I enjoyed reading both of your messages. You both made some fine points. Now, I do prefer the spiney ray over the trout, but that doesn't mean that I don't fish for trout. I just prefer the fight of a the bass, and the taste of the crappie, perch and bluegill. But for me, if there is anything that compares to trying to outsmart a largemouth bass, it's the beautiful tailwalk of a trout that has found itself on the wrong end of my 6lb stren.

I agree that what has happened to most of the trout waters in washington state is a disgrace, and that more attention should have been paid to the impact the local fisheries would experience with the influx of spiney ray introductions.

A few weeks back I posted a report for Ohop lake. After failing miserably at trying to land any of my favorites in the cold, NW rain...I changed my set-up and starting catching trout hand over fist. None of them were large in any sense, but fighting a fish that will do nearly anything to toss your Eagle Claw is a true experience.

Acrobatic flips and 8'tailwalks aside, Spinyray will always be my first choice. But certainly not my only one. "If a fish was a wish, i'd be wishing for crappie"
BTW, I have some friends here in OKC that own a home on a private 50 acre lake. On 7/4/01 I caught a 16" 3lb. white crappie...just last weekend I caught one at 14" and 2lbs. A feast!