It's all about politics. Let's say that some river has 100 harvestable fish. By law, the tribes are entitled to at least 50 of them. That leaves 50 for the sportsmen. Now, we all know that there's no way every one of those 50 fish the sportsmen have a shot at will be killed. Probably a majority of the ones that are caught would be released by responsible anglers and then some would not even bite at all. Some would make it up to spawn along with the rest of the fish that are required for escapement.

Basically, what we've done is said to the Indians they can have all 100 of them and thensome. We all know that nets don't magically stop once their set number has been taken. In Elliot Bay, the tribes take more than their quota year after year. So by taking opportunity away from the sportsmen, more wild fish will be killed than if there was a very limited C&K season.

With C&R only, people think that a steelhead on the spawning bed is a great thing and it seems like that's where their thought process ends. Yes, the more steelhead that survive to spawn the better, but if their offspring are caught in nets when they return to spawn, it doesn't really do a whole lot of good other than provide more fish to the tribes. What it comes down to is the simple fact that letting a few more fish spawn will do nothing to increase the run strength as long as nets are in the rivers.

The tribes won't clean house just because ours is clean. They're an authority unto themselves. The only people they will piss off is the sportsmen and they know we can't unite to do anything about it. Every year, the tribes take more fish than they're supposed to in Elliot Bay. The last several sockeye seasons have been shut down early after the tribes go in then the WDFW tries to tell us that sportsmen caught 26,000 fish in two days. The tribes have the state and the media in their pocket. They'll do whatever they want and anyone who says anything against them will be labeled a racist. It's that simple folks.

The bottom line is that more wild steelhead will be killed on a yearly basis than when there was a limited C&K season.