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30 lb steelhead on the hoh

25K views 156 replies 73 participants last post by  William Wallace 
#1 ·
#126 ·
Those pictures make me sick!
He was so emotionally scarred that he paraded the fish around forks, then took it to Waters West in P.A. on the way home!
Too emotionally scarred to take a bunch of pictures of it in several of the classic poses I hate to see a Wild Steelhead in!

What an Asshole. That Loomis spey rod will be in a few more pieces if I ever see him fishing out there!!!
 
#127 ·
What a tragedy! English Pete is an asshole for killing this fish plain and simple. In the first picture the fish looks exhausted but was not bleeding from the gills, this guy killed it out of impulse-- he thought to himself that he had a chance at a record (selfish and foolishly), killed the fish, took it to be weighed, bragged about it online and to the press, and then realized his mistake and made up a bs story. What a shame.
 
#128 ·
I agree with some of the comments about Pete's story not adding up. If the fish was hooked where he said it was, and the photo suggests it was hooked in the corner of the jaw, then there should have been no bleeding of consequence. Had the fly hooked a gill arch, then the remark about the fish bleeding severely makes sense. It looks more like the fish began bleeding severely after he hit it on the head with a rock.

Not that a Monday morning post-game analysis matters. He took his fish legally, and now he gets to live with all the natural and logical consequences.

Sg
 
#129 ·
i've heard first hand accounts from Jeff Brazda and second hand accounts attributed to Jim Kerr, both of whom, were on the river with Pete and the fish.
The fish was not bleeding from the gills until the rakers where pulled. there was NO effort to revive the fish whatsoever and it was promptly bonked once landed.

i sure hope he does not get the record, maybe he clipped his fly off !
like Alpinetrout mentioned on thebigpull blog, if that is not attached to the leader,
no record.

english pete knew full well what he was doing, no mistakes about that.
in my mind, he is ethically on par with the "kill Em All Boyz" on the front page of the
Seattle Times this weekend, the only difference is what pete did was unfortunately legal.

sure wish brazda wasn't such a nice frickin huge *******, his size 14 boots would be perfect justice

especially since he spent the next 2 days after he caught it driving around trying to show it off.
he's so lame with his fake "i feel so bad", both the article in the paper and his email are just a bunch of excuses.

i feel bad for the waters west fly shop since he was wearing their hat in the photos.
he should get banned from every local shop this side and op side of cabelas or sportsman warehouse.

if anyone wants to write him a note, his address is on the big pull blog

i wonder how much it cost to mail a box of dog poop?!

JD
 
#130 ·
This guy's bio (according to the ZEGRAHM & ECO EXPEDITIONS website) describes him as an "active conservationist" who is known for his "quick thinking" and "derring-do" deeds. LOL

Yeah, the heroic and clever Englishman that bravely bonked the brains out of an exceptional wild steelhead to save it from certain, painful suffocation (not to mention the tortuous rigors of reproduction) using only the rocks at hand to dispatch the afflicted…meanwhile, the Hoh to close early (again) in a desperate attempt to meet pathetic escapement goals. Time to update that bio I’d say..."Meet English Pete - the asshole". :beathead:
 
#132 ·
#139 ·
I'm new to this site. Iv'e been reading all this and it is like talking about religon.[ that's a can of worms] I think you all have missed the point. He did nothing wrong..... all legel!!!!!!!!!3
I just hope I don't do anything wrong. I'd be stoned.
If you don't like the laws then change the laws don't blame the act!!!
Thanks John
P.S. I do caught and release but that is my religon but if I want to keep a fish I will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#148 ·
cracks me up, that's so true.
my very first jump in '79 I had a barber pole streamer, barely got the reserve deployed in time to save my ass...one more jump, an uneventful one, and I gave up skydiving.:hmmm:maybe I should be grateful I haven't caught the monster ego fish, so I still have to keep fishing.
it IS the journey, after all, that's so sweet! Good to think about
 
#149 ·
I resisted passing judgement because after catching a fish like that I'm sure I'd be freaking out and not thinking strait. The alleged story tells of a longish battle, a gill bleeder but the photos show a lip hooked fish. I just had a friend send me another version on a small social group posting that I'm a member of and there is a bit more info for me to digest. Take a look at the photos, but also the photo titles. You can caption or title a photo how you wish. In this case, whomever took the photos, added titles or whatever did not cover their tracks and that is what just made me puke a little bit again. I know no one involved in this story, but I'm liking the story a bit less now...

Photo 1 of my attachment is numbered (automatically by your digital camera) but the number remains after the title "Fish On" is added. Please note it is photo #67. We go through the series of photos in numerical succession, of course with many photos not inculded (they will appear like those from the massive Kispiox buck at some later date I'm sure). My point, which many have said, but now I've seen the digital photo labels...photo #93 entitled "Alas Bleeding". That is right, no less than 26 photos were taken if #67 was the very first and #93 the very last. No less than 15 of those photos are of the fish out of the water (see photo #78 entitled "Redo", implying that it was at least not the first photo of the fish out of water). Blood does not appear in any photos up to #87 entitled "What A Fish" but there is blood in #93 "Alas Bleeding".

Because it would be legal to do so, I may have kept such a fish...I don't know and flame me if you wish. I've caught a few steelhead fishing casting gear and exactly one (hatchery) on a fly. I aspire to release all wild steelhead and fill the table as needed with hatchery fish that are available. I would hope to release it unharmed prior to the bloody photo #93 and hopefully the fish would have spawned great lines of champions for furture tests of angling prowess. If "Alas Bleeding" would have been one of the first photos of the series I might be less upset about the whole mess because it might make more sense in what I've read.

I apologize for now taking a passing judgement position, but previous evidence had not convinced me. What fool would edit photo titles and not take the time to change the numbers so that all that appeared were your titles? Same group that takes a monster wild buck steelhead from the Hoh.

I just puked again.
 

Attachments

#151 ·
i am ashamed of all of you who condem that man. have you all forgot what we are? we are fishermen. we fish for food like the thousands of people before us in this country. how can you speak so bad about this guy who executed the true meaning of fishing. you are the ones who should be verbaly bashed
 
#153 ·
YO, Coyote. The only thing executed here was an amazing large steelhead that was producing offspring and keeping the Hoh a genetically strong river. He executed the true meaning of fishing when he killed that fish, taking the opportunity away from the rest of us to catch large native fish down the line. You're a fool.
 
#156 ·
Mumbles, bringing the forensic HEAT:thumb:

You know, judging the act of fishing is sort of meaningless, because it is an archetypal act, but the context....ahhhh....the context is everything here.

If the Hoh's return were 40,000 all wild fish, with strong management informed by strong science permitting it, I'd be cheering for English Pete. But that's not the case is it?

I think this is a superlong thread because it arouses so many emotions, deep shit like anticipatory grief over a mighty race of steelhead going extinct in our lifetime.
 
#157 ·
Just having a little fun...

So a known hatchery fish comes up the river and spawns naturally. The smolt swims out to sea and comes back with all fins....Who would call it a "native" ? Now if you did not know the smolt came from a hatchery fish and it came back with all fins..who would call it a native?

Now a wild fish comes up the river and and is stripped of the eggs, raised in a pen and released, but oops, the fins did not get clipped...what is it? Hatchery or Native.

I know my opinion on this situation and that is the only one who I worry about. I think this is a serious but funny thread. I have actually learned a lot about how people think and take their fishing serious.

Thanx everyone
 
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