How do you handle them when they arise?

I've always been taught as a fisherman to release native steelhead. In my fishing life its the way I've 'grown up'

I've been fishing the OP rivers extensively for going on ten years and the more I do the more friends and associations I make, each with their own ideas about what is ethically correct. It seems most (alot of...I don't know, my experience is most) OP residents have grown up in a culture where killing native steelhead is an accepted practice, in some cases (not many though) necessary even for subsistence living. If I refuse to fish with people with whose ethics I disagree I am distancing myself from alot of really good people and I'm not really willing to do that. Yet...

On the other hand by not keeping my distance I am faced with having to watch native steelhead get killed. Okay..I've made the decision to fish with this person so I knew the situation could arise, the question is, should I do or say anything about it?

I usually handle it by engaging my fellow fisherman in the ethical conversation before we catch fish. Do you need the fish? is a frequently asked question. I am usually pretty persuasive that the fish is not needed. I've also developed a little more skill with the camera, getting a good or great picture seems to make a really big difference. The time for ethical debates seems not to be when there is a hookup or a fish laying on its side...and it is certainly too late when the wood shampoo has been applied. When there is a dead fish about the topic also seems to get little more sensitive.

I am not looking for rights and wrongs from this post. I just want to know what other ethical dilemmas you may have encountered on the river between you and a fishing partner and how you have handled them when they have arisen. I have a few more examples of situations I've experienced that pose an ethical dilemma, I'd like to see how common they are though so help me out here...

I have fished with a guy for years that insists on bonkin em'. Ive found that the best way to handle this is not when he has a fish on but when I do. Lead by example. I always make him take my picture and try to show others that releasing that unmarked fish is more satisfying than eating it. I now refuse to take his photo with a dead unmarked fish.

The only ethical dilema I see is when my black lab snaps at a fish.

so your partner bonks one on head,u are with him now its time to leave are u going to put that native fish in your truck? what do u think the gamie will say when they stop u both hope your friend is a stand up guy cuss u both could be in trouble

I'd never kill a Nate, legal or not. But, if I'm with a guy and he wants to kill a Nate and it's legal, well then that's his choice. If it's legal, you dont really have a legitimate *****, regardless of weather you think it's ethical or not. It all boils down to a personal code of ethics. Some people are from the school of thought that if it's legal to do so, there is no shame in bonking a Nate, others sort of put Nates up on a pedestal, kind of a sacred fish, if you please. Just because I dont keep Nates doesn't mean that I'd ever come down on another for choosing to bonk one I may not agree with that individuals choice, but who am I to judge?

I usually try to avoid people who break the law and people who try and push their beliefs on me. That could be religion, fishing or whatever. If I see someone fishing legally then I usually try to mind my own business, although I may ask them "hows the fishing". If I disagree with the law then I try to take a proactive approach with the lawmakers not the individual who is fishing within the law. Who am I to try and tell any law abiding angler that he/she is unethical? Fishing is a right and every American citizen has a RIGHT to fish how they choose within the law and if it's legal to keep a nate then that is their RIGHT, it's also their RIGHT to release the fish if they choose to do so. I have no problem either way, even if I may disagree with the law I won't pass judgement on the individual.

I'm curious about why so many people feel that all wild steelhead should be released yet many of those same people will bonk other native fish such as salmon?

I wanted to reiterate that this thread shouldn't turn into a 'whose ethics are right and whose are wrong' debate...

I am just curious about what happens when two anglers have conflicting ethical stances...or situations that arise where you as an angler are conflicted as to what the ethically correct thing to do is. Here is an example from very recently...

Fishing in a river closed for kings...fisherman not in my party hooks an obvious king, a large bright fish which proceeds to wrap him around a net float that is occupying the middle of the hole. Fisherman asks me to cast over his line and reel in the slack as he freespools...instead of taking up as much slack as possible and cutting the line the fisherman cuts his line, quickly disengages his mainline from the net float, reties a bloodknot and plays the fish out, successfully releasing it. It was really quite impressive but I found myself questioning the necessity of retying the fish on when we all knew it would have to be released anyway.

The very next day, as if to test my ethical metal, my brother hooked a fish that we never saw which eventually broke him off way up into his mainline (can you say rats nest?)...A few casts later I hook and retrieve a huge length of line but just before I can grab it it falls back in the river....You should have heard the pshaws and seen the funny looks I got when I mentioned that I thought I just had his fish back on the line so to speak....Thirty seconds later his buddy hooks the line and gets it all the way in...they get it retied long enough to feel the fish a couple of times and their knot blew out. Now...in this situation did not knowing for certain the species of the fish justify tying the fish back on? Probably...

