Have I introduced my my running mate, Dave Vedder?



It's more like "Don't care, don't care".

Fish on...

Todd

About this many:
https://www.seattle.gov/util/About_SPU/W...PU02_015458.asp

"All adipose left behind" ...

I am in total agreement that ALL wild steelhead should be "Catch & Release", state wide, no exceptions, end of story.

I just don't understand this labeling of "Purist" or "Responsible" though. Is killing a wild steelhead by accident, rather than on purpose, any different to the steelhead itself? Is it any worse for the resource?

I've been fishing with guides for 23+ years now. If you fish when wild steelhead are in the river system, sooner or later, you are going to end up killing one or more of them. EVERY guide and fisherperson knows this. They're going to head slap it and get eye hooked, they're going to swallow even an artificial bait to deeply and get tongue or throat hooked, they're going to fight so hard they won't recover, ect. ect.

Is it better because you didn't mean to? Yes, I believe it is. Intent makes a difference, but not to the fish. Making the choice to fish when natives are in the system means you are putting them at risk. It's a risk we all take and we all know it. Thats why I don't understand these labels of "Purist" and "Responsible". They might make us feel better but they don't matter to the fish. We knowingly take that risk. We know we're going to kill native fish, sooner or later, too.

BDR

I knew it was low, but didn't know it was that low. :>(

Uhm, think about that a second. Methinks the Republican Party makes the Steelheader Party look sane.

Looks like they're still just counting the redds from the bike and running paths again.

I'd be surprised if that were the case. Over the years I've seen and talked to many biologists and researchers who were in the river in wet suits, or floating the river in rafts. Up and down the river, different colored flagging hung from limbs and brightly painted rocks near redds marked the spawning beds of multiple species. Many of these locations were far from the beaten path. All of those counts of redds above Landsburg couldn't have been made from a bike path. On other occasions, helicopters would fly extremely low following the rivers course. Foot by foot, and mile by mile, I doubt any river in Washington has had more scientific scrutiny than the Cedar has had over the last twenty years. In the end, Cedar River may be studied to death. But, you can rest assured there will be a team of scientists present at the passing.

As many on this board know, the Cedar was an amazing river to fish for winter steelhead. I remember reading in a national publication how the Cedar River in Washington was the place to go for trophy steelhead in March.

I know her well. I was lucky to have lived on her for nearly 20 years. Of all the lost steelhead water in this great state, I miss it the most.

Abu,

Can you enlighten us on who the nate bonking guide from oygun is? just curious....

I bonked 1. last year. it was unfortunated. So yeah, it was me. the hook was deep on the tongue, bleeding bad, and when trying to let it go, and after a long fight in current, it just couldn't get the energy to swim, it layed on its side, and because the law allowed for a harvest of 1 a year, i decided to punch my tag. I hated doing so, but was not going to watch it tumble down the stream. sorry.

My name is Kyle. Now if you have a problem with me, please PM me. I would apprecieate it. If you want to tell everyone in oregon not to fish with me because i kept a fish that was unable to be revived then so be it. It won't effect me a bit. however I would appreciate a PM instead.

Killing nates is not a recommended practice and the streams in oregon I fish you cant keep them and that is good.

So Big Moby. if you want PM me for number etc and you can deal with it that way.

Kyle

Oh and if you want to be enlightened on the nte bonking guy from oregon, just read some of the earlier threads on this topic and I have been straight forward about it, because I hated doing it, but rather then hidding it, i talked about the 1 time I did, and why.
Kyle

thats cool. i'd much prefer a guy coming on and sharing his reason. to OA's story.

this trulling beats out the ussuall holier than thou dickweed finger pointing.

Pretty sure I agree...I think

From the way it was stated it sounded like somebody was up there bonking the chit out of nates daily. The situation you described makes sense to me.

that's always the way things work on BBs. people love burn others on a stake for these things. sh!t happens.

two summers back while plunking got into a very nice 15lb steelhead. while bring to the sand could easily see that it was badly gill hooked. losing blood bad. by the time i got it to the beach it had totally bled out. yes it was a wild fish, a now very dead wild fish. i did my best try get him going again, know it wasn't going to work. so there i had dead wild fish in my hands. my heart was in the right place to see it released. this was witnessed by other plunkers. i eventually put it in the ice chest. figured if anyone wanted to call the game dept they easily could have. i could have grabed all my gear and split and look very guilty. i stayed and till the tide was gone. i fed the family with that fish.

the overall story is simple things happen that cause fish to die. i've released every wild fish for over 18 years now. so no i'm no harvester of wild fish. but sh!t happens.

Are selective gear rules in effect on all of the rivers containing wild runs on the O.P.?

Nope... Lots of rivers are open to catch and release natives without selective gear restrictions.

That doesn't make much sense does it?

Targeting, catching, handling, and releasing native fish is not helping the native fish runs despite some saying that the fish are no worse for wear after such an attack.