There have been some suggestions lately concerning using a "bait ban" as a state management tool. I know that many board members are diehard fly fisherman and could care less about the use of bait. With that being said, how many other members would support a state wide "bait ban"?

This is just a "general" question, so PLEASE don't give us your most favorite reason for making the choice, on this thread, we can do that later! This one is just a simple YES or NO survey, without ANY mutable choices. Please post what state you live in right behind your vote. I know it will be hard to do for some of you, but give it a try anyway!

OK, it's my thread so I get to vote first!

My vote is; NO-Washington. Now what's your vote?

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

I'm against a ban on bait. Although floats and jigs are my favorite method, I feel that sportsmen have lost enough in this state and don't need to lose anymore. Sometimes, bait is the only thing a fish will hit.

Bait band, what the hell is that? if you mean a bait ban, that wouldn't bother me, I probably wouldn't vote for it but it wouldn't bother me either if it happened.

AkKings

Thanks for catching my spelling error!

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

Year round in the state of washington NO

give me a net and i will give up bait...that way, at least the playing field will be level

that was a NO, btw

Nope I don't think it's needed state wide. some areas yes and some times of year on other areas maybe but state wide all the time no

I agree with Mr Allen. Statewide..no. But certain times of the year, certain areas might not be bad. BTW, I probably use bait 1 time out of 10.
Tight Lines
RL

No No No NO Bait ban. I dont always use it but would really like to have the choice.

No! not anyplace or anytime!---Washington

dc

HELL NO!

NOPE

NO WAY WOULD I VOTE FOR A STATEWIDE BAN ON THE USE OF BAIT!!

A statewide blanket year round bait ban?? NO!

June-November of alot of rivers? Yes, to protect juvenille anadarmous salmonids and resident trout.

I also enjoy bait bands/selective fishery rules on alot of our rivers during March and April. Keeps the traffic down and changes the demeanor of the fishery.

Rob is a diehard flyfisherman and he is not for a blanket bait ban...so that is saying something.

NO!!!

Fishhead5

No -Washington

no bait ban

I'm not from Washington, but banning bait statewide seems silly. You guys don't even have statewide C&R of wild steelhead, right? Bait people gotta fish too, just not certain water.

HELL NO!!!! I'll say it again, HELL NO!!! Kinda defeats the purpose of starting an egg cure/bait company (See signature ).. It's been tried before, many eons ago, and failed miserably. Will never happen.. Well, never say never, but it's very highly unlikely.

James

No-Washington

NO!! Ive never had a steelhead or salmon swallow any bait ive used. Plunking and pulling divers is another story. Your standard drift rig and float rig offer little time for a fish to "inhale" the offering, unless you are totally unconscious. like mentioned above, there are times a bait ban is totally necessary - CNR seasons, and heavy smolt migration timing.

tap..tap...tap... tap... tap...ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz
fish on :p

Since I catch most of my fish on herring, no. However, I'm all for having selective fishing areas and fly fishing only areas, particularly in the upper reaches of rivers for C&R. And "trout" fishing of any kind, but especially with bait, should be banned in any stream that supports anadromous fish - those "trout" would have been steelhead in a couple of years if they had not swallowed the power bait or gotten the treble hook through their eye

No way!!!!

No,No,No!

No, and I'll never support catch and release worm digging in Washington, either.

Cowlitzfisherman - did you mention a state wide ban?
I think it can (and has) been used as a good managent tool (isn't that your question?).

Under many conditions - Yes, Washington.

No - Washington

We already have enough regulations and restricted waters, not to mention emergency closures to make our heads spin.NO WASH. Lets just hope that this year they get the rules straight before they pint the pamphlet.I don't mean to sound ill-hearted, but I would like some consistency. Checking the state web page every time I go out gets old fast. J.C.B

if they banned bait in washington, fishhead 5 would be able to save about 4 hundred dollars a year on refrigeration cost alone.

Did you think you would get ANY yes votes?

Bigdog2250

That is just one of the answers this survey will reveal!

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

No-Washington

They shouldn't do this statewide. Only look at each river because each river is different. Some places a bait ban is ok, but not statewide.

~ Dr Pepper

I am not opposed to resricting the use of bait on certain rivers at certain times of the year. For example, the fly only stretch on the Kalama..... I mean, something like that is fine. But hasn'tthis State already made it hard enough to harvest fish in this state without adding yet ANOTHER stupid regulation that we'd have to abide by? I'm against th idea of using a Statewide bait ban as a managment because It's not really a "Managment" tool at all. A bait ban would only serve to make it harder for us to catch fish..... That's not managment at all. The state already charges too much for licenses and tags and doesn't do nearly enough to enhance the fishing.... Why in the world would we want them to make it any harder than it already is? If the state wants to "Manage" the fish, then why don't they actally start to do things that will enhnce the fishing? We already have enough stupid regulations on the books, geared soley at making harder for us to be successful in our hunting and fishing efforts. We dont need yet another stumbling block thrown in our way.

no.

I would not support a year round bait ban, however I would be in favor of a bait ban from April through August .

