If you are a guide and a client asks you "Can we kill nates in your boat? the law states that we can kill one a day per person." Who is responsible for the death of that fish or two per day?

If you were an average steelheader who gets out a few times a month,catches maybe a fish or two a month,how much impact would you have on the resource?

If you were a guide on the coast who fishes daily,barring any rainouts,you have December,January,February, March and April. You have five months to fish.Coservatively on the water say 100 days.You have two new clients in the boat almost daily.Some make it a fews days,some only once.If you were an average guide how hard would it be to kill two fish a day?My numbers add up to 200 dead nates a season.That is only one guide.How many are there that allow clients to kill nates?

If you are with a guide who is responsible for getting you on the fish?You are not the one rowing the boat.Who is putting the plugs over the fish? Who is telling you were and when to cast?How do you even know what gear to even be using?Who is ultimately responsible for getting the fish?

Who is responsible for the dead nate?
Numbers add up.Is that any better than gillnetting at the mouth of the river?Is there that much differance?

As an individual, in the big picture, I have had no impact on the enviroment, I got these 6 billion buddies though..... Shouldnt a guide advertise as CNR on nates only, if they were real concerned? Would they lose business? Is that what is most important to them? I get the funny feeling that being first on the river and gettin customers comes first for most guides, I hear talk. C

I am a guide and take clients fishing for nates. Before I even book a trip I make sure that they are OK with CNR. If not then I take them to a river that will not produce any nates or should I say not that many. I do not lose any clients over the issue. The ones that do not have a problem with CNR have one of the best days on the water just catching fish. None of the clients handle any of the fish and I use a CNR net and the fish never leaves the water. So I feel I am very responsible for having no impact on the decline of these fish and do not lose clients over this issue. I don't know for sure, but I am sure I am just one of the few. If there are others I would like to hear it.

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Presentation is the key to Success and change can make the difference.www.ChasenADream.com

[This message has been edited by Chasen A Dream (edited 02-05-2001).]

I gave up on trying to make a living in this state and I took a real job, but I still guide in AK where we have a half dozen rivers on the Island that are full of steelhead and we have them all to ourselves, all wild fish I might add. None of our guests are allowed to bonk a steelhead, If I get the feeling that killing fish is important to them, I'll take them after dollies(which average between 2# and 4# and as large as 8#)and this along with fishing the salt for kings, silvers, butts and other bottom fish always keep them happy and comming back. For those who practice C&R what a fishery for these steelhead, and because the fish that make it thru all the nets to return to the rivers virtually spawn unmolested, what I mean by this is we fish for them from the second week of april to the third week of may and rotate rivers daily so a river gets fished no more than 5 days a year. This we feel will ensures us with fishing for years to come. I know our situation differs from here in WA, but guides here can take a stance and make C&R polices. They may lose some customers but it would give them their best shot at long term job security. If current practices by ALL PARTIES stay as is, say goodby to the steelhead.

If you are a guide that believes in catching and releasing wild steelhead, then you need to make it clear before you book your clients that that's the way it is.

Probably even put it in all your advertisements.

I think that a guide who doesn't makie it clear, and ends up with a client killing a fish, is responsible.

Todd.

*****en question ReiterRat and some awsome answers ---but ill add another ?
does the fish that are c&r --do they get marked on the card
2. does everyone send in there card when keeping a fish --
3. does everyone send in there card when not catching fish


Will

only the #s will help out on the short run and be a big help in the long haul
so send in them cards

i am a fishing guide in western wa.and i agree with chasen a dream and work things the same way.although i carry a very nice camera and a soft tape for the big trophy's.these days you don't need the fish for a mount.i try to take the fish to shore and not net them at all or take them out of the water.most people enjoy fighting the fish and don't mind releasing .i have some clients that turn marked fish back. www.scottys-fishing-guide-service.com

Chasen a dream, I have alot of respect for guides like you who care about the fish just as much as putting clients into fish.

Guides who dont give a sh** and let the clients bonk Nates and let the fish roll around in the boat while the newbie wrestles around hugging the damn thing for a picture, those guys might as well use a gillnet, because its all about the $ and BBQ.

Guides are roll models because chances are, the client will copy your techniques and philosophies further down the road.

tight lines, and dancin' plugs to you guides..lol

- BW

I believe guides should encourage C&R of nates, but I think it should be up to the paying customer, unless, of course, it's understood upfront. It's unfair to the customer who might want to keep one if he happens to land one and the guide won't let him. Saying a guide who lets customers keep nates is like a gillnet is not a fair comparison. A single gill net will kill more nates than a single guide will.

JacobF,
Saying a single guide can put up numbers that a gillnet can is not a fair comparison.My point is that you get two or three guides out there all season putting up average numbers and you can do some serious damage to the resource.The fish that are lucky enough to get by the nets are the only ones left to spawn.They are way to valuable to be hit over the head just for something for dinner.

This is a great topic and something the Wild Steelhead Coalition has long term interest and goals. The Wild Steelhead Coalition applauds and supports Guides who educate Clients about Wild Steelhead and each Guides use of Catch & Release fishing practices for these magnificent fish. This is one of our many goals, to help educate the public about Wild Steelhead and how to properly catch and release Steelhead.

If you want to learn more about the Wild Steelhead Coalition and join our cause, please join us this Sunday, Feb. 11th at the O.B. Williams Building at 1939 1st Ave South, which is 3 blocks south of Safeco Field on the Westside of 1st Ave. Please, bring your own chair. The meeting starts at 6pm!

Kevin Kent
Treasurer
Wild Steelhead Coalition

I'm sure most people know I, and the other boats I have out working for me from time to time, working strictly C&R on our trips for wild steelhead. It's advertised, and required.

Why? The state's & tribes numbers and models stink, the Indians are netting the hell out of the fish in many systems, haibitat problems are present in some areas, and so on and so on ... and as a user group that has the POSSIBILITY of having one of the greatest impacts on a fishery that is slowly disappearing, I'm going to do everthing I can to minimize my impact.

That means full C&R ... if a prospective client doesn't like it, too bad. I tell them up front! I go to bed at night knowing that I'm trying my best to see that the resource does the best it can. I may lose a few new people each year, but oh well, I don't sell out on this one, period.

That also means a shift of fishing tactics, no bait divers, no double hook set-ups, no tiny hooks and itsy-bitsy baits that get swallowed easily. Sometimes it means a little more work on my end to come up with the same number of fish that I could with some extremely effective, yet potentially fatal tactics, but it's worth it.

It's funny, the ones who often whine about poor fishing and tribal netting are the ones constantly bashing the nates over the heads (hmmm, a few guides come to mind).

I see all sorts of extremes, take me, and then there's fella from Orgeon who comes up this way to fish every year who is a nice-enough guy and a good fisherman, but he kills, and kills a lot. To top it off, he solely freedrifts eggs ... maybe that's why he only kills hens, and lets the buck go. Assinine! Maybe practices like this is why he has to leave the streams there to come here??

Guides are responsible ... if you have the kahunas to say no, you can, and should when you know things aren't going well in the fisheries, Period. I do, and I haven't had trouble keeping my seats full long in advance.