Wow a very good read. While I pretty much stay out of these debates anymore, figuring you all have heard my opinions ad nauseum in the past, this one is too good not to follow.

Great questions Smalma and a lot of good supposition as to why. As you have told me a couple times in the past, the release data is junk and that is why WDFW took it off the punchcard. Still doesn't account for the changes this year though.

Nothing else to add to what has been stated above except that this data does seem possibly suspect. There is the old three types of lies definition: lies, damn lies and statistics. And with it being a major rules cycle year and all. If the data is skewed, what a bad time for that, huh?

Oh by the way, wasn't the Angler Preference Survey conducted by WDFW? Maybe the research design was flawed? I know WDFW is very well qualified in run forcasting but maybe not so in survey design.

Heading back to my cave now.

sinktip