AkKings

Legally, if a person has caught his 2 fish, and has punched out his two legal steelhead, he can no longer continue to fish for steelhead. The exception on that rule would be if salmon season was open and he had a salmon card. He then could continue to fish for, and land salmon. The catch is that the other persons who gets handed the rod, must first bring in there lines first before you can hand off your rod to them. He can land one fish and punch it out and then hook and hand off as many fish has he want's until he puches his last steelhead. Tthen he's done!

It's a little bit different when you are fishing for salmon. Once you have caught your legal limit of adults, you must stop fishing for salmon and that includes jacks. But then again, if you have a steelhead card, and steelhead is open, you can continue to fish for steelhead and you must release any salmon that you may hook. It works the same way when you are guiding too.

Cowlitzfisherman

Akkings,

I've been told by WDFW enforcement just the opposite of what you describe. You "catch" a fish by reducing it to possession. One angler may be holding the rod when a fish bites and then hand it off to another licensed angler, who may play the fish, who could hypothetically hand off the rod to yet a third licensed angler, who may land the fish and reduce it to possession. The angler who reduces the fish to possession (was holding the rod when the fish was landed) caught the fish and must punch his salmon or steelhead card.

If WDFW enforcement has more than one way of interpreting this, THAT is a problem, and I want to check this out with WDFW.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

I don't doubt any of you and the only thing I can think of that may have caused the problem was that the guy doing the hooking also did most of the fighting of the fish. Again, this was a few years ago and details are kind of fuzzy (guess I'm getting old) but I do specifically remember the fish cop telling the 1 guy he was over his limit.

Cowlitzfisherman,

The guy had one steelhead on the bank, and the poles of the people his pole was handed off to were on the bank, if I would of thought that he was doing an illegal act in no way would I of allowed my girlfriend to grab the pole and proceed to bank a steelhead. So it is my understanding that what you are saying is true, and that is how I have always thought it to be.

Maybe I bring my dog to the riverbank for the same reason some people bring their guns.

Matt

It's true!!!

Cowlitzfisherman

AkKings

Lots of fish cops have made that same mistake before!

mr seaweedsam, If i drove 100-150 miles to this great fishing hole full of all this hassle, i think i would go buy a map and find a stream alot less traveled, there is alot of water in the great state of washington and i'm sure you could find your own little utopia. secondly , i have caught alot of fish with our 2 beagles in our boat, pulling plugs not washing hands all day, etc face the facts ,, fish are fickle . some days you catch,
somedays you watch the water go by.

A couple of years back I went fly fishing with my father in law and an expensive guide. Before the trip the guide tried to sell us a variety of flies that he assured me were required to catch fish on the Henry's Fork. I declined, used a batch of flies I tied using hair left over after the groomer cut my mom's terrier. I did fairly well on the dog hair fly. By the end of the day the guide was requesting a couple of my "terrier tail nymphs." Scientific studies may say dogs scare fish but those heavily fished trout sure loved the taste of terrier.