I hope this fish becomes a rallying point......
Monday, March 9, 2009 at 2:30AM 
.......that inspires some real, tangible actions that will prevent things like this from happening in the future
Patagonia Ambassador Dylan Tomine offers up a reality check on the debate surrounding the "world record" steelhead recently caught and killed on the Hoh.
Hi All--
Just wanted to comment on the the hubbub surrounding the killing of a wild, 30+ pound wild steelhead on the Hoh River last week. Yes, people are angry throughout the region over the death of this magnificent fish, and probably with good reason. Yes, the angler’s excuse that the fish was bleeding from the gills is extremely doubtful based on his broad smile in the pictures and the visible fly stuck near the tip of the fish’s snout. And yes, it is truly a sad event.
But the outcry has been so vehement, including threats of violence toward the angler, that I think it’s important to remember this was a single fish and it was legally taken. That doesn’t make it right, but I believe we need to redirect this anger toward the larger issues of which this is just one, small example.
The fact that it’s even still legal to kill a wild steelhead on the Hoh is ridiculous. The river has not met escapement in 9 of the last 17 years and has shown a marked decline in recent times. That’s part of the bigger picture I’m talking about. On one popular regional fishing bulletin board, at last count, there were 9 pages of posts condemning the angler for killing this single fish, while just below that there were several threads outlining political actions currently ongoing in Washington, and none of them had even half the response.
My point is that if even a small fraction of the time and energy that’s being spent against this one angler and his dead fish could be directed toward actions that have a significant impact on the underlying problems wild steelhead face, it would do a world of good. For example, the Hoh tribe has averaged nearly 68% of the harvest of wild steelhead on this river in recent years. Recently, in negotiations with the WDFW, they have requested a reported 77% of the harvest. This appears to be a reallocation of the Boldt Decsions 50-50 split, potentially based on the “foregone opportunity” of sport anglers. Again, this, on a river that frequently doesn’t even make its already-too-low escapement goal to begin with.
In light of the new Statewide Wild Steelhead Management Plan that places wild steelhead recovery as a top priority for WDFW, I believe the time is ripe to hold the state to this commitment. Doing that would take the kind of energy we’ve seen stirred up by the killing of the now infamous thirty pounder.
Another “big picture” issue is whether or not the IGFA should be accepting world record applications for dead fish from populations that are declining, and in some cases, endangered. It’s tough to have an organization that supposedly represents sport angling’s best interests encouraging people to kill fish in places that clearly cannot sustain harvest. Based on this angler’s comments about filing for a “world record,” I believe the IGFA record program could have been a motivating factor in the fish’s untimely demise. Again, I think a little of the energy we’ve seen, directed in the form of a letter campaign or petition to the IGFA, could be extremely effective here.
I also believe this angler’s unfortunate decision to kill the fish in the first place demonstrates how much work we have left to do in our collective efforts to educate our peers. Frankly, I’m surprised he chose to kill the fish, and probably, if he’s a thinking, caring human being, he’s learned a hell of a lesson from the outcry. Most steelhead anglers I know, even in light of (or especially in light of) this angler’s comment that it was “a fish of a thousand lifetimes” would have released it. But I think we need to keep some perspective here, and I hope this fish becomes a rallying point that inspires some real, tangible actions that will prevent things like this from happening in the future.
Peace,
Dylan
Reader Comments (17)
here here!
amen. I'll do a little searching for a petition to make the Hoh catch and release only, and if I can't find one I'll start one up. I think that's a great idea.
Dylan,
Well said.
I only wish that we could rally around a political cause so fast and so adamantly. The thing is that we've been taught time and again that sportsmen are of no concern to big business, and we therefore lose the drive to do so. With as many organizations around the country that are dedicated to the stewardship of our resources, we SHOULD be able to mount an assault on the political forum that not only makes our voices heard, but makes certain that the environtmental issues we are so passionate about are met in a satisfactory manner.
One of the best things that we can do as anglers to ensure we have a resource is to donate time, money, effort and energy to our non-profit organizations in order to assist them in any way we can. Trout Unlimited, North Coast Steelhead Alliance, WSC, Recycled Fish.... The list goes on. Without our help, these organizations can't do anything to help the fisheries, and we owe it to the fisheries to become involved.
