Bob, Where does the Olympic Peninsula's Guide Association stand on harvest of wild steelhead? Do they have a mission or charter to promote C&R of wild steelhead and is there any public information on what the association stands for? I'm also interested to hear your perspective on how the current regulation (i.e. 2 wild steelhead on the Hoh per year) doesn't force any of the guides to conserve. A guide changes over his clients each day and can possibly harvest up to four wild steelhead per day, every day the river is fishable-that totals to a lot of dead nates. I know they are the customer's fish, but most guides are proficient fishermen and fish for their clients(the guide hooks the fish and the client reels it in).

[This message has been edited by Rich (edited 12-01-1999).]

The official position of the OPGA is that there is some room for harvest on the area streams ... many members, including myself, feel that things should be strictly C&R and any mortality associated with C&R is currently tolerable given the current health of most of our stocks ... as I have recently noted on another forum, the ODFW has been running a program over the last few years in which they ride alongside a guide and use holding tanks, weirs, and radio tags to try to determine the effects of C&R on sport-caught fish ... so far, it appears that even with bait, mortality is around 3%, much lower than many people opposing C&R claim ... and more in line that those of us who strictly fish C&R on wild steelies believe.

The Association is comprised of a broad spectrum of angler ideals ... many are old-time C&k'ers ... a few are 100% C&R ... others fall right in the middle ... so the official position is representaive of that mix, but overall, the feeling is that the wild fish need more protection overall ... from both tribal and sport fisheries ... and that is the basic premise of the existance of the Association ... long-term health of our fish stocks and the importance of these fisheries, in both recreational and economic senses, to the local community.

We all run driftboats ... so we take two customers at a time ... that means for those retaining fish, the kill is two per day, not four ... the limits are one per day.

In some cases, the regulation doesn't have an effect on many customers, but many of us who have been guiding for any length of time also have a good portion of repeat business ... clients that fish four, five, and in some cases, up to ten or twelve days a year ... these clients are subject to the annual limits.

Other parties that the current regs impact are the local plunkers (and driftes too) and other coastal residents who fish the streams on a regular basis (such as the Port Angeles anglers) who could, and did take a large number of fish over the course of the year.

Appreciate the reply Bob