Most of us here are in favor of state wide CnR on wild fish, but when it comes to not using bait on summer fish , which are sometimes the easiest to catch without bait , we would not give that right to fish bait up. Why is that?

Bait does by far the most damage by fishermen to out migrating smolts than most catch and kill fisheries have on returning adults .

Think about it, if your out fishing bait on a given summer day and you hook and kill incidently a few to half dozen wild smolt that are in the 4 inch plus range (which once they are that large have a much higher chance of ocean survival ) what kind af damage does that do to the population over the course of a summer ?

Most of us here would never do anything to hurt an adult wild steelhead , but what damage are we doing to runs of juvenile steelhead by fishing bait?

They have bait bans on several Western Washington rivers now and it don't seem to stop the bait fishermen. Take the upper Sauk from Darrington up. It's supposed to be no bait,but in the summer time you find worm containers all over the place. I don't support anything until they can inforce it. Just my .02 Jim S.

"NO" to BAIT band in WA.

No! They should open all waters to bait fishing period! The only alternative is to close them. No discrimination!

That's a funny one!!
Keith

Rieter Rat, Finally a response based on reason, rather than emotion. BTW, My opinion supports your reason. From the studies I've read bait doesn't have much of a impact on steelhead during winter months Nov-March. The rest of the year I say YES to no bait. But this is a useless survey because it won't happen.

In my opinion bait is a confidence tool, wild winter steelhead and summer runs are aggressive enough and it's not needed to be successful plus you lower theimpact on the down river kelts, smolts, char and cutthroat. Gosh look how successful anglers are during the C&R season and there's no bait allowed then

since everyone says no, i'm going to say yes.bait is smelly and makes your fingers get icky.

It makes me sick to see "trout fisherman" in the summer gut hook smolt after smolt on some of our upper watersheds with worms. Upper watersheds with native rainbow/cutts and anadromous species should have CNR release regs to insure future survival.

Any Idaho fisherman in here? I believe they have some of the best managed fisheries in the world and the numbers of native/hatchery fish to back it up from what i hear.

Let's see in this State they still let Natives be killed but want to ban bait?

How bout the other way around

Hell no to the bait ban. What would happen if we tried to ban flies?

No, Ore.

It's not the bait doing that, bardo.

No.

State wide no!

Selective timing YES! Protect nates, protect smolt, protect trout, stop the bonking of dark fish for the eggs.

thick

No way, I enjoy my bobber and goodies probably just as much as a flyfisherman enjoys his. We need to have the right ot choose. I would consider it if the state would stop all netting and we all know the reality of that.

I'm in favor of a bait ban state wide in Washington for three reasons:

1. I don't live there, so it won't impact my use of eggs on Midwest winter fish

2. I would have a better chance of beating the Reiter Rat if he could only use yarn

3. My wife doesn't buy the excuse that my fingers smell like fish because I have been steelhead fishing in Washington. DNA samples are pending in an approved lab.

4. I figured you would all get PO'd if I said yes, and someone needs to take the heat off of Bardo

No way! Anytime of year. An eggslinger till I die!

Hell no in washington

Not just no but **** no!
Not an all-out statewide ban. There is a time and place for everything, even bait bans.
Oregon

Ban nets not bait!

Don't know what kind of bait your using but they seem to swallow mine. On a recent trip 4 weeks ago 10 fish boated 1 bleeder 4 with the leader deep in the gullet. If river is C&R as that one was for wild fish no bait. If retention is allowed bait yes.

Instead of H@#$ No! responses it would be interesting to hear some justification to the response. I believe Reiter Rat asked some soul searching questions that no one even bothered to eloborate on or answer. My opinion was just that, an opinion and I am not out to tell others how to fish, but I was able to back my opinion up with some justification and reason for my response. Not trying to start a flame here, but just a better understanding why the hardline stance instead of thinking about it and perhaps looking at the bigger picture. BTW I'm not buying it has a right and for the record I still drift fish occasionally.

I would have to say no also. But I'm kind of up in the air about it since I've been doing so much better fishing worms lately than I ever have fishing bait. So, I might completely abandon using bait in the future and not really care if there's a ban. But probably not. Die hard powerbait fan for trout in lakes present! Seriously though, I still and always will enjoy drifting bait through a nice slot and feeling that gentle tap tap tap...or in some cases slam slam slam! Who'd wanna give that up?

I think bait bans would be a great tool in certain watersheds where the native run is depressed or threatened. Where you still have strong native runs I don't think you need to implement this although I think it would make a huge difference on survival rates on released natives. I'm primarily concern with the diver and bait fisherman since the fish have tendency to swallow the bait with this technique compared to drift fishing. I would probably support a statewide bait ban since I've had my best winter steelhead season ever and have not used bait one time all season. Another option would be to ban bait starting February 1st through April which is generally the time when your natives come into the rivers anyways. Just my 2 cents worth!

fishinglunatic

You just said;" I don't think you need to implement this although I think it would make a huge difference on survival rates on released natives." What released native are you talking about?

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook???

