Bugle ... You seem to have missed a good number of posts on this board because the issues you bring up have been discussed around these parts for years.

But to rehash it again:

It's about both, they go hand-in-hand. Healthy fish runs mean we get to enjoy fishing. Poor fish runs mean everyone gets to watch Saturday morning bass shows.

Obviuosly, there are some streams affected by the decision that I fish while working and that certainly affects my livelihood, there are other streams affected that I've never fished and likely never will, but I'm just as happy to see those under this ruling, not only for the sake of the fish, but for the people that enjoy those streams.

There are rivers that are in such dire shape that there should be no fishing period.

There are rivers about which we have no idea what is really happening, yet we've allowed kill on those. How can you allow a harvest (in some case, much less C&R) fishing if you have no idea what sort of shape a stock is in.

There are rivers that are healthy enough to allow some angler impact, but in all probability not as much as we currently have.

GD ... Some valid points / questions, I'll go down the line:

1) I'd hate to see the day that comes around, not only as a guide, but also as someone who enjoys the sport as much as anyone else. It's obvious (as I mentioned above) that we need this in some areas, but due to other factors, the runs may never come back ... especially if the other factors aren't corrected. It would be an option, but that would also mean that we've probably failed completely in our efforts to manage a run.

2) Don't think you won't see this with the C&R reg in place. I fish bait at times, I also fish lots of artificials at times. Frankly I could live either way on this one. However, I kow of a number of people out this way, including some of the oldest blood in the guide community that felt the moratorium did not go far enough and you may well see a push for this in the near future ... kill or no kill. If you think the C&R issue has the angling community divided, I think you'll see this option raise even more issues than simply letting the wild ones go. The C&R reg only means no harvest for a couple of months out of the year ... a bait ban would be year-round to be effective, that's somehting that would affect a greater percentage of anglers of a longer period of time.


3) Obviously, people know I'd support this Gives maximum number of days to all anglers of all gear types. Hatchery fish (steelhead) and hatchery springers mean there's only about two months out of the year in which there wouldn't be a harvest opportunity ... although you could even call that less given the fact that I see some awfully ugly looking wild fish going home which really wouldn't be any better table fare than a hatchery kelt that you still run across in that Feb - March timeframe where fresh hatchery fish are usually not present. There is no question that with a limited resource, that the maxiumum economic return would be realized. This option also helps to protect against overharvest by our friends att he river mouth or down years that are not forecast (frankly, it seems like the weather to me in the predictions anyhow).

Most of us don't feel that it is the "end all to protect fish". It is the first step. It's the easiest step with an immediate impact to put a couple of thousand extra fish on the beds in the Quillayute system. It's about helping to ensure we have enough around while things are being re-evaluated (trust me, there are, and not by WDFW or the tribes) to see if the numbers we are all arguing about are even the corrct ones. It's also about putting our foot forward first in the efforts to decrease tribal impacts ... while netting will never go away totally w/o an act of Congress, days might be decreased if studies show we need more fish on the beds in these streams. It also about fighting for a strict quota system instead of a day allotment for tribal netting on these streams. It's about protecting the weakest part of the run ... the early fish, that often hold up with the hatchery fish around the terminal areas and don't make it to the early fish spawning areas way up in the headwaters of these streams. I'm sure I could go on, but I think most get the point, it's not prefect, but more than likley the best option we have in our laps.


4) Regarding a limited kill season. I would be opposed for several reasons: a limited kill season allows for much more over limit takes than a total no-kill ban as it's much easier to sneak an extra fish or two (or five as I know happened not too long ago in the lower Hoh) than to sneak one out under a C&R fishery. It's a matter of taking the chance of anyone seeing you take one vs. taking the chance that you don't write one down or chancing it that someone within sight hasn't seen you harvest another one. It sounds bad, but I guarantee you that LOTS of this goes on. I'm on these waters daily and talk to anglers fishing these waters daily and you can thank these sort of anglers for encouraging some of us to push even harder for no-kill regs.
Other factors to consider under the limited kill season: some anglers (as we see now) purposely try to harvest hens (bigger often better) to keep egg supply up. Harvest should be based upon an "equal chance" situation as would be the case with C&R mortality. Along these same lines, you still would have a number of anglers trying to kill the largest possibel memebers of the run ... big fish don't always make big fish, but as you wipe out all the big genes, we're left with runts. If you want to learn more about this in a fishery, please refer to ongoing issues with the Kenai River and slot limits that are now in place to ensure that some of the bigger fish make it.

If the city of Forks thinks the moratorium will hurt business, just wait until you see a couple of week season or, if things continue to decline, no season at all ...

PS ... "Stay off of the wild fish or shut up about them"

?????????????????????

I'd encouage you to run that line by a tens of thousands of members of DU, or the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

I'm a member of the WSC, not PETA.

Loving a steelhead doesn't mean that you can't angle for them.

If you fish any body of water connected to the ocean, or even the ocean itself, at any time in this state, you have the chance to run across a wild steelhead.

There's happy balance PS. Many of us feel we've found it, perhaps one day you will as well.