I have to give a thumbs up for all that's been said above. The key is education. Not enough people understand the implications of this type of treatment of this resource. The picture tells all. An individual needs to have the knowledge of the species and it's place in the system BEFORE he or she sets out to engage themselves in the pursuit of said species.
For every picture like the one above, there are countless others that go un-noticed, un-documented, un-checked. So talk to people, your friends and so on. Make sure that they know where you stand with this, and more importantly WHY!
Because we can't continue to bonk fish if we expect the resource to be around for the next generation...and the next. Because responsible Catch and Release practices are the RIGHT thing to do!.
I let them ALL go.
Well said, as always...... Now tie me some of your bad ass flies for our upcoming trip. You are wasting far to much time trying to save these wild steelhead.
Kidding of course (not about the flies though) and I wanted to personally thank you for dedicating so much time helping to restore everything from habitat, to the implementation of new rules and regulations onreally hot topics like the "Hatchery Programs".
"The Adventure Continues"
El Paskador
Very well said Dylan! I hope it and the fact that many other native fish were harvested in that same week drives people to rethink their attitudes and get involved in the fight to save these "wild" fish! I hope to be able to continue to fish for them for many years to come...
Tough topic- Any other specie wouldn't have created the noise.
At least he didn't have a gill-net like the locals.
Lets just hope he didn't over cook it and dry it out.
Dylan,
Thanks for the piece. I hope the outcry will make people understand how important wild fish are, and why we can no longer kill them. You are always the voice of reason and I respect what you have to say.
time for all you PUSSIES to stop your whining and quit fishing
Why does everyone assume that this is a wild fish? Did they check the scales or otoliths? Catch and release fishing still causes some mortality and a dead fish is still a dead fish if you intended to kill it or not. We all agree that wild things need to be protected and preserved but fighting amongst ourselves doesn't accomplish this.
@ Jim:
Sure thing. I'll do that as soon as you mater the English language. So, in other words, I"ll die fishing in about 75 years.
It is a super article , I choose to relase 99 % of all fish that I catch. As a realist this fish was a real trophy , truly past its breeding prime. It was legaly caught and it should be a mount or a replica, I like mine grilled. Did he mention that the Indians harvested loads of fish? Education is great , regulations are only as good as the group who respects them. Fish are canibals and wolves eat bay deer alive. Brett
Hey, thanks to everyone who responded. I believe this kind of dialog is instructive and helpful to the cause. As I think about it more, I actually feel sorry for the poor guy who, through ignorance or pride or whatever, killed this fish and then made it worse by posting photos and his story. The *&%!-eating grin in the pix didn't help, either.
Regardless of his motivation, though, my main point is still that if people who have reacted so strongly to this event spent half the energy it would take to "punch him in the nose" or "break his spey rod" (both threats I actually saw on regional boards) on writing letters to the WDFW commissioners, their state representatives or the governor expressing the importance of wild steelhead, I think we'd really be gaining some traction.
With Washington's new Wild Steelhead Management Plan, the state has committed to making wild steelhead survival a priority, and we need to let the managers and decision makers know we will hold them to this commitment.
Get Reel--this fish was NOT past it's breeding prime, in fact, it was most likely headed upstream to spawn for the first time. But like I said, I don't think this single steelhead is the real issue here--we have bigger fish to fry, so to speak.
Jeremy--good one.
Jeff--it was a wild fish for sure, but even if it wasn't, as above, the single fish doesn't matter as much as channeling all the passion it unleashed in more productive directions. And I couldn't agree more about our need to stop the infighting and move forward as a unified force.
Jim--Whining? Really? Is that what we're doing? And you know what? I think most anglers would gladly quit fishing rivers with depressed runs if they felt like it would make a difference, so maybe we agree after all.
To everyone else, thanks for the support and valuable input. Keep the conversation going. Let's just hope this starts the ball rolling in a better direction--if it does, we may look back some day and thank the poor guy for making a real difference in the fight to save wild steelhead. Wouldn't that be funny?
