I've been a member of WSC since the start[from the initial meeting in Ted's basement] and after reading all the insane passion about different hooks
and different rods and magazine writers and snaggers and heat on the river etc. etc. etc.. I was wondering why some of you don't have a little of
that same passion for wild steelhead release statewide year around? If you like the idea, have you joined WSC? ,or why not? It,s my believe that
WSC had alot to do with the reduction in the kill limit. Will you be able to stand in front of the great fisherman above[or children, or grand children]
and say I did what I could to protect the resource. If you aren't a member of WSC I would like to hear why not and if you believe in wild steelhead
release statewide why haven't you joined? Is $40 a year to much? I just can't understand the huge number of passionate posts about personal
preference in tools to fish with and over 3000 Piscatorial Pursuits BB members and at least that many lurkers why WSC has less than 200 members.
I would really like to have some feedback please.

Does any body care?

I care......yet I am not a member. I attented a meeting last year and had the membership forms but never sent them in or paid dues. My only excuse is that I am busy raising two small boys and really just forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder Jerry! And thanks to the individuals that have spent so much time trying to make some changes to a system that obviosly doesn't work very well.

Excellent post, Jerry.

For those of you that work for big companies, keep in mind a lot of them will match your donations to qualified non-profit organizations. WSC is one such organization. I have a very small amount deducted from my paychecks that will double in size by the time it reaches the WSC.

So take a minute to do what you can to keep beauties like these in our rivers:

Bruce

btw - GO HOOSIERS (the lucky hat did it for me on Friday)!

NICE FISH B What a bute!
Tyler

Awesome fish B as close to a perfect steelhead as you'll ever find.

JerryBerry-
I could not agree with you more!!! I've said it before...if we put as much time into preserving wild steelhead as we do b*tching at each other, we might have one less thing to b*tch about...empty rivers

Idaho Steelhead and Salmon unlimited has been a huge voice in any issue relating to sport fishing. Also river management and anything else that affects our sport. It sounds like your WSC group could be the same. Its a good chance to show support. Memebership numbers alone mean a lot.

One thing we don't have in Idaho is Chromers like the one above... That fish is sweet !!!!

jerry,
I have hidden fron the politics of our fishing world untill I got involved in this bourd.I fish the hood canal tribs so hiding has not been easy.You may have noticed that I participate alot in CF,salma,postings to help educate myself on these isues and the truth.

Here comes the flames....

I do not agree with your statewide c/r.I am a c/r fisherman and have been for 9 years now.Alot of the guys pushing for it now can't say that so think about that before ya start beating up on me.I did send in the easy form BOB suplied on this bourd.Since then I have come up against the state wide c/r.two resons

1: I do not believe that the majority of the fishermen in this state want that.I think it is important for an orginization to represent the fishermen not divide them

2:I see c/r as an excuse for fishing a fishery that needs to be closed.It is a great tool to protect a healthy run.It is not the answer for runs that are hurting.Fish die in a c/r fishery, how many depends on which study you want to use.If done right it creates alot of new fly only water.Any time you keep a failing fishery open you leave the door cracked for the bad element that is only there to do harm.

I believe for any of your mission to be acomplished you are going to need more than state wide support.With The sportfisherman as divided as they seem to be in this state getting state wide support is going to be hard enough.I am not saying that you are wasting your time as that is far from what I think.I just believe that the c/r issue further divides...

Also your location is great for city slickers...

I do commend alot of your mission and highly respect anybody that is willing to get up and do something more than complain.

PEACE
Greg

ltlCLEO,
1. How would you feel about a questionaire from the state where the majority of anglers
stated they would like to see a rule change that would allow snagging of hathery salmon in terminal
fisheries? A mandate from the people? or ?

2. Wild steelhead release statewide would still be regulated by the state, so as we have now-
no fishing on depressed stocks.

3.We have had 15 more rivers close in the last 3 years that the state had deemed healthy enough for wild harvest. So are you suggesting bonkers bonk until they are all gone.

ltlCLeol or whatever,
Your comments are the very divider you talk about.
Sounds like you got an inferior complex about those who fish with a fly rod. Are you aware that the majority of anglers in the WSC are gear fishermen and women? We don't see this issue of C&R as fly Vs gear. As for more fly water being created, not over my dead body! Most folks I know that fly fish for steelhead don't want any water fly only. Christ their is too many of us flingers now for the few runs that can be fished.
You say the rivers should just be shut down yet you fish some of the most depleted rivers in the state for steelhead yet you believe in C&R. How much interest you gonna have in the beautiful canal rivers you fish if they are shut down for 5 or 10 years or more? None most likely, you will have died of old age or moved on to golf.
The only division between fishermen comes about with reasoning like yours. The majority of fishermen damn well know Wild Steelhead are in trouble throughout the state. At least those in favor of statewide C&R want to keep the priviledge for all of being able to be on the river fishing doing the least amount of harm without going to the eventual extreme we are headed for of all rivers closed.

Our friends to the north changed to wild release some years ago without backing from the majority
of their fisherman,and now most of us point to their success. I don't understand.

land tuna,
I for one do want the hood cannal streams shut down.C/r is presently being used by the state as an excuse for keeping those streams open.Look at the regs and you will see that the rivers are c/r exept hatchery steel.The state supplies 10,500 steel smolt to the northern rivers.Is this a fishery or an excuse,using c/r,to keep from telling the truth and shutting these streams down?While this fishery is c/r to protect all fish but the few hatch steel that might be there two months out of the year,They have not put any restrictions {single barbless, no bait}to protect these fish.So what do we have a c/r fishery based on salmon and steelhead smolt using bait and trebbles.Usuing c/r as an excuse to keep from giving the public the wrong idea.That is what scares me about c/r.I am all for c/r to preserve our wild fish,but am afraid that it will be used as it is on my rivers.I stated on another thread that my WANT to fish is not a NEED.I am more worried about preserving our wild fish than I am being able to go fishing.I have given up anymore winter steel fishing this season because of the situation that has unfolded.

