WA Fisher, wake up. Every dead native is a lost opportunity to extend our fishing future. Sure, it's legal in some cases. Shouldn't be, and this shouldn't be an excuse. The people who make these laws do so to keep as many people of their back as possible. The best interest of the fish is not their top priority, as is evidenced by native kill fisheries. The best thing you and I can do is the right thing, and we all know what that is. Let em go.

I'm just saying you shouldn't harass/put down people who exercise their right to keep a native from a river with a strong run. The day I catch a 20+ pound nate, it's going on the wall. Will that negatively affect the run? No. Like I've stated in every post I've made so far, it's wrong to catch and kill nates on a regular basis, however, it's not morally wrong to keep an occasional native where it's legal to do so. I think it's dumb to keep a native for food purposes. That's what hatchery fish are for. But again, that's just my opinion.

Apparently many of you nate killing dimwits are short on your math skills. If all you conservationist type "people who keep 1 or 2 nates every few years" multiplied by the number of steelheaders in Washington (maybe 50,000 steelhead licenses?) that equates to only 50,000 to 100,000 nates taken every "few years". Now that the Olympic P. is the only legal place to take a nate right now, how long will it be until the OP has the same "healthy runs" that Puget Sound rivers were judged to have just a few years back. It case you haven't noticed you will not be fishing Puget Sound rivers starting tomorrow. Your thought that nates can be taken occasionally is totally self-serving and will end in the demise of the fishery as we know it if many share your short-sighted view.

Again, do you actually think every steelheader will even catch, let alone keep 1 or 2 nates a year? That thought is ridiculous. If everyone did, we would be in a completely different state of affairs. Since everyone doesn't, it is quite safe to keep one. I have been steelhead fishing for over 5 years and have never kept a native fish. However, I have never caught a trophy either. When I do finally catch one, I will keep it. Again, if EVERYONE was killing every nate they catch as you imply, we would be in a completely different state and I would not even think of killing one.

WA fisher, stubborn aint'ya! Wow, you just don't get what the others are saying do ya? Baisically, they are saying that they feel that very few if any rivers, in their opinions, are healthy enough for any harvest. Just because the F&W people claim there to be ample fish for harvest and sustained runs doesn't mean that that is truly the case. Look at the puget sound rivers, open one day complete closures the next.
If you remove one trophy fish and the next guy removes one of his own and his buddy got one too...well you see where I'm going. It starts to add up. Nowdays, with the ever increasing population and fishing pressure the native fish runs are in certain perile if harvest is not curtailed in the future. You may not see the effect of your one trophy fish now but 10 years down the road when the closure sets in (again see puget sound rivers) I hope you take some pride when you point at the pig on your wall and think that you will never be able to fish his river again.
No, I'm not saying that all the people who legally kill a native fish are bad people it's their legal right, but is it really the best use of the resource?

Think about it,

Duke

PS:fiberglass replicas are nice too and you don't need to kill the nate to put him on the wall.

Again, that's assuming that everyone is catching trophy fish. I'm tellin ya. It ain't gonna happen. Like I said. In 5 over five years, I have not killed a single native fish. When I do finally catch a trophy, it will be guilt free. You bring an awful lot of "what ifs" into your argument. I don't mind debating these important issues, but if you want to debate, could you (all of you) stick to realistic situations and issues? Even considering that there will be multiple trophy nates that are hooked, caught, and kept in one day on the same river everyday is ludicrous.

[This message has been edited by WA fisher (edited 02-28-2001).]

Wa fisher, you are completely right. One fish does not make a run, but the problem is how many people out there are thinking the same thing as you? It's just one fish, how much damage can I do? Over a season it really does add for the big picture. These so called "trophy" fish are the genetic cream of the crop for our steelhead rivers, and they really should not be harvested for any reason.
I spend at least 10 days each June Atlantic Salmon fishing in Quebec for the large (sorry guys its flyfishing only by law)salmon that average about 20#'s. I have caught a hell of a lot of grief from the local guides over my c&r stance on these fish. It perfectly legal to keep them, but I choose to release. Snooping through the kill logs from the past 20 or so years there is an alarming trend: the average size of salmon has dropped by almost 5 pounds. The trophies are put on the wall, but again it is perfectly legal.
My point is that just because it is perfectly legal does not make it moral. Be conscience enough to carry a camera, take a handful of photos, and let the fish go. Take these photos and get a replica. That way the fish wins, and so do you.

[This message has been edited by inland (edited 03-01-2001).]

I'm curious. If your willing to bonk that trophy cause you want a wall mount, why not go with the alternative of a replica and enjoy the knowledge that you caught it and still did everything in your power to continue the nate survival? The replica will look better, last longer, and you can tell the same story to all that see it as you would with the real thing. Plus, people will actually respect you when you tell them its a rep vs the real deal, and why.

Your logic may work for you, not me. This same narrow mindedness is why there is no fishing as of today in the Puget Sound streams. This is not an elitist point of view, its the facts. They thought these runs could support nate killing very recently to. Apparently, they were wrong....

Here we go again, facts, just a few years ago when the O.P. was mandatory C&R we were fishing the same low water conditions that we have now. As a few of you know the fishing was unbelievable 20 fish days were the standard super low water did not make a difference!! Now tell me that C$R does not make a change in the system's response you think its tough wait to next year we all know it is a big fish year so it is to bad some of these trophy fish are getting taken out of the loop never to return breaks my heart

Caught my first twenty lbs fish this year. What a fish, what a fight never had a fish go so crazy before just ripped me a new one. And I'll tell ya something I'm gonna mount that picture I took right in the front room no matter what the wifie says And what a feeling lettin her go knowing she'll bring more hog offspring that some day when my son is old enough he can catch. But then again maybe you and me go fishing for different reasons.

Tight lines

Kevin

SRBC

[This message has been edited by Kevin (edited 03-01-2001).]

People still mount fish?...theres nothing uglier than a wall mount...a good pic blown up is the way to go. Notice how most wall mounts are boots too....guys hangin the skin of a spawner on their wall. Odd.