This is the most biased and idiotic decision the commission has ever made.
It is resource allocation based upon political favoritism and has no basis in conservation reality. There is nothing to indicate that over harvest has caused current declines of the inland steelhead stocks. Those rivers where no harvest and in some cases no fishing is allowed have equally reflected the current steelhead cycles.
The coastal stocks have been showing a trend towards increasing numbers despite somewhat extreme harvest pressure.
They have lied and blindsided us with their public statement that the total ban on steelhead harvest would not be considered this rule cycle.
Washington and Idaho are now the only two places in the Pacific Northwest with a total prohibition on wild steelhead harvest including stocks with adult returns as much as twice that required for spawning escapement.
Thanks to the scumbags in the Wild Steelhead Coalition I will never again purchase another fishing license in this state!
I'm outa here - Plunk
Thanks for the replay.
I couldn't have said it better.
I tend to consider anyone who seeks gratification at the expense of others to be scumbags. Hence the name calling in a moment of anger. I have felt bad about publicly using this word to describe the members of the WSC for some time so, even if they fit the bill, I hereby apologize for the public outburst.
The WSC was formed primarily to protect steelhead from the fishermen who they wrongly blamed for the sudden declines in the Puget Sound rivers due to what science indicates to have been adverse ocean conditions. Over-fishing was a part of the equation only in the minds of those anti-harvest individuals who seek to impose their feel-good ethic upon the world. This is a mean-spirited and greedy attempt to exclude the majority of steelhead anglers from participation.
Although it was the Commission that acted illegally it has been the WSC who has taken the torch as campaign leaders for this restriction and their guidance towards the anti-harvest mentality from the fly fishing community. The Federation of Fly Fishers and the fly fisher dominated Trout Unlimited have long been the primary promoters of the anti-harvest agenda and the unsavory stereotyping of those that would catch fish to eat.
It is hard to disagree that Russ Cahill was right on the mark in his observation that, "The issue has been fermenting for years, I would call it a culture war between the catch and release fly fishermen, and people who want to take home a fish."
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