Gotta chime in on this on this one since Sparky decided to use my pic on the board.

Yes, I like pictures of me with big fish! Hell, who doesn't??!! And I LOVE that river - I've been stupid-lucky on it for years.

But I've also seen plenty of mishandling of fish either because OH DAMN, it's a WILD fish so we gotta release it! (bang around in the bottom of the boat or on the bank before being unceremoniously dumped back in the water) or Hero poses with 10 or 11 shots being taken from every angle before the guy gets tired of holding the fish and decides to give it a drink.

This isn't just a "Anti-Photo" campaign, it's an attempt to minimize the C&R mortality of wild fish that will be released anyway the same as the barbless hooks regs for salmon and the increasing use of those nifty little de-hooker wires by concerned anglers.

Sure, we'll lose some great shots. But it's a small price ( IMHO) to pay for a few less wild fish getting bouced off rocks and boat bottoms .

Fish On!

Brian