All fly fishers are butthurt. Especially me when I get line wrapped around my foot in the river or get hung up in trees.

Sounds like some serious line management issues.....
SF

I am not a fly fisher, but I did manage to hook myself in the ass on a spey rod cast. Once.

Only thing hurt was my pride and a freshly field patched set of SIMMS waders.

Motivated to get more involved here down south. Been out of the club scene since the Northwest Steelheaders of TU disbanded here in Puyallup. Maybe push for some HMP's for some late season Steelhead CnR for the Green, Puyallup and Nisqually. What groups do I need join around Puyallup where I live to get cut in on the information and processes to follow in the Skagit, Sauk success? Any chance we can push for an HMP on the Puyallup to start, or Green? Am I living in a pipe dream? Going to retire in a few years and would love to wet a line again on my home river for some wild steel. Thanks.

My spring schedule has cleared up just a little bit, so I'm really looking forward to hitting it hard as often as I can.

Thanks again to all the good folks who put in the hard work to make this happen.

I was swinging thru deeper water and up to a "bar that used to hold fish".....Here's a pic of whitey, and yes it made my day as it was a rarity for me on the big river....Tom

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc268/blackmouth_photos/Whitey_zpstxglveej.jpg

Strange looking whitefish, lol.
SF

Solid :-). Lol!

Fish on...

Todd

First thing you will need is a river with a consistently healthy enough run to withstand the impacts of sport fishing. Your opinion won't matter in this, you'll need actual biological data and support from the tribe/s affected. Once that is in place you'll need a core group of dedicated people to show up in Olympia and lobby with the commissioners.

At least you're close to Olympia...so you've got that going for you.

Ha, hope everyone got a good laugh at my expense. Really need to go to the eye doctor....Tom

If it makes you feel any better, Tom, I’ve spent time site casting to some of those “steelhead”. Kind of impressed you got one to eat that fly. And you likely outfished the majority of fishermen seeing that they probably got skunked.

Tom,

All in good fun. I'd venture that most of us have caught a "whitefish" like that (aka large scale sucker) while steelhead fishing. They are mainly algae eaters, so it has always amazed me to find that I've caught more of them fair hooked than snagged.

RUNnGUN,

Like WW posted, there's more to it than just a grass roots group of people that want to make an RMP happen. The steelhead, and the data about them, have to be on your side. The Green was the last PS system that began to consistently fall below the escapement goal, so that might be a good place to begin. IMO, the Green, Puyallup, and NIsqually basins all have habitat that could support modest or decent returns. Doing that on a consistent basis would require addressing the proximate cause of early marine mortality, i.e., eradicating about 50% of PS pinnipeds. And I think that ain't about to happen.

Me. Just thankful for the opportunity.
And my fishing buddy did land the biggest white fish I ever saw on the Skagit. Crazy thing was munching salmon eggs below some spawning chums back in the 70’s.

I've caught as many of those on a swung fly as I have steelhead.... and yet I persist.