Hello - anyone in there??

Most (at least many) of us on this board think selective rules (no bait / single barbless) C&R is awesome and practice it most of the time.

And all of us would agree that 'grading', is not only illegal, but not ethical. If bait is used, then any fish caught is kept - trebble or single hook. When fishing almost all of our lakes, there is no minimum size rule - so anyone fishing these lakes who releases a trout that was caught using bait is scum and should be reported.

Stream fishing is a whole different story. While there are a few rivers that are stocked for put-and-take, most are either wild trout, or even salmon/steelhead smolt. In my opinion, bait should not be used when dealing with wild trout and smolts(but would be OK in the put-and-take rivers).
And many salmon/steelheaders get p/o'd at all the 'trout' flyfisherman who come out to the rivers after the june 1 opener with their light weight fly rods to 'play' with some small 'trout'. When 99% of the catch are really just smolts that should be left alone. Also, flyfisherman are often looked down on for often wading accross reds.

The point Mike and others are trying to make is that there is a time and place for each type of fishing. We all have somethings to lean about being careful with our resources and being accoutable for our actions. Unfortunately, there are many slobs out there who could really care less and make things diffucult for the rest of us. We should be working together to address the specific problems with specific individuals and stop the name calling and finger pointing.
If we as fisherman can't come to common ground, then the sport as a whole will only head down hill. Between groups like PETA and the non-fishing public majority, we have a real battle to fight.

So if you don't like hanging around bait chuckers - don't. If you think fly fisherman tend to be snobs - stay away. We each have places to go and enjoy our sport the way we like. Stop the whining. It's a choice, and I'm glad I have the freedom to make it. Now let's stop beating up this poor dead horse and get out there and enjoy ourselves!!