Kevin,

TrailRat obviously got up on the wrong side of the bed. ANYONE can clearly see, from the pics, that those are unclipped fish. SO, to the "letter of the law", you are dead-on in your assessment. Yes, they could be OP hatchery stock from the Quinault...but that is an open ended thought, as the source of the fish was not reported.

As to following that law...well, I say FIE on that rule!

While the law may say you can't take them from the water for pics or ??, anyone who knows the first thing about how to handle a fish can hold it out of the water long enough to take a pic or two without harming the critter.

They (WDFW) also did not include any suggestions about how to get a 1/0 Octopus hook (barb pinched) out of a 15 lb.+ steelhead, without securing the fish in some manner, or taking it out of the water. You either have to wear the fish down to exhaustion in order to get it to sit still (which can kill the fish with lactic acid, later) , or you have to use a broomstick for a pole with 40 lb. line and just horse the fish in.

I'm no "old pro" like come of you guys, but my common sense tells me that, while the intentions are good, this is a stupid law that never should have hit the books.

Mike