of course this thread had nothing to do with estuary coho and their higher mortality. fish feeding in the strait are not estuary fish in the same way grey's harbor or buoy 10 is.

that is what is driving me crazy. everyone agrees about the higher estuary mortality but some stubbornly insist that mortality matches ocean fish, which just isn't true.

Yes.



This is NOT a slam on you, brother, but doesn't this suggest that the snagging/flossing we all agree is unethical is the most fish-friendly method of sport fishing? The fine line we walk....



Yes, yes, yes.

As eyeFISH has reminded us on several occasions, fishing is a blood sport. Any of us who think we're doing fish any favors by fishing are absolutely wrong. I personally believe the best we can do is to minimize the inevitable harm we ALL do.

One thing we should all take comfort in is that no matter how we fish, as sport fishers, we do immensely less harm to our quarry than commercial fisheries. It was once widely accepted that there was nothing mankind could do to deplete salmon runs. Can we all agree that was as large a pile of steaming feces as has ever passed through human lips?

Want to save salmon? Cut commercial harvest in half. It really is that simple. It's often argued that Pacific NW streams have been degraded to a point at which they aren't capable of supporting higher escapements. How much of that is due to insufficient nutrient content? Where did the nutrients that once supported multiple orders of magnitude more salmon come from?

But oh, yeah... back to the present... stop sport fishers from killing so many salmon. It's the only way to assure their future. Hmmmmm....

My kill is better than your kill. WTF.

The regulation pamphlet states “…all salmon to be released may not be totally removed from the water.” We witnessed numerous other boats releasing chinook w/o netting, handling, and camera ops. One time occurrence, no problem. Multiple fisheries (B10, Willapa, Grays Harbor) over numerous years=pattern of behavior. I don’t care if you have 500 yrs of experience, well maybe 500; how many pictures do you need? We were using braid and 20# leader that was plenty strong to land the coho and release the chinook as soon as we knew it was not a target species via a release stick or the leader popped. I think, in instances when said species are not available for retention, it is irresponsible fish handling and that it borders on illegal. Cliff notes Part II, its much faster and you can pad your numbers even more if you do it in a more responsible manner.

So........pictures?

Sorry, I dont need any more fish pictures and do not carry a camera for that reason.

I meant Dr. E. Fish since he took some.....to illustrate proper handling and release technique.

I'll entertain the pot-stirring, but after this, I'm done with this high-jack.

See ya....

You have NEVER high jacked a thread with pictures of yourself and/ or of your prowess; ever in almost 11,000 posts??????

I still dont believe talking about ethical treatment of non- taget species is a high jack.

Dude who put you on a high horse?

Nice pics Doc.

Carry on

Looks legit to me......fin-saver net, fish still in the water. Quit your crying.