Its not a question meant to be debated or even answered really, just an example of the kinds of ethical dilemmas that arise on the riverbank. Fishing ethics aren't as black and white as they appear to be on the surface so discussing or reading about situational ethical implications could be be pretty valuable, especially to fishermen that are young in their experiences. Developing a set of fishing ethics is an evolutionary process, the more we can discuss these kinds of issues as a community without the divisiveness of who is right and who is wrong, the more comprehensive an understanding of the ethical 'big picture' we will all have.

Or, as Chovied so eloquently put it, am I just a tree hugging hippie??

(Ever seen a hippie with a mohawk?)

Eric,

The key is having fun and enjoying your time on the river. If the guy you're fishing with puts a damper on your good time, for WHATEVER reason, then it's time to find a new fishing partner.

If fishing with somebody that bonks nates bums you out, then don't fish with them. It's their choice whether or not to bonk, and it's your choice whether or not to take part.

The "lead by example" suggestion was right on target. It doesn't always work, but it is more effective than berating someone.

Wow, sounds like your sense of ethics is pretty intense. I would want to land the fish if for no other reason than to get the hook out of its mouth, sounds like it was hooked pretty good. I would think that dragging that amount of line it could get tangled in just about anything and kill the fish. I am curious as to how you can make any kind of ethics judgement at all without knowing what kind of fish it was? Had every chance to be a hatchery fish as any other. I feel the guy that re-tied on the king and then let it go did a fantastic job. Did he do damage to the fish by fighting it? Probably a little, however the fish did bite the hook. If you don't want to chance hooking an illegal fish through legal means, you probably shouldn't fish. After all, you present the bait but you really have no control over what will bite it. I think in either case, no ethical boundry was crossed, at least not in my mind. No if a guy were snagging them that is different.

DanS -

Don't you think its possible to lead more powerfully than merely by example? By fishing only with people who share my ethical stance I am passing up an opportunity to effect the kind of changes in ethics C & R fishermen as a whole would like to see. ..

...and on a base level. In a way that all of the WSC meetings in the world could not do...

I think its possible to do so without berating or holier than thou posturing.

Whatever the situation may be, as long as it is lawful, I'll support the individual's choice. I may not agree with it (and I don't with Nates), but I'll respect the decision. My buddies know where I stand... However, I feel I have gain more respect from them by respecting their decision. One of the hardest things I had to do was overcoming my convictions.

Ultimately, my greatest reward from fishing comes at the end of the day when I can turn to my buddy, shake his hand and say, "Thanks, I had a great day!" Those days bring the best memories and lasting friendships.

Is a life long friendship (or possible friendship) worth losing over ethics?

We all have at least a few things in common... We all enjoy fishing and we all share different beliefs. If we can respect one another's choices or ideas, we will all be better sportsman.


Downriggin'

Know your audience...if you want to fish with people with beliefs contrary to your own, and you value their company, just make sure you can convey your message and still maintain the relationship (if you want to). Otherwise, I'd choose to fish with someone else or keep my yap shut.

I usually fish alone anyway, and in rivers where killing nates isn't an option, so it's a no-brainer for everyone (that has one, anyway).

On the topic of retying on the king, I think getting that cr@p out of his mouth provided him a much better chance of survival than leaving it there under a well-intentioned guise of minimizing harrassment.

hee hee here is somehting that works... start hiking into places where no one in their right mind would want to carry a fish out of and use that as insentive to release.. My experience has been that once an angler releases a few fish they are very soon releasing them all...

If it kills you to see the natives killed, don't go with him when the natives are in. There's lots of time to fish with him during the hatchery run, right? Fishing for native steelhead can be a spiritually envigorating experience. Seeing a dead native steelhead makes me feel ill. I don't have a problem with people killing them when its legal, but I don't want to take part myself. I can have just as much fun on my own, personally.

When releasing fish, I sometimes tell people I don't want to have to take the time to clean the fish later or that my freezer's full of hatchery fish already. Maybe that approach would work? I released a really hot hatchery summer steelhead last year and told my friend "Any fish that jumps 5 times for me earns its freedom."