As it stands now the public is not really that woried about the state of our steelhead fishery.That leaves the sport fisherpeople to carry the weight.The smaller that group of people gets or the more divided we get,the less weight we carry.I am scared by the lack of kids on the rivers now.I watched the differant debates on other bourds concerning the statewide c/r issue and it looked to me like there were alot of good responsible fisherpeople that did not want this for all sorts of differant reasons.I am afraid of loosing there participation as things get worse.

Catch and release as the wsc wants it could be one of the best things for our healthy fisheries.I am just afraid the state will not do the right thing{close unhealthy fisheries}with your proposal.

Hey, everyone.

I'll keep my comments very short, as I'd rather hear what everyone else has to say on this thread. God knows I've done my share of stumping for the WSC over the last year!

The WSC is working on many issues that affect wild steelhead stocks, and the cnr debate is only one of those many. Please go to our homepage, read our mission statement, and then you'll have a better idea of what the WSC is intending to do.

Fish on...

Todd

http://www.wildsteelheadcoalition.com

ltlCLeo,
Your concerns are valid but don't blame the WSC for trying to divide fishermen. They have tried to unite fishermen with good science and reasoning. When the WSC was formed much discussion was about do we need to get the rivers closed down to save wild steelhead or is there another way? Can you imagine the out cry from all fishermen if the WSC decided to fight for closing all rivers? I can only speak as a proud member of the WSC and not for the organization itself. The way it went from my point of veiw was that most felt by going C&R all who fished would still have the opportunity to do so without doing too much harm to the fishery. Things that you brought up like barbless and bait were talked often and there was division amongst members but in the end after going over all the scientific data we agreed it was more important to keep more fishermen on the rivers participating in conservation than to piss off more folks by making un-scientific restrictions on them. The loss to barbs and bait of wild winter fish does not seem drastic enough when compared to excluding those who fish that way from fishing.
You mention where are the young people fishing? If the rivers are closed then the Teen Tylers and the Ryan's who by the way is old by Tylers standards will be lost forever. You are right about not many young people fishing but lets keep ones we got fishing at least C&R. I have not seen any action by the WSC to divide or resrict anyones right to enjoy going fishing they want everyone to be able to fish more. What they want is the end of the deliberate killing of wild steelhead when less and less of them exist. These folks in the WSC are not PETA or some fern feeler group, They wish there was a way to keep wild steelhead too but realize that in the world we all now live in sportsmen are going to have to do something to save them instead of eating them. Soon enough the way it's going all our rivers will be shut down year around, a couple bad years and welcome Uncle Sam and the ESA.

Its not a question of "what fisherman want..." Its a question of "what fish need..." Support of C.R for wild fish is the bare minimum effort. I would think that Washington state could give steelhead at least that one concession. If you don't support that.. how can the state and feds listen to you about nets or anything else??? I think the vast majority of people out west "Do want that". It sort of hard to believe that law has not been passed. Really hard to believe...

The future of steelhead fishing is more importaint than anyones BBQ or freezer.. suppose????

I do not blame an orginization as well meaning as the WSC for the division in our fellow sports fisherpeople.I took jerrys original post as a question of why more people were not interested in becoming involved with the WSC and I see the c/r issue as the biggest reason within the WSC.I wish the WSC views and ideas were more of a common ground than it is.

I worked within the comercial fishing industry for long enough to learn that they are a powerfull lobby.The comercial lobby power does not consist of a few local fishermen but a whole WORLD of fishermen.There coffers are bottomless.I see them as the biggest lobby against that which needs to be done.Understanding this,my mind is always mulling for a way to orginize the sportfishermen in numbers that will actually reflect the depth involved.A few thousand sport fishermen in the state of WA. is not enough to acomplish anything.A few thousand fisherpeople per state would!Where is the common ground that is needed?.Even though I would love to see the state go c/r as the WSC wants it,I also see it alianating alot of good healthy members of our beloved sport.For whatever reasons they do not want statewide c/r,right or wrong,I feel that there voice is crucial to have an effect on our ever growing problems.

ltlCLEO, How about some feed back on my other posts.

Sure jerry to the best of my understanding..?

I do not know of any questionares concerning snagging of fish in terminal fisheries.I do know that this does happen way too much.Law enforcement cannot even enforce snagging regulations let alone c/r regulations.I personally do not fish any of these snagfests for varios reasons but I have to wonder who really cares?They are only hatchery fish,if they do not get snagged then they just end up fertilizer.We do not want to loose our native gene pool correct?

2.The state implementing the c/r regulation is what scares me the most!If it was implemented the way the WSC intends ,I am all for it.

3.The last thing I want to see is the last wild steely bonked.I sometimes wonder if the state would like to see that very thing happen!It would sure make there msy alot easiar to work with.I fall back again on close the system down before this happens.I still believe that c/r is a great way to manage a healthy fishery,it is not the answer for our failing systems,It is a means of conservation but not the answer to our problem.If it is used like it is on the canal it will be a means of killing the last steelhead.

B-RUN
The biggest reason I did suport the c/r issue was because I saw it as ground to stand on later in the battle!I am so sick of the attitude of not untill they stop.I too am surprised certain things have not been supported by the public{net ban} and by the wildlife commision{c/r}.Because of these let downs I feel compelled to look deeper into the population to come to some common ground?