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Author Topic: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?  (Read 13408 times)

Steelhawk

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steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« on: December 02, 2004, 12:03:15 AM »

Steelhead season is coming.  Look forward to a great season for the hard-nosed steelheaders.  On the Vedder, steelhead rules about what you can do after keeping your fish changed over the years.  For a while two hatcheries were allowed, then it was one & catch & release afterwards, now it it no fishing at all after retaining a fish.

I have always fished alone for steelhead. Even if it may not affect me, I think the current steelhead rule of stopping fishing (for the rest of the day) is really a bit inhumane for the 'fishing buddies' situation. It puts too much pressure on the other guy who is without a fish, as he is dragging his other buddy (who might have kept a fish early morning) for the rest of the day by sitting & watching wherever they go. Should he just quit & go home early, or should he continue? How long it becomes too much a hazzle for the waiting buddy?  Just tough question I am glad I don't have to deal with for fishing alone.

Through the years, I once witnessed an embarrassing but funny scenario at the river.  Three buddies were fishing a run with some of us.  All of a sudden, a school of steelies arrived at the run, and 10 steelies were hooked in short order & I was fortunate to hook one, a wild 15# beauty  Two of the 3 buddies hooked and landed their hatcheries and were sitting back watching their remaining buddy to try to get one.  They were really in high mood and cracking jokes.  Half an hour went by, the bite stopped.  The remaining buddy knew he missed his chance, and would have to drag two guys along the whole day.  He was so upset.  With a loud curse, he threw his whole outfit, a pretty good set, rod & reel and all, to the water, and stormed out of the run, cursing along the way.  His two poor buddies were quite embarrassed & shocked, and quietly took their fish and left too.  What a pity! A good day turned ugly. Funny but logical, the rest of us changed our fishing target right away, and you know what we were trying to hook on to......

I know DFO make some rules to protect the fish, the river, or what have you.  But I am not sure if this rule really mean that much in terms of conservation.  How many guys can hook & land two steelies in a day consistently?  I just think it is quite inhumane to fishing buddies unless they don't intend to keep a steelie.  Since it is not a concern of mine, I am just voicing this to see how others feel about it.  Is the rule really necessary, or should DFO allow the buddy retaining a steelie changed to fly fishing for trout, for example, so it is not too hard for the other buddy to stay fishing for steelie for the rest of the day?
« Last Edit: December 02, 2004, 12:11:30 AM by funfish »
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Rodney

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2004, 01:05:22 AM »

He was so upset.  With a loud curse, he threw his whole outfit, a pretty good set, rod & reel and all, to the water, and stormed out of the run, cursing along the way.  His two poor buddies were quite embarrassed & shocked, and quietly took their fish and left too.  What a pity! A good day turned ugly.

:o

Anger managerment.... :-X

Easy solution: Once the fish is bonked, take out a couple of garbage bags from the vest and start treasure hunting/garbage picking while the partner fishes... :)

OR, walk and scout out some future potential spots. :)

OR, drive to the store, grab a coffee for yourself and your partner as well. :)

Fish Assassin

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2004, 01:16:50 AM »

Interesting post. I live in Vancouver and fish with my brother and nephew. If I'm the fortunate one, I just go back to my car and sleep and be refreshed for the long drive home. Besides, spending time with my nephew is always good.
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The Gilly

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2004, 08:22:27 AM »

Any "buddy" that would react that way when fishing doesn't deserve to fish at all.  People like that are why I like solitude when I'm out.  I hope he never replaced his gear and stay's on the golf course where he belongs.
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Gooey

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2004, 11:16:40 AM »

This is a tough rule indeed.  I too come from north van and don't look forward to having to end a "day" of fishing because I got a nice steelhead at frist light!  even if I was by myself, it would suck to turn around and go home!

On the otherhand, those days when the fishings tough but you do get lucky, what do you have to complain about ...you have your fish so make room for other fishermen on the river!
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keithr

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2004, 12:35:05 PM »

When I found myself throwing golf clubs I gave up golf.  If anyone ever catches me intentionally littering the bottom of a stream with my fishing outfit, I hope they push me in after it and drive home without me.