Peace,
Dylan
Words from a true believer...........well said Mate!
Dylan, back east on "Steelhead Alley" , Ohio and Pennsylvania fish will attempt to spawn in the 4 to 6 pound class. Over here the fish will never get that big , a nice fish is 12 to 14 pounds. State records are about 20 pounds. Was reflecting east coast biology. How old are native steelhead when they start spawning out there?
Sometimes I feel that catch and release is a Vegan agenda , and not pure Science. I have a Vegan Aunt she thinks that catch and release is wrong, different agenda," Anti Fishing " A harbour seal eats fish as part of Nature. I choose to mainly fish, catch and release only streams for the quality of the experience and a more responsible stewardship of the resource. Native Brookies are so beautiful , I guess that is how you guys feel about your Steelhead out west. Let em grow and reproduce.
We all have our biases based on our life experience, we are all Native species of Earth. Brett
Brett--
That's a complicated question. Native steelhead out here really vary in their life histories from watershed to watershed, with whatever works best as far as genetic survival dominating each specific river. But to generalize, in most watersheds, a majority of wild winter steelhead spawn as 2-salt fish, averaging in weight around 8 or 10 pounds. Of these, a small percentage (again, in general) of the females will go back to the salt and survive to spawn again. A much smaller percentage (in a lot of cases, nearly none) of the males will survive to spawn again.
Fish that return to the sea as kelts and come back to spawn again are generally not the really large fish, as the spawning and migration process so depletes their reserves so much that they are not able to obtain ocean growth rates like they did as pre-spawners.
The truly huge fish are (again, in general) first time spawners which spent 4 or 5 years at sea before spawning for the first time. Statistically, this is the category that 30 pounder falls into--it is extremely unlikely, based on size and sex, that this fish ever spawned before or will again.
Of course, there are lots of variations in life history, and room for exceptions to the rule, but as I understand it, the above outline is what you usually find among our wild, coastal winter fish.
As for catch and release, you bring up some great points--ones I think about a lot. In my conversations with several tribal elders, they feel that "sport" fishing, where we recreate at the expense of a creature that won't be used for food is a terrible sin and morally wrong. Which, when you think about it, certainly has some merit. What's "fun" for us is a battle for life for the fish, and uses up plenty of valuable energy reserves in the thin margin these migrating, non-eating fish have for survival. Also, as was pointed out above, there is also some mortality involved. So I don't think we, as catch and release anglers, have much of a claim to the moral high ground.
On the other hand, catch and release is an important management tool and absolutely necessary in this day and age of declining resources and increasing angling pressure. So it's somewhat of a conundrum, and one I don't have an answer for. I do strongly believe that where the resource will allow, it's important to at least occasionally practice catch and eat to maintain touch with what it is we're really doing. And also, in catch and release fisheries, to maintain some kind of self-restraint when the fishing's good, knowing that we do have an impact on the individual fish and the overall population through the physical stress we put on the fish as well as incidental mortality. In other words, I don't think it's okay to catch and release 127 trout just because it's legal.
A pretty good argument can be made for a low-limit catch and kill policy having less impact on fish populations than catch and release in a lot of fisheries. For example, in saltwater salmon gear fishing, who kills more fish--the guy who puts one adult king in the box and quits or the guy who "catches and releases" dozens and dozens of adults and juveniles while fishing an entire day?
Anyway, that's just my perspective. Great topic of discussion, and some great points being made here. Thanks for contributing.
Dylan
I agree with Jim. Your all a bunch of pussies. WSDFW rep states simply this quote: "This fish has spawned many times over and has spread its genes significantly over many years. It would have died most likely this year so there was no problem with bonking it. WSDFW knows what we are doing and the 1 wild fish per year is legal. Go for it"! The fisherman did the right thing if he choose too and he was legal to do so. This single fish will have no ramifications to the wild Steelhead population. Go after the Indians you spotted Owl lovers. Have you seen them slaughter Steelhead? One more thought. If you pussies were in the wild one on one with me, and you were starving, I would kill this 30 pound plus fish in front of you, eat it raw, and throw it up on you while you starve to death.....Hugs and kisses tree huggers......