Damn nice fish, John!

Yeah, those S* River fish are squat, but really big shouldered fish....compared to those long/skinny snakes they have out on the Quinault/Queets. They are usually very mean, and I'm surprised you landed it. Most of them tear you up in the lumber and it's "See Ya Leader Later".

That fish is all of 35. The girth on that fish is massive.

I think I'd honestly crap my pants if I hooked that fish!

You know after looking back at the above pic about 100 times I've come to realize how huge that fish really is.. Compare it to this 18.5lber 38.2" x 19.6"we caught a while back. Look at the difference in the girth from head to tail..



There's definitely a big difference...

Keith

thanks dave, i know i am a new guy here and I got a lot to learn about catchin fish and stuff but I thought it was against the fish laws now to take a wild steelhead completely out of the water unless it was legal to keep them. i cant afford to fish with a fish guide but if i could afford one, i sure would want him to tell me if i was breakin the fishing laws. i would think that a fish guide would be in big trouble if the fish cops got a hold of him or that picture. i know up here in my neck of the woods when they see us taking a wild fish out of the water we get nail to the stump.

i didn't think much about it until i seen that picture of that big hog 2 foot out of the water. Ain't guides suppose to make sure that there client don't break the fish laws ? i hope you guys don't get all mad at me but dave told me to ask away. so i guess my question is did that guy break the law and if he did, did the guy who took the picture also break the law. It looks like 2 people may have broken the fish laws. ain't it against the fish laws for a fellow fisher not to report a guy breaking the fish law and help him by taken his picture ?

we don't get away with it up here, so how do they get away doing that kind of stuff there? you guys are pretty darn smart and i respect the vast knowledge that many of you guys have about fishin and stuff. so did these guys break the fishing laws or not ?

showmemore, that fish was caught in '03 and it was legal then , had it been caught this year it would be illegal to hold it out of the water.
Beautiful fish guys

sorry, i thought the first post said that it was caught by "Johnny Coho's client, in the picture, reeled up this 42.5x25.5 buck this weekend...formula puts it at 35.6 POUNDS!

Wow.

Johnny asked me to post this for him, so here it is..."

I must have misunderstood what was posted

As the laws are written, you are not allowed to completely remove a wild steelhead out of the water unless legal to retain said fish. There are only 5 rivers on the OP where it is currently legal to retain a wild steelhead.

Even on those 5 rivers, the legality of completely removing a fish out of the water (grey area of the law) is coming under question. Don't be surprised to see Sparkey's Law re-written in next round of regs.

As for all other rivers, it's not legal to completely remove wild steelhead out of the water.

Now, what we don't know is if a digital photo can be used as incriminating evidence.

As a "Digital Photography Defense Expert", I will happily testify to any jury that:

ANY AND ALL DIGITALLY PRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHS CAN BE FAKED OR FORGED.

For all you know, all those photographs were edited in Photoshop to LOOK lilke those fish were completely out of water.

In reality, since you WERE NOT THERE, you have no idea if any illegal actions took place.

Nice fish, guys and keep those heavily EDITED Photoshoped photos coming!

Actually, after revewing the photos on this thread, I fail to see how anyone can think these are NATIVE fish???

These are clearly clipped hatchery fish. It is legal to take a hatchery fish out of the water.

A digitial foresnic expert can tell you how much of the file was altered and what date. He could take your PC and recover the pre altered file most likely as well.

He could...........if he was really big and tough.

Forensic expert......looking at a fish photo? High crimes on the river, I'll tell you.

I still haven't seen any scientific evidence that a fish out of the water for 10-20-45 sec actually harms the fish or puts the fish in any danger...

Those that stand behind that law are those that one day will agree that hooking a fish and fighting it will put too much stress on the fish and will likely vote to close or quit all fishing.

Think about it if we are not supposed to remove a fish from the water then we have pics posted all over that show people holding fish with the tail in the water and head completely out. Isn't the point to the rule that we could be harming the fish and if so why would we ever take a fishes head out of the water?? Heck why would we ever net a fish?

C'mon it has to be one of the most idiotic laws that have been written yet, i'll guarantee it will get overturned in court.

Keith

I agree with everything in this post , what do you beleive in now Todd?

What does it matter what Todd believes?

I assume you are insinuating that the law was broken because the wild steelhead was out of the water. I might have missed something, but unless the person who caught the fish had already taken his one allowable wild steelhead, there was no law broken in this case. It is only illegal to remove the fish from the water if it is required to be released. If he hasn't already taken his one wild fish (we don't know either way) this was perfectly legal. However, I do like your adherence to the law, even if you are mistaken. Of course, I could also be wrong...feel free to correct me if I am.

