Coho fishing all through the Straits have been off the hook last few weeks. Only problem is you have to catch 5-10 unclipped before you get a clipped fish.

We caught well over 60 fish last weekend to finally get 10 clipped fish. This weekend was a bit slower with 35 or so fish caught to get 3 clipped . Fish are on the smaller side averaging 4-7 pounds.
Its fun to catch all those fish, but its a bit frustrating watching a badly hooked fish you know is going to die, swim/float away.

I understand releasing the unclipped fish to help the wild stocks, but the math doesn't seem to add up. I figured, out of the 80+ unclipped fish caught, I bet a good 10-25 of them died. Seems to me if you just allowed first 2 fish caught to be retained. More unclipped fish would survive.

In a few weeks it will be moot when unclipped can be retained.