From the 2/25/04 Skagit Valley Herald:

S-W man faces fines for killing steelhead
By MARTA MURVOSH


Officers say they watched man kill wild Skagit fish
A Sedro-Woolley man was cited after game agents accused him of killing a 15-pound wild steelhead on the Skagit River near Gilligan Creek.

It is illegal to kill wild steelhead on the Skagit River and its tributaries. Gilligan Creek runs through federal land near the intersection of the South Skagit Highway and Day Creek Road.

Nontribal members can only catch wild steelhead during the season, which ends March 1, provided they release the fish. The ban on taking wild steelhead has been in place since 1984.

A state Department of Fish and Wildlife officer and a U.S. Forest Service officer observed the man Sunday land a wild steelhead after a five-minute fight, according to a press release from the state agency.

He was using two poles, which is illegal. Anglers in Washington state are restricted to using one pole at a time.

After the man landed the steelhead, he struck it in the head with a club to kill it, according to the officers.

Hatchery-reared fish have had their adipose fin removed. It is a small fin between the dorsal fin and the tail.
Officers said they located the wild steelhead inside the man's pickup truck. The total fines he faces could reach $750.

The man's name and age were unavailable this morning.

Marta Murvosh can be reached at 360-416-2145 or by e-mail at mmurvosh@skagitvalleyherald.com

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Anyone have any more information?

Fish on...

Todd

I say "hang em high"

Glad to hear it. I fished the upper Skagit this past Sun. for the first time, beautiful river, beautiful day and the fishing wasn't bad either

Hang em an bang em!

Some people just dont get it.

guessing that fine he got wasnt worth it considering the amount of steak he could of bought.

Glad they are getting those guys! now if they could only get the nets out of the skag!

Isn't it ironic that this fool gets a big fine and the sleezy indians up thataway can take all the wild steelhead they want?

Are you sure it's that big of fine? I bet he doesn't have to pay anymore than one or two hundred bucks. It needs to be more like a thousand or so, that way these guys think a little bit more about it before they ruin it for all of us!

Grrr...hope they cut off his ??????????

Was out on the deck having a smoke yesterday afternoona and watched a sled drift around the Baker/Skagit corner just east of us...fellow hooked-up on a decent fish then battled it all the way past our place and finally netted it down river a bit...still in view. They were out of visual range (trees) quickly, but I didn't see them release the fish. My guess is it too was wild...solid chrome and somewhere in the 9-10 lb. range. Hope they let it go.

That's the kind of crap (the poacher) that will get our rivers totally closed to C&R as well. I hope they bust him good...if he had a boat, poles, etc. I hope he loses it all.

Mike

Grandpa, what's up with "sleazy indians"? Plus they can't take all the wild steelhead they want.

GP, you can claim you're not racist, but that crap is blatant and disgusting. You can oppose tribal nettng of wild steelhead without rolling in the gutter.

Well said, Salmonbelly. Sleazy, net-wielding, fish-killing, netters would have sufficed.

I can gaurentee that the fine wasn't more than about 100 dollars. My dad and I turned in a poacher on the Skagit this summer that had kept a wild summer run. The guy got a $100 fine for the illegal fish and a $100 fine for not marking it on his punch card. BS if you ask me. Fines should be steeper.
Tim

Not to defend this guy but have you ever thought that he might not have any money to even buy beef for his family?
Not everybody is a scum.
Some may just be very hungry.

If this is the case, would you rather see him go shoplift for beef instead of bonking a nate?

If the choice is to either steel a pot roast from a grocery store, or steal a wild fish from all the rest of us, I'd say yes, steal the pot roast.

Fish on...

Todd

Ironhead, So I guess what that means is everybody who's hungry can just go on down to the river and bonk any fish they want. Hell, why should they even have to carry a license. No, I don't believe for a minute that a guy who can drive to a hole with all the gear you need and then drive back HOME is anywhere near hungry. Just ****ing stupid.

Lets get real her for a second. it makes no difference about the $ for the fish as I said it does in an above post. same for him being poor. If that was the case then sell the gear get some food get a job.

Poaching is not legal for anyone regardless of poor or rich.

He needs to be punished for it and move on.

No need to get in a heated debate about it.

I don't have a good analogy, but it sounds like Robin Hood's poor and hungry Merry Men shouldn't kill that deer with bow and arrows.

I can't stand beggers but I am all for any man's survival instinct to obtain natural food.
Again under normal circumstances, poachers should be dealt with to the fullest of the law.

Seems like you guys are too darn uptight with Washington's stupid ass laws to even slightly consider an unfortunate human being's living situation.
I am not asking you to totally defend this guy yet, but at least give him the benefit of the doubt of being less fortunate than US.

That,s what welfare is for. He could have even gotten a job at McD's. That "hungry poor unfortunate sole" B.S. don't cut it! He was just greedy.

Well, ,as a kid, mom always taught indian lore. I actually find it very interesting! I still like my buddies on the Puyallup. Yet, I find it interesting that we don't all conserve together.I think we all have the same interests, just need to come together to fix this. I was surpressed too, but now am free. Why do they get more rights than I? I am all for equal rights, let's make it equal!

Angg,
Thank you for your short but precise explanation.

I am just trying to use this example to build a logic to correspond with fishing rights and neccessity.

I guess not too many people are interested in reasoning now a days. There living in "The Good Ole Day" with the hang em high and hang em all attitude that grampaw use to preach.