http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=19948 Dude, that is just so wrong...and in some strange way hilarious...on so many levels. Steelhead mud wrestling, a new sport? Or maybe an attempt to get a steelhead to taste like a carp?
I don't know what looks more wrong dude's face or the mud covered fish. Why would you want to show a beautiful fish covered in mud. What an idiot. I hope the fish was kept, might as well been. The mortality rate being cover in mud and grit like that is very high...
I don't see an adipose fin, why not keep it? Who cares if it is covered in mud if it was indeed bonked and kept for the BBQ?
Is holding a fish vertically somehow more appropriate? Zen is such a pleasant guy and NEVER controversial, lets let this incident pass.
its was a hatchery fish, probably within a mile of the hatchery 8 months after entering freshwater. 1.) who cares if it dies, and 2.) probably dont want to eat that one. as long as its a native I'm not trippin, and if you look at Zens gallery, he generally handles the fish with adipose fins pretty well
It was a super dark hatchery fish that flipped out of my hands and into a mud puddle during release. I was like...damn got to get a picture. Actually Will the fish was 21.5 miles from the hatchery but good guesses otherwise. I let it go, not sure if it lived, not sure if I care.
Zen, thats great. Folks pay high dollar for a mud bath, that fish got it for free. The only thing Zen could have done more besides the spa treatment was a reach around, but I think thats against the law in this state.