Oh that is redhook! Gotta be... I hope anyways. I always enjoyed the 'hook on here.






There was no "bite" going on, especially this early. I'd would venture a guess and say that was the only king hooked on that trip. Probably fished rockfish, and halibut on the pick, and made a few passes trolling on the way back to the harbor, and got lucky to pick up that toad... I'm not bein an outright hater, just seems curious that you are a little butthurt the fillets and guts were left attached. I guess I'm just having trouble remembering any charter, or outfitter I've worked for, or patronized, where fish processing was done onboard. I'm definitely looking way to far into this, but I can assure you, Glacier Bear Lodge has fine charter captains that treat your catch as well as any other outfit I can think of.

Are you sure it isn't 3-16 minutes? or 1-14? What if it's, heaven forbid, 4-17?

Mebbe they wanted to weigh it in the round and didn't have a big enough scale on board.

Fish on...

Todd

With all of the complaining regarding the survival of the species it suddenly goes away when someone lands a big fish. I can hear it now, "Well I'll just take this one". Genes play a huge part in growth and survival. Why is it so hard for people to let the f#*king fish go? It feels so much better letting a hog go than bonking the thing. I don't give a f#@k what anybody says. I've caught plenty of big fish and they ALL went back! A picture and they are gone. And, if it's hard to get a picture without harming the fish then there's not going to be a picture and again, I don't give a sh!t how big it is nor do I give a sh!t if I have proof because I'm the only one that is getting the satifaction of catching the fish. Wouldn't you rather let fish go to help perpetuate the fishery or do you catch and kill and hope for the best? At this point in time you can't have it both ways. I guess I'll never understand the "catch and kill" mentality. Yes there was a time when most of us were ignorant regarding native fish and yes I killed plenty of steelhead and salmon BUT the last time I've kept any of them was at least 25 years ago maybe even farther back than that. I'm not looking for sainthood I'm just trying to do my small part to insure the future of the fisheries that I've enjoyed for over 50 years. At 61 years old I've seen the good old days and I hope that those young dudes on this site get the same chance. If we keep killing native fish they will go down eventually. Especially when you have indians playing the greed game. I don't want any part of their agenda and if I was keeping native fish then I wouldn't have a leg to stand on when I criticize them for their raping of the resource.

JFC...

hes not here, hes in Alaska, a far different ball game in his location vs our location... he doesnt do it on a daily basis, he even said that it was the only fish that size retained in the last 3 years... it is also legal there to retain said fish, if it were a huge problem where he is, he might have released it, but he didnt, and its really noones business either... he didnt ask for your opinion or permission to keep said fish...

Steelhead, are also a completely different fish, putting them in the same class as Salmon is stupid IMO...

so, keeping a 60 pound king in Alaska is frowned upon... how many of you killed a 20 pound Ho last year, or a 20 pound Chum? in relativity, one would think that the later 2 would be way worse than killing a King that can get to over 100 pounds...

also, do you armchair bioethicsologists treat Pinks the same way you do Steelhead since you want to compare them? or do you just pop the hook out and A: use your foot to knock it back in, or B: just let it flop around till it makes it back in?

dont BS yourself, or this board, do what you want to do, within the realms of the law, you arent a saint, and you dont live where he is, apples and oranges....

So at one time Washington was never like Alaska?

no...

Speed kills.

REALLY?! Keep it up and Alaska will end up going down the same road (and by some estimations it’s not far away). By the way, have you heard about the decline of the Yukon kings? I rest my case and you need to rethink your argument since it has absolutely no credibility. And, as Stonefish said there was a time when the fishing was very near to what Alaska has but it’s now gone and Alaska’s fisheries are nowhere close to what they once were. Gee I wonder why?! Regarding pink salmon..... hahahah.

Now I get the 2gone thing. And you don't get the survival thing!

This thread. LOL.

There is a lot of passion on this board, and that is because we all want to go out and catch a lot of fish. It is passion fueled by greed and ego, which are completely normal human emotions, and there is nothing wrong with it. Most of our best and most functional conservation organizations are based on wanting to kill more of the things we are trying to conserve (DU, RMEF). It is the way it has to be, because the passion we have for killing these things is a lot stronger than the passion to just look at them.

That being said:

NOT ONE OF YOU go fishing hoping to do anything other than cause pain and bleeding for a fish. Sure some of you might want to "commune with nature", "be outdoors with family", or "drink beer in the morning", but you can do all of these without hurting an animal. Face it the visceral reaction of a fish in pain fighting for its life (expending its life force for our entertainment) is the best part of the whole deal. Without it we would not care so much about these fish.

You might hug a fish before you let it go, or caress its fins, or pose it gently for a 100 shot photo shoot, but god damnit the fish is not better off for having been caught by you. My point is that I don't think someone who releases fish in the name of conservation (I am one of these people) has a leg to stand on to attack someone's decision to keep a fish. You can educate others as to why you think the fish should be released, but cracking on someone's good fortune just makes you a hippocrite.

We have all released a fish and thought "Hmm, he might not make it." I think that feels worse (way worse) than keeping a (legal) fish to eat.

You Nailed it RR.

Conversely, away from what feels the worst, what feels the best is releasing fish you know should be released even if it is legal to keep them, and keeping your own conscious clear. Its a personal choice all conservation-conscientious anglers must make.

Last Fall, releasing a 28lb chrome Grays Harbor hen which would have been legal to keep is new behavior for this angler...not that I had historically bonked any of those fish, just in general. I did so after becoming knowledgeable from guys like you and Doc on what the right course of action is for that fishery. Knowing what you guys have shared here about GH Chinook....If I had kept it, I would have felt way worse knowing it should have been released.

Bottom line, Regulations aside, I think being an educated angler is key to knowing when to whack, and knowing when to put it back.

Grays Harbor hens "cut red" (that is the dumbest fishing term there is), but are mediocre at best for table fare.

10-4 on that Shawn, but it's irrelevant because for me 'cause I wont keep any hen Chinook from that fishery until a cold day in hell, or I hear the Quins lay off & let the system recover, whatever comes first.

I pretty much agree but, what about bonking that 28 pound Chinook we hook in Northern B.B. or off the coast of Vancouver Island or at Neah Bay?

I think there are damn few of us who would voluntarily release a 60 pound Chinook irrespective of the fact its legal to kill. I know it’s easier to list all the rationalizations than to release the fish of a lifetime. I released a 50 plus Chinook in the Charlottes a few years ago. Not because i was so valiant but because I had already taken a legal limit of four fish for the trip. I'm glad it went free, but I sure wish I had a photo of it. And i wonder if it spawned or it ended up in some other net.


And I fully agree with 2many we will fark up Alaska as soon as the money overwhelms the fishermen. It looks to me as if that already happening. I hate the idea of Pebble and wouldn’t want to bet against it.

I'd be just as worried about the sport fleet being awarded 300 paper fish, then catching 700 actual fish.

Fish on...

Todd

So, just to keep everyone up to speed, we are having a very good run of Kings this year. We normally do not target them so when one is caught (not on a commercial trolled line) it is quite an event for the client.
One yesterday was 46 inch long and shaped like a football. The client bonked it.

OMG

Maybe some of those fish will crawl into the Situk this year! It's always cool to have clients pull back and think they are hung up on debris going down river... Then the debris decides the ocean was way more fun than Thais stupid river thing! Ha!