Todd,

Thanks for the answer, I was just wondering who the "we" was.

Matt

One of my biggest pet peaves in politics is the setting of policy based on politics and not scientific fact. This fish should have been released morally and should not have been allowed to be kept legally!

Bummer the fish isn't still swimming up river to spawn.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Bummer deal, lack of knowledge on the part of the speyin banki....he will come to learn of his mistake, and hopefully he becomes a better user of the resource down the road

All the grossly misguided anger toward the guy that bonked the fish, it's sad. Yes the bonker was wrong, but not the actual "culrprit". The actual culprit's are the Federal fish mismanager's, the tribe's, and the WDFW. I can promise you that if the anger was properly targeted, we would have better results.

Huh? please explain.

Anyone??? Or are we more interested in biaatching about a fish that is already dead instead of what could be done to fix the problem?

Tim

29 wild fish kept over the weekend, with only 9 released, according to the checker's report for the weekend for the Lower Hoh

Tim most dudes have you on there ignored user list. Perhaps if I quote you someone will respond.

The baker

Tim,

From a biological perspective I'd only worry about anglers selectively killing large fish if the overall exploitation rate is high. The Hoh data I looked at shows small run sizes with a very small harvest rate. Because the total population is becomming small, there might be some cause for concern, but that pales to the concern I have for the population being chronically under-escaped.

I believe it's only a matter of time until all of WA requires wild steelhead release. Wild steelhead have been in defacto museum management mode for three decades in this state, but there's a general unwillingness to acknowledge the handwriting on the wall.

More important IMO is to establish a meaningful and realistic (comporting with productivity and capacity) spawning escapement goal and then actually manage for its attainment instead of below it. I have the same sympathy for the Hoh Tribe as I do any treaty tribe. I'm on board with the fishing as intrinsic to their culture, but circumstances change, and the Tribe's fishing needs to comport with the productivity of the river and the allocation specified in US v WA. I can't imagine a better life than living on the WA coast and extracting a living, especially one with ties through many, many generations. However, one inalienable fact of life is that life itself is uncertain. Any sense of entitlement, by a Hoh fisherman or anyone else, that because one once made a living doing a certain thing in a certain place that they should expect to be able to do so forever, is formed in ignorance. Respect for tradition is a good thing, but tradition isn't currency, nor can you eat it. I'm saying that if one can't make a living fishing, then it's time to learn another trade. The ancestors would understand. It's what they did down through the ages.

Sg

Salmo....thank you. That makes sense and thats why I posed the question. I am not a bio.....just pointing out a trend that I have seemed to notice.

Tim

Not trying to justify the killing of this fish, BUT something to take inconsidration ?, someone mentioned he was from England? and someone also mentioned he PROBABLTY read the regs? Not knowing the situation about Nates in the N. W. (like a chef Back east) He may not of know? thinking leagal to keep one nate was a normal situation reguardless of size?

I dont know the regs in the UK but if I went over there and caught one of the biggest chalk stream trout they had ever seen, I still wouldnt club it... regardless of if I thought it was the norm or not.

i think that is more to do with culture then it has to do with the fish.
90% fo the english, russian, etc etc etc keep 90% of the fish they catch. they do it for food and NOT sport. like alot of americans do.

so for one of us to go over to another country and C&R imo is alot different. we, at least in the northwest know how important C&R is to our sport. and we also know how badly our beloved wdfw manage our resources and the impacts of keeping all the fish we catch weather they be hatchery or natives.

when someone comes from another country to fish in my mind they are fishing for food. alot of them read the regs and keep what they read is legal to keep. i hold no fault in the fisherman if that is the case.

even with hatchery fish. if we were to keep every single hatchery fish we catch then hatcheries wouldnt make thier quota's and we would be in the same boat with very low escapement of hatchery fish. which is the case alot of times anyway with very poor returns.


the main fix for any problem we have with natives or anything in this state when it comes to wildlife is that we need people in charge that can actually manage our resources.

Salmo G,

Thank you very much. That is EXACTLY what I have been saying since forever. Unfortunately I lack the vocabulary to make it sound like anything else other than racism or attacks. Or maybe anger masks what I am truly saying. In any case, this is precisely the facts. Intrinsic right does not entitle one to the deciding of fates. Especially when the majority sufffers as a whole as result of the few. I guess this is the quintessential America though isn't it? The masses controlled by the few. In spite of our founding ideals.

I'll seperate the rest so that it is not associated with what you said Salmo as I am sure what I have to say is not in line with what you have to say.

Whatever. Anyhow, unfortunately, I think that the near complete extinction of the native fish,if not complete extinction, may be the only thing that will change current ways. I am not a lawyer, some think they are and some are. So hold the comments, because most of them mean very little to me. What I care about is the future of my family being able to enjoy atleast some of what I did as a kid and adult. I have already forgone the bird hunting I cherished as a Jr. High and high schooler since EVERY single place I hunted on is now a house. But the fishing isn't gone yet. I just wonder what it will take before it is. I pray that it doesn't happen. Unfortunately, it probably means all of us giving up soemthing that we all love nothing more to pursue for a while. But just think. Heading out with little Timmy to the river to chase around mass quantity of steelhead and salmon. To actually have a legitimate chance at catching that elusive 30 lber. because they haven't gone the way of the Dodo bird. I have long believed the retention of any Native should be strictly forbidden. It doesn't make any sense to keep them. Why remove something from an already dwindling resource.

in my opinion the dude got excited and made what he will forevermore feel to be a horrible mistake.

This big nate was bonked last year on California's Smith River.
The only river in the state that allows bonking a nate.



Weighed 26.8lbs.

27.4lbs is the state record.

Lots of talk down here about this fish.

Not all kids would have clubbed him.

BINGO!

That is probably pretty true.

The Hoh should be a wild steelhead and salmon santuary. Eliminate all fishing for five years. Stop planting hatchery fish. Then see if the numbers improve.

Some would disagree.

There are other rivers nearby that could still be fished.

Actually I'd like to see a river in each region managed similarly.