Um,I'm looking for big nates on the sky! What's the word? I have got to go fishin. I went to the Hoh last weekend and had a blast. Hooked 4 landed 1 native (C & R of course), not the best average but was very fun. Now back in my own stoppin grounds and looking to fish lower sky on Saturday has anyone slapped a big native lately? Tight lines, see ya!

This week's FH news has a picture of some stupid cracker holding up a big dead wild buck they say was from the sky. They claim it weighed in just under 23 lbs. I think this came up before on the board. Something about it was in the Everett paper?

Anyway, it's pretty sick.

FH pictures are usually outdated and the picture is not related to the article of the river the fisherman is standing at.

That fish was taken on the lower Sky in late January. Rumor has it it was a guide that caught and bonked it but that may be a someone's imagination. I also heard that a 19# native was pulled out below Ben Howard on Saturday.

Its hard for a person who catches maybey one or two steelhead a year, spends countless money and he is fishing in an area where it is legal to keep them. He finally catches one, what do you think the average fisherman going to do? Can you blame him? I have seen this happen for close to forty years.

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Tight Lines!!

Dick
The next 40 years is what we need to think about. If we continue to harvest native runs we will wipe them out. There is a lot more people fishing now. Do the math.
Sharp hooks.

[This message has been edited by Rivernut (edited 02-16-2000).]

I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH RIVERNUT. I PERSONALLY FEEL THERE SHOULD BE A C&R ON ALL NATIVES IN ALL RIVERS. AFTERALL I WANT MY SONS AND DAUGHTER TO BE ABLE TO FEEL THE POWER, GRACE AND SEE THE BEAUTY OF A WILD STEELHEAD.

The fish mentioned was caught in late January in the upper snohomish by a client with a guide from Anacortes.I met the old timer in a tackle shop when he was showing around his verticle hero photos of the fish.It was his First ever steelhead.39 inches,22 pound shiny buck,the only mark on it was the one on it's skull.Can you blame him?or the guide who did not instruct him on the values of CnR,or the fact that he could drum up some work by parading around a dead fish?or could you blame the state for allowing this to even happin in the first place?We need to stick together and concentrate more on educating the uneducated on why not to kill.

rivernut,
Just a question, you ever kept a native?

The first steelhead I ever caught was a beautifull 19lb Sauk river buck with the help of a guide. Even if the regs would have allowed it, I wouldn't have killed it. And I don't think the guide would have wanted to bonk it either.

I got it after spending countless hours and $$$ freezing my ass off trying to get my first.

Just my experience. Your mileage may vary.

BG.

Rainycity,
To answer your question I have never kept a native steelhead, and do not intend to.
But I have kept a few unclipped salmon (Kings and Silvers), but the runs were Indian hatchery fish. We all know that in most cases they do not clip, and these runs are very strong.
Steelhead on the other hand,(even hatchery) do not have the return rates they had in the past.Or the rate that our salmon have in most rivers.
I guess it is a matter of principals. Lets say you only catch 5 to 6 steelhead a year in a river system and you catch 20 to 30 salmon in this same system,(all unclipped or nates), granted steelhead are a little harder to locate, it is obvious were most of the damage can be done.
When rivers are being closed for low runs, there is a problem..
All meat hungery anglers need to stick to hatchery runs if a good return is there.
The point I am trying to make, is use comon sence, and do your part to insure future generations a chance to tie into a big native steelhead.
REMEBER WE ARE SPORTPERSONS NOT POACHERS!
Tightlines...

[This message has been edited by Rivernut (edited 02-17-2000).]

I agree with you on releasing these fish, Tony if we get out next week you'll know why when you land one of these beauties. Bring a camera and enjoy the memories of these fantastic fish, no better feeling than watching one of these swim back to where you hooked them. Fish On!!!!

I'm not an generally a native killer but remember the nate you let go today will probably end up in a net tommorro. If not that fish but it's smolt will. Remember its your and my money that supports this fishery. The problem is not bonking nates it's nets, pollution, logging, the house you live in and any number of environmental reasons.

I've been fishing for steelies for 45 years and the nates I've killed you could count on one hand. The fishermen are very low on the list for run desdruction so befor you jump all over guys for killing nates stop driving you car, using toliet paper live in a tent and stop the nets.

People in glas houses should not throw stones.

Bill Herzog has brought the issue on C&R to STS many time's. He wrote that to fault an angler for wanting to bring his first few fish home as proof of their accomplishment. But the fact is clear, the fish that we encounter upriver have run the Gauntlet. The next stop is spawning gravel. You simply can't rationalize any excuse's for killing your own sport. The thrill of the chase to you all!

We will never have complete C&R until we have regulations that don't allow the killing of any wild fish. Even then of course you will still have poachers. To deal with the poaching issue we will need fines like they have in BC like $1,000 per fish. In BC there is serious peer pressure on the retention of wild steelhead and I believe one of the main reasons is that it is illegal.
What do we need:
Laws that don't allow retention of wild steelhead.
Significant fines for those who break the law.
More and better education about the resource.

In the meantime constructive dialogue will move people to do the right thing. Try to understand where that person is in their evolution as an angler and make the case for C&R.
Remember it is all perspective. There are many people out there who would argue that those of us who C&R are just harrassing this valuable resource and we shouldn't even be bothering these fish.

Great post and good discussion, now go find some of those wild Sky fish and handle them with care.

[This message has been edited by David Finet (edited 02-19-2000).]

[This message has been edited by David Finet (edited 02-20-2000).]