Like grumman said . . .
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Bantam_50

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2004, 10:29:32 PM »

Funfish,

Your post is a NO BRAINER!!!

I'm glad MOE reinstated the 'bonk your done' reg. And I pray they'd expand it to other types of angling also.

Like sockeye/springs on the Fraser.

My reasoning is simple....we've turned sportfishing into meatfishing. Bringing with it a unethical ME mentallity. Which is spawning into simple human greed.

Heck I wouldn't complain if they closed some angling efforts down for a while to weed out those kind.

My days of 20+ steelies on the Veddar are gone...never to return. Why? Because to many have to bonk something to make the day worthwhile.

I'm not painting everyone here with the same brush...only giving my 2 cents on what the canvas currently looks like... IMO.

Like Rod stated....do some clean-up, tie your buddy up some of your special Steely rigs, teach a neophyte (if around)....inhumane??

Let the fish go then.

Sometimes you can't have your cake and it eat too.
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Steelhawk

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2004, 01:46:01 AM »

Bantam_50, my post may be a no brainer for you, as you obviously hate to see people legally keeping a fish, not to say a steelhead.  Trying to blame everyone who keeps  their legal catch for your decling steelhead success is a bit unreasonable and overboard to me.  I have fished for steelhead for 15 years, limited out my cards quite a few times, but I have not found it possible to have consistant success year after year.

Steelheading success is never a consistent thing.  It depends on the year and the return, which can be affected by anything from ocean survival, environmental factor etc.  One year the Boxing Day Derby weighed in over 30 steelies, and the next year they had to postpone it to January for the lack of fish. Who knows what caused what exactly.  To blame your decling success solely on fellow anglers who keep a steelhead legally is unfair and biased.  Have you ever kept your hatchery steelheads before?  If so, what entitled you to attack others who retain their catch legally? If you are strictly a C&R guy, I salute your inclination, but you cannot insist others to have to follow your fishing approaches.

We are not talking about snagging or flossing here, as it is highly unlikely a steelhead is landed by snagging.  So if you attack or don't respect other's right to fish and keep a fish legally as they please, then it is just the same some animal right guy can nail you for the act of fishing, which they claim is cruel to fishes. Even C&R is not good enough. There is no end to such debate & I don't intend to debate such issues which had been debated endlessly in fishing forums.

I make my post for a healthy discussion, not inviting attacks.  I respect your C&R inclination, and I hope you can respect others who fish legally but differ from your approaches. That is my 2 cents.  Again, the subject means little for me, as I mostly fish alone for steelhead fishing anyway.  On the other hand, Rod does make some good, useful and funny suggestions.  Thanks.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2004, 12:33:52 PM by funfish »
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DragonSpeed

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #8 on: December 03, 2004, 10:47:51 AM »

Funfish, I think you may have misread Bantam's Post.  He says it's OK to keep fish.  He's glad that it's now 1 fish, and you're out, rather than the "Good Old Days", when the Vedder had different regs.  At the bottom he says:

Quote
Like Rod stated....do some clean-up, tie your buddy up some of your special Steely rigs, teach a neophyte (if around)....inhumane??

Let the fish go then.

Sometimes you can't have your cake and it eat too.

Basically, keep your fish, and then be useful...it's not that bad.  Your other option, is to C&R it, and hope you'll ever see steel again that day.  It's the luck of the river.

TrophyHunter

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #9 on: December 03, 2004, 11:24:55 AM »

Hey Dragonspeed if you re-read Bantam_50's post you will see that he clearly makes an attack on people who keep their catch, you have to look at why people started fishing in the first place.........FOR FOOD!!!!!!!!!! :-X
I don't think the first people of B.C. used to catch and release ::)
anyways some people have to get of their high horses and realize that everybody isn't as "ethical" as they are when it comes to fishing.
just my two cents
Rick.
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Rodney

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #10 on: December 03, 2004, 01:04:26 PM »

anyways some people have to get of their high horses and realize that everybody isn't as "ethical" as they are when it comes to fishing.

