Keith,

There are two reasons why unclipped chinook may have CWT in their snout. First, some wild salmon are tagged to obtain harvest distribution data on wild stocks because they are sometimes different from hatchery fish. Second, some hatchery salmon are left unclipped but CWTed to provide "double blind" mark groups so that the differential harvest rates on marked and unmarked fish can be estimated. Of course there is the third reason, that some hatchery fish are not fin clipped. Thought you should be aware of the other reasons.

Sport fishing is not doomed. However, the more that sportfishermen engage in spitting matches with each other instead of organizing to advance mutual interests, the more that sportfishing will suffer.

If the price of bitching and criticism was to offer up one truly constructive suggestion, my bet is that way over 90% of the pissing and moaning would disappear. But since talk remains cheap, internet bitching continues to rule the day.

Sg