[jroni]

I fish for Dollies all the time in rivers where it is legal and they are a great sport fish. How is it ethical to fish for steelhead on the Skagit but not for dollies when there are 10x as many dollies in the river? Granted on some rivers they are strictly protected and rightfully so. I've never kept one so I don't know how they taste but I do know they aggressively feed in the rivers and aren't hard to catch if you know what you are doing:WINK

I'm not interested in helping out a meat fisherman either but a dry line on a 6wt will work fine if you use some weight. Make sure you check the regulations before you go. The coolest thing about fishing for dollies is you never know what you are going to catch but it usually is something. Last Saturday my brother and I caught dollies, rainbows, white fish, and a steelhead all on the same pattern while fishing for dollies.

 

[jroni]

So if legally fishing for a non-threatened species (on the Skagit at least)is unethical what is ethical when it comes to fishing? Maybe fishing itself is unethical? Surely anything but flyfishing is unethical then? Or maybe better we should all do what Stump told the first guy to do and go fish in a stocked pond and definitely not for Dolly Varden?

I love flyfishing and for the most part I've found the people who get involved with it are conservationists and class citizens. However, what I can't stand is "flyfishing snobs" such as telling people "it may be legal but I wouldn't do it". You are probably a dry fly purist as well and think nymph fisherman might as well be using PowerBait. I wish everything was catch-and-release flyfishing only but it isn't.

The guy was asking for help not a study on fishing ethics or the difference between the 18th gene in Dolly Varden and Bull Trout. If you don't want to help then don't reply. Unless someone is fishing illegally - "if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all".