30 lb steelhead on the hoh

[TomB]

Anybody see this thread on another board...supposedly a flyfisherman on a guided trip caught and killed a 30lb steelhead on the hoh yesterday or the day before. Anybody hear about this? If it is true do you know what guide it was?

http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/f...t_Night#UNREAD

[ChrisC]

Well on that thread, it says that the fly angler is from Port Townsend, not clear if he was guided or not. Not surprisingly, the nice thing about that particular thread is that it shows that choice of gear often has nothing to do with one's sense of conservation ethics (where this guy apparently had none).

[Coonhound Jed]

That is bullshit! makes me sooo mad!
jed

[mrgando]

A real shame he killed the fish.

[sportsman]

To remove a fish of that age and size from the gene pool is a crime[legal or not]! Try to imagine the journey this fish experienced in it's lifetime. To have the good fortune to hook into any steelhead in these low water conditions, some skill in landing it should be all the satisfaction a person needs; gear or fly! An image that comes to mind is the fish strapped to the hood of his pickup and hitting up all the taverns on the way home! I hope he gets as sick eating it as I feel right now... and I'm no 'tree hugger', not that there is anything wrong with that!

[KerryS]

I call bullshit.

[TomB]

i hope you are right kerry...but i am keeping my ears open, because if I hear more details and can identify the guide, he will be getting a nice phone call from me.

[Manimal]

look lets face it, catch and release is no more ethical than catch and kill, in fact it may be worse. If you are really concerned about steelhead you should not fish them and advocate for a complete closure on all angling for them.
C+R really is nothing more than wildlife harassment. You can say whatever you want about us c+r guys protecting our rivers, but when it comes down to it, it may just be the lesser of two evils. Let's enter a realm of reality here.

[Matt Burke]

Tom, it just aint going to stop until they are all gone. I just can't imagine the OP like the Skykomish. Apparently we are doomed to find out.

[wolverine]

Hopefully the fly fishing "dude" from Pt Townsend that killed that fish will have to hide out for a while. Even the whack em & stack em gear guys over on Bobs board are up in arms over this. 30+ lb steelhead need to be on the spawning gravel not the barbecue.

[Jim Speaker]

look lets face it, catch and release is no more ethical than catch and kill, in fact it may be worse. If you are really concerned about steelhead you should not fish them and advocate for a complete closure on all angling for them.
C+R really is nothing more than wildlife harassment. You can say whatever you want about us c+r guys protecting our rivers, but when it comes down to it, it may just be the lesser of two evils. Let's enter a realm of reality here.

Are you smokin'? I mean, c'mon, take a minute and think that one all the way through within the context of a wild fish vs a hatchery drone...

[SpeySpaz]

the word "douchetard" comes to mind.

[ak_powder_monkey]

there are plenty of reasons that people kill fish, perhaps it was injured or hooked deep and in the gills. If I caught a steelhead that was legal to keep and I was pretty sure it was gonna die upon release I'd probably keep it. Perhaps we should react to the story instead of passing judgment on internet rumors.

The good news is that something like 95% of steelhead bigger than 36 inches are multiple spawners.

[Panhandle]

look lets face it, catch and release is no more ethical than catch and kill, in fact it may be worse. If you are really concerned about steelhead you should not fish them and advocate for a complete closure on all angling for them.
C+R really is nothing more than wildlife harassment. You can say whatever you want about us c+r guys protecting our rivers, but when it comes down to it, it may just be the lesser of two evils. Let's enter a realm of reality here.

Get in context.

Do you fish for steelehad?

There's a 24 hour grace period to repair dumb-ass remarks; I've used it many times, maybe you should too.

[TomB]

there are plenty of reasons that people kill fish, perhaps it was injured or hooked deep and in the gills. If I caught a steelhead that was legal to keep and I was pretty sure it was gonna die upon release I'd probably keep it. Perhaps we should react to the story instead of passing judgment on internet rumors.

The good news is that something like 95% of steelhead bigger than 36 inches are multiple spawners.

akpowdermonkey---whether or not a fish is deeply hooked, its chance of survival automatically become 0 when it is bonked. many deep hooked fish do survive, so unless it was dead upon landing, killing it is by definition reducing its chance of survival.

also, i don't know where you got your statistic about 36 inch steelhead....that simply doesn't jive with any of the data i have seen on steelhead. The NOAA status reviews that designated the ESU's looked at many populations and found that most in WA had less than 20% repeat spawning rates (many less than 10). Regardless, studies have shown that second time spawners are more successful than first time spawners, so leaving the repeat spawners in the river is especially important (see Todd Seamons work on the mating system of steelhead for more on this subject).

-Tom