The answer is simply "no", I fish mainly lakes for warmwater species and trout and this idea would devestate the lake fishery. Not everyone is a fly fisher.

Like I said in a previous thread, we gave up our right to fish when we damed all the rivers, polluted all the waters, cut down all the trees, overfished etc. etc. etc. etc.

We should consider ourselves very lucky that there are still fish to be caught and think that fishing is no more then a privelage we are luck to have.

BTW boater1-Would you be related to the boater that was banned!!!?!?!

RPetzold

Speak for your self! You may have given up your "right", but please don't include me and everyone else! I have been fighting the dam thing for the last 12 years, and I still haven't given up.

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

Oooops...I meant to post that in the other thread as I already posted my opnion in this thread.

Anyways Cowlitzfisherman, I totally forgot, you are not part of the problem.

Where do you get your electricty???...solar panels??

What is your house built from???...mud??

Being that you are not part of the problem, you must have great subsitutes for gas and paper products that we all consume in our daily lives.

No! no ban on bait, if you think fishermen using bait in the summer, kill alot of smolts, they dont even come CLOSE to what the cormorants take in one day!! been on the river lately??
yes, it would be a minutely small fraction of the smolts that wouldnt make it to sea, but bait fisherman arent the culprit.
I rarely use bait, but that has nothing to do with it, it should be our choice.
for years my favorite river allowed bait in the summer, all of a sudden a few years ago, some upity fly fishermen got into somebodys pocketbook, and now there is a ban on bait, June 1 through Nov 31st
I for one have had enough! with all the gillnetting, mismanagement,smoke and mirrors and finger pointing.
sport fisherman using bait seriuosly impacting adult returns?? hardly
NO!! Washington

Fuzzy

Silent Approach Jigs

I was speaking in general regarding any natives that are caught which swallowed the hooks. Again, I'm primarily talking about diver and bait

then you would be sturgeon fishing with artificials, could troll or mooch a cut plug herring. no summer nite dog/skate fishin at the docks. no more limits of TASY catfish fillets. but during march and april on rivers and any wild trout stream it should be banned. and more areas desinated for non bait chukers would be nice. Ben

Yes in selected rivers at selected times. In Idaho, certain rivers are closed to bait in areas where wild fish are common. As far as across the board. No way. However, we also have a zero retention of wild fish policy, and have for a long time. Also have no gill nets. If the tribe gets any fish its because there are a ton of them and they get them right out of the hatcherys.. the way it should be everywhere.

That is the very same arguement that so many of those against statewide wild steelhead release use-well if the Indians are going to kill them so am I.

Yes cormorants reap havoc on certain streams and yes I would love it if we reduced the population but why can we not take responsibilty for our actions???

We ***** about this, moan about that, complain about them yet do not take any responsibilty for our actions nor do we want to sacrifice anything for the fish.

No wonder we have no fish, so many of us do not give a [Bleeeeep!].

Preserving our wild steelhead is going to go way beyond just letting all the wild steelhead adults go, there is so much we must do beyond that.

I may seem radical but I am still young, I do not have any kids yet and when I am your ages, I want to have fish to fish for and be able to show my kids and my grankids that sport that I love so dearly.

Call me selfish then, see if I care!

Hmmm ... lots of conditionals here, but I'll say "YES" just to stir the pot

I like to use bait at times, but often see it used irresponsibly. Unfortunately, if people can't do the sensible thing on their own, you sometimes have to make a law ... for the welfare of a number of different species, it would likely be a good thing.

YES.

Ban bait for anyone over the age of 16.

Bait is for kids.

Rpetz

If you ORVIS loving urbananized ellitist snobs don't want to use bait, and just stick with your bug slingers, more power to you.

We have taken responsibility for what we have done too our rivers, and the bottom line is you will not stop development, you will never tear down the dams, you will never close the rivers for fishing.

So lets live with what we have done to our resources, and build some more hatcheries, so we can just keep on BONKING.....

NO in WA.

I've read every report in this unofficial study and have to say the majority are saying no. As far as taking responsibility for destroying our resources,in my job, which is water quality coordinator/salmon habitat restoration coordinator for one of the coast counties. The efforts are being done to restore the habitat and clean up the water. I talk to landowners and state officials all the time (every day) and the one thing that always comes up is the lack of common sense in the government. When the landowners took care of the resources,we historically had more fish. Since the Bolt decision and the activation of the environmental community, the fish numbers have dwindled. The government wants large buffers along the streams of an average of 180 feet from the normal high water mark, and wants 30% evergreen trees within that buffer. Now I challenge you to come to our rivers and show me a large number of old growth stumps along the waters edge within that 180 foot buffer. Our streams have historic deciduous trees in the buffer which are mostly alder and the average age of an alder before it starts to rot is 50 years and you will not usually find alders of different ages in a stand, so this means they will all start to die at about the same time. Thus the buffer will die off and then start over again. FACT. I just get tired of individuals from the big cities trying to tell the rural folks what they are doing wrong and how to fix it when they have destroyed everything in there area. Sorry for the long wind but sometimes you have to clear your mind.
Banock