I think that these are a few things we can all agree with...

Sportfishermen are not all that great at filling in their punchcards.

Poaching is a problem on the OP.

Sportfishermen catch and harvest more fish than are reported.

Tribal fishermen catch a lot of fish, too.

Their reporting isn't all that good, either.

The reported catch of wild steelhead on the OP is higher for sportsmen than it is for the tribes.

Now we can have a pretend argument all the day long about how we aren't as bad as them...and if they were here, they'd say that they aren't as bad as us.

It doesn't really matter...the fact is, several thousand steelhead per year are reported as being harvested by sportsfishermen each year on the OP rivers.

There is no way that NETS NETS NETS is the only answer as to why OP steelhead runs are declining, so long as we "sportsmen" are harvesting just as many.

I know...I know...the nets are bad, and they are underreporting our catch. I also know that we're bad...we've all seen jerks running fish back to their trucks and keeping over their limits in the harvest seasons...not to mention catching and keeping them in areas/times where it's not open.

Either way, it adds up...and sport harvest is part of the problem.

If folks want to blame just habitat, or ocean conditions, or whatever, then that's fine. As soon as any harvest becomes part of the problem, then we are part of the problem.

Fish on...

Todd