At least they still exist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ox7BB2DlxI

That was really cool! A buddy of mine fished for those escaped pen fish a couple of years back. He said they had the strength of a nice King or Chum and the craziness of a Coho. Since there was no limit, they filled the boat with like 40 fish.

I saw that a while back. Great video, and outstanding fishery. But at $5,000 a day, it's more than a bit rich for me.

I wouldn't consider this fishery. Unless we happened to be going there for other reasons. Then, I might add it or a similar one. Like Iceland (or any other foreign fishery I have done), since I'm there, what kind of fishing is there?

When we first went to Africa, our Travel Agent wanted to add "more". Trip was already somewhat speedy so we asked "why?". She wanted to know when we planned going back. Since you're already there, do stuff.

The dude fighting the fish is named Hokan... forgive spelling, I saw him in another cool video fishing the Kola Peninsula Russia in the ASR, Atlantic Salmon Reserve. He was termed a "Professional Fly Fishermen". I guess I'm wondering what constitutes being a "Professional Fly Fisher"? And how do the opportunities come to them other than the cash they have. Is being a "Professional", having the wealth to do nothing else but pay for the best opportunities world wide? A number of others in that ASR video seem to do nothing else but travel the world in search of the best action on the fly, and they must have the cash to do it. Am I correct that the best opportunities are already a pay to play endeavor? If I wanted to spend 2 days at Steinfossen could I even get a chance to, during peak times, regardless of the cost if not a "Professional Fly Fisher". Just curious?

It had been a long time since I'd tried looking into something like this, so when I saw that video a month or two ago I looked again. There are days and beats for rent that commoners like you and I could book if we have the money. But a lot of beats are held in long-term leases by royalty and other high rollers. If you've ever heard the phrase that "Even God can't get a day on the Test," you'll understand how closely held prized beats and times are by their owners and lessees. You might very likely be able to book a couple days at Steinfossen during a time when few or no fish are present.

I was looking into salmon fishing prospects in Scotland and Iceland a couple years ago and found some very affordable times, but when I looked into it more closely, they were always weeks before many fish show up. Prices skyrocket during prime season on every river that offers good fishing. And by good fishing, that often means maybe catching one or two salmon per week per rod. A person can do that well buying day tickets to fish many public water stretches on salmon rivers in Quebec.

This sounds like fun. Not really. The snobbery & douchbaggery must be off the charts.

"It's a big club and you ain't in it"
- George Carlin

Thank goodness!

There was time where WA was considering allowing deer hunting along the lines of Texas ranches. At the time, one WDW game bio was quoted that he had lived in Texas and much preferred WA's better access to hunting. He did admit, though, that deer hunting was much better in Texas.

At the end of the day, we have more people pursuing limited resources. Some sort of access limiting will be required.

Ah Nick, when you have that kind of money, you can fund your snobbery and douchbaggery out of petty cash and not give it a thought. The thing about private water is that fish continue to exist. On public water we eventually get the tragedy of the commons. The incentive to destroy it exceeds the incentive to conserve it.

I remember when I was back in Harvest that the mantra at that time was that Wild Fish were free, while we actually had to pay for hatchery fish. While this was true for WDF, there was a lot of foregone economic opportunity associated with having strong wild populations. Some how, those costs have to be factored into it, how a property owner can be compensated for not maximizing their return.