I'm still young and ignorant but the way I see things, the only change that this type of regulation can bring to the strength of the steelhead population is a great one.

Personally I fish for the enjoyment and challenge. I respect the fish as a gift, an opportunity to engage in an predator/prey relationship. However, we as humans are the one predator that has the knowledge and ability and the power to determine what is best for the prey and to carry out the necassary course of action. We need to keep our eyes to the future. In the long run, returning a native to the rivers after we have caught them is an extremely small price to pay for a future of healthy, abundant runs of wild steelhead. These native fish are the jewels of our rivers and oceans. Only a foolish man squanders a jewel, a wise man will take that jewel and invest it so that with time and careful management it will grow into a fortune.

When I have children, as a sportsman I want be able to introduce them to a beautiful and wild creation that flows with native salmon and steelhead. Life is about experiences, all you have in the end is memories, its your attitude that determines whether those memories are great ones or poor ones. I want to posess the memories of having the privilidge of passing a fortune that I helped protect on to my children. A fortune that will captivate them and cause them endless days of challenge and frustration and intense satisfaction, just as it has me.

----predator--one------< )))>{

[This message has been edited by predator one (edited 05-18-2000).]