to look at our natural resouces.
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Flyfishing, the gentler art of ripping lips.