I cut and pasted this from the NWFishing page. We need to kill this thing once and for all, and it needs action today to do it, preferably this a.m.:

Posted by Jack de Yonge on March 15, 1999 at 21:36:06:

Substitute Senate Bill 5104--the bill of the Wildcat Steelheaders Club of
Sedro-Woolley to end catch and release fishing on the Skagit and Sauk
Rivers--is before the State Senate for possible action. To survive, the
bill must pass the Senate before the end of legislative business
Wednesday--which can go on until midnight or after with a stopped clock.
The substitute bill is much truncated from the melange written by the
president of the Wildcat Steelhead Club. However, despite how innocuous it
may read, it still has a buried hook--the hook the Wildcatters want. It
forbids the Fish and Wildlife Commission for allowing any catch and
release fishery for steelhead where "there is insufficient enforcement
staffing..."
The Wildcatters gloat that since there is no Department of Fish and
Wildlife enforcement on the Skagit system, therefore the catch and release
season on the Skagit will have to be stopped.
Of course, the bill applies statewide. And since there is little
enforcement anywhere, in effect the bill will ban hook and release
steelhead fishing.
What to do? Here is what to do tonight or tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12,
asap.

Telephone, e-mail or fax your state senator asap and ask for a vote
against SSB5104. Say it is a deceptive bill that aims to remove one of the
few good management techniques for preserving wild steelhead in light of
possible Endangered Species Act listings. You don't have to say more. But
if you telephone and are asked for more detail, you can say that the bill
is a revenge bill dreamed up by the Wildcat Steelheaders of Sedro-Woolley
to remove fly fishers from the Skagit and Sauk Rivers because [some] fly
fishing organizations oppose the proposed Grandy Creek Hatchery.

I have been following this bill since its introduction. It is not good for
sportfishers. It is a sad case of a small band of steelheaders that have
their main goals set on a put and take fishery for hatchery steelhead
similar to that on the Cowlitz. This is an approach that I believe is
foolhardy and short-sighted. We must do everything possible to save the
remaining healthy runs of wild fish. Once they are gone, they will never
return. The existing catch and release system in place on the Skagit-Sauk
system is one of the examples of wild fish management which is working. It
has allowed the wild populations to build while still allowing
sportfishing access to the rivers. It is not necessary to kill these wild
fish in order to enjoy the sport of steelhead fishing!
Please contact your senators today and demand that this bill goes down
to defeat. We do not need a small interest group dictating management
policies through the legislature. You must act today! If you are not sure
who your two senators are, go to http://dfind.leg.wa.gov/ and enter your
zip code to locate your district.

David Weitl, Statewide Editor
March 16, 1999--11:56 pm

Sent mine. Also promote the release of all native steelhead in WA state.

Below is the response I received back this afternoon from my email/phone call of this morning. Dunno which area Senator Oke represents, but sounds as if someone needs to educate him about the Wildcat Club.


"Thanks for the e-mail. I just spoke with Sen Oke, our resident sportsfisherman, and he informed me that he thinks this bill has been improved considerably since it came from committee and now looks a lot better... I should also let you know that I think this bill is going to be dead unless it is brought up for a vote in the next two hours... if you give my office a call tomorrow they can let you know what happened -- Bill"

Senator Bill Finkbeiner
(360)786.7672