I agree you never have more than a theory unless you have data.

Believe it or not I took a couple years of calculus, graduated college, and am getting close to graduating from law school (now the jokes should really start). So I know a little about addin, subtractin and the difference between scientific and anecdotal evidence.

I am also not a guide. While I do know Kevin, I probably only see or talk to him a couple times a year. However, I know him well enough to know that all the of the false assumptions everyone immediately made about him with this post were entirely unfair and unfounded. He's a great guy and knows more about what's going on with our fisheries than any of the internet-know-it-alls that have so classlessly called him an idiot. I think that fact would become immediately obvious to anyone that fished with him.

The fact is even the Oregon Commission said the one fish bag limit would perhaps create a impact reduction, at most, of 5-6% in the Columbia, and 4% for the Willamette. So you can preach the fact that 2+2=4 and 1+1=2 all day long, but if it were really that simple then a one fish limit should have reduced the harvest by exactly 50% percent. Clearly, the Commission didn't think that.

The Commission did, however, HOPE the limit change would HELP prolong the season. I agree with Kevin that the effect of the limit change, when the effort is as high as it is in the Columbia, has a negligible effect on harvest and probably did little to extend the season.

Obviously, when you have a quota, and everyone gets to go out and catch some, there is nothing to complain about when the season gets cut short because the fishing was so good and the quota is used up. That doesn't changed the fact that more fish were caught in that time period that what went over the dam; that we took a huge hit out of the front of the run, rather than spreading our harvest out throughout the season; and that the results of this season showcase what an impact our pressured sportfisheries have on these fish.

What I think about this whole issue is that limit changes (that many of our fisheries may go through in the upcoming future) are never going to be very successful in heavily pressured fisheries if we dont control the the number of anglers on the water -- either by limited entry, closing more days during the week, or more strictly controlling the number of fish a person can harvest from particular watersheds. In many of our fisheries, it is the the number of people fishing that impacts the fish much more than the number of fish people can take home.

Okay that's that my last swing at the horse.

Go ahead an call me an idiot too and enjoy the black-paged reality that is PP.

Dom