It's all about morals and ethics guys.

While the thought of killing a wild hen makes my stomach turn and my blood boil, just as many or more guys happily give the war whoop and rock smash.

Then they take them home, stuff them in the freezer, and after a couple of years when they're really freezer burned, they throw them away to make room for the new ones. These are called meat fisherman.

These guys have monster freezers, sometimes two or three. Enough room for their deer, elk, games birds, and all the salmon and steelhead they can possibly keep. In May when the rivers are closed, they fish smallmouth bass when they're on their beds and keep them too.

I like to keep a hatchery steelhead once in a while, but I let most of them go too. Cleaning a fish at the end of the day ruins a good day fishing for me.

On a lighter note, how has the N Fork been fishing? I got two hatchery fish last week in there. That must be one hellava slide above Oso. It goes from crystal clear to latte. What did the rain from the past couple of days do to the river?

TK