Could have been any one of us said that, just as easily as Todd. We probably all have.

Nobody did anything wrong accept not admitting this is a bad rule, and trying to justify the perdicament.

It's a bad spot to be in, and a choice that shouldn't have to be made.

Sorry Todd, but I'd seen this before and it made my point better than anything else I could think of.

Jerry Garcia

I guess it matters becuase he was the guy who made the post. is he still an attorney ?

it would matter to me if the fish cops gave me a ticket and i thought i was right becuase a attonery who posts here thinks this stuff is ok to do

I feel the same way now as I did when I wrote that, Locust...I think everyone knows my personal feelings about the particular regulation (outlaws too much perfectly good behavior, doesn't outlaw too much really bad behavior).

Katmai Kid...where the fish was caught, the limit is "zero", so there are no wild steelhead that can be taken completely out of the water...if the fish must be released, then it must not be taken out of the water, per the rules.

Keith, stupid rule, idiotic rule...whatever you want to call it...none of those things make it an "illegal" rule, and courts aren't in the business of overturning legal rules just because you, or some, or a lot, or everyone thinks they are stupid.

showmemore,

As far as I know, it's not against the law to post a picture of it...and I don't recall anywhere saying that it is OK to take the fish out of the water. I do, however, recall saying that if that's the rule, then that's the rule...often. And it is the rule.

Someone asked me to post the pic, because they didn't know how...so there it is...the pic.

Did it hurt the fish? Probably not.

Was it against the rules? Yes.

Is it OK because it probably didn't hurt the fish? No...that's the rule.

Fish on...

Todd

That is correct (i.e., no law broken if the angler has not yet retained his one wild fish), but this reasoning applies only if the fish was caught in a river that allows retention of wild steelhead.

Just hoping some got just about as much enjoyment as I did from this fish...its what some of our dreams are made of.

Thanks to all that came to my defense on the pic in question now...(some good stuff guys)

Showmemore & others,..like I said earlier I am a man of integrity and...

I take full responsibilities for my actions in taking that fish out of the water for a quick shot to have a replica mount made by Luke of "Blackwater Trading Co". What I did was wrong and against current WDFW regulations.

If WDFW sees fit to write me a ticket for it, so be it...I was in the wrong on this one. I know just about every WDFW Officer on a personal level on every system I fish and all will tell you my first concern is always with the fish and all can vouch for my integrity.

Not in defense of my actions but for those concerned about the fish's well being,..the out of the water shot was done very quickly (as noted earlier you can still see the water coming off of the fish) and done by a very experienced fisherman while being held over the water. We watched the fish as we ate lunch sit and sulk and then swim off in good condition.

About the current "Sparkey's Law",...I can see where the concern was on past miss-handled fish (drug on beaches, dropped, flopping around in a boat, ect.) but personally find the current law dangerous to fish and anglers;

1. It is dangerous to anglers hanging off the side of a boat trying to get a pic of their fish while holding it in the water (and everyone wants a pic of their fish, especially the larger ones) I've got pics of myself hanging over my sled just about to fall out on many fish. Will it really take someone falling in and drowining to overturn the law?

2. For those in an area where one could make it to a wadeable part of shoreline for a pic outside of a boat,...holding a fish in a net trying ones best to keep its head in the water while getting to shore, in my opinion causes a ton of stress on the fish.

What should be done is to have an educational section of current regs showing proper handling techniques.

Just my 2 cents for what its worth!

Good Karma points to all those that got some enjoyment from the pics and a little pick-me-up to, "hey there really are some big fish around making it into our systems!" Them be some good genes back in the gene pool for sure!!

PS..what do ya call that thing at the bottom of your posts? "Signature" I think. Well mine is a line from Jimmy Buffet...and I think he's got it right!

P.P.S. Time to let it go guys!!!!...Flame fests are just plain stupid and continue to pit angler against angler...Fishing is supposed to be fun !!

JC,

I'm sure you thought twice about posting these pics. I'm glad you did, and your post above makes it clear your are one of the good guys.

Thanks for letting me lay eyes on that beast. Dreams of a fish like that keep me getting up at 0-dark-thirty. Those pics alone oughta keep me going for a solid decade.

As always you are a class act John.

I'm hangin' with ya John. I'm just glad you got nailed to the cross before I did.

Seriously, give it a rest guys.