Really, you think? ;)

I think one thing to be careful when participating in these discussion forums is that you need to remember a lot of times words can be misunderstood due to a lack of tone and facial expression. Take it easy guys. :)

Now, the real question is.... How do you keep a girlfriend occupied when she wants to go home but you still haven't landed a steelhead yet..... :-\

itosh

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #11 on: December 03, 2004, 01:12:00 PM »

.... Now, the real question is.... How do you keep a girlfriend occupied when she wants to go home but you still haven't landed a steelhead yet..... :-\

D'uhhhh, thats easy, just let her play with your pink worm!!  ;D ;D

Shane
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Steelhawk

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #12 on: December 03, 2004, 01:15:37 PM »

Hilarious, Rod. That is a good pointer for a laugh.  What about giving her copies of the Chilliwack real estate listing, and ask her to look for prospective vacation cottages, on condition that you land 10 hatcheries a year, hehe! ;D ;D ;D  She will always wait on patiently and encourage you to go fishing all the time  :D while doesn't know how hard to reach the goal.  She may think as easy as 10 sockeyes or coho. ;D ;D ;D

Basically my post is for the fun of discussion only.  It is never intended to be a serious issue nor to attack others' fishing inclination.  Just to explore the human impact on a rule we all seem to accept anyway. Does this rule really mean that much statistically? Say, using Boxing Day results, 10 guys keep their fish among 300-500 guys, do these 10 guys occupy that much space enough to reduce fishing pressure? Do they really likey hook into another steelie(s) for the rest of the day?  If conservation is not a major issue, what is the purpose of the rule?  Is it just to control you sporties what you can or cannot do just for the sake of controlling?

While I respect DFO/MOE on their intention of making rules, but we all know most of their rules don't give us sporties much consideration (like shutting us down at the first sign of trouble, but letting the natives do whatever, now including drift netting the upper Fraser. What about taking away parking spaces at the Scale Bar so you walk till heart attack?).  So the post is just to explore this little rule which seems to have very little conservation impact but do cause some stress or unease to steelhead fishing buddies.  In fact most of you just address what the guy who had stopped fishing can do, but what about the guy who still try to fish on.  Does he feel sorry to have to drag the other guy along for the rest of the day?

This is especially true for buddies who have different fishing skills.  The skilled guy may always be the guy with a fish, and the other guy feel such a burden to drag him along all the time, so eventually perhaps the buddies just stop fishing together.  Can it happen?  Just fun to explore this little human episode as I saw it happened like in my first post. Any interesting observation? I never had to deal with it, so it is fun to know how you guys feel when your buddies seem always waiting for you while you fish on. ???

Most steelheaders know steelheading is not about food.  The chance to land a hatchery is not much.  The Boxing Day Derby results tell us the cruel reality, usually 10 fish among 500 pretty skilled steelheaders :-[.  Like Rod said, landing a hatchery is just a bonus.  It is about a way of fishing life, the scenery, the river, the air, and perhaps seeing others fighting the silver bullet...  So, let's not attack others for keeping a hatchery steelie which he is entitled to and may happen quite infrequently, and which does not damage a stock like the Chedder where brood stock is from the wild fish.  
« Last Edit: December 03, 2004, 02:08:15 PM by funfish »
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Fish Assassin

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #13 on: December 03, 2004, 02:42:15 PM »

Now, the real question is.... How do you keep a girlfriend occupied when she wants to go home but you still haven't landed a steelhead yet..... :-\
Quote

Dump your girlfriend. Steelheads take priority. Any serious angler knows that  ;D
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Rodney

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Re: steelhead rule inhumane for fishing buddies?
« Reply #14 on: December 03, 2004, 03:49:50 PM »

Dump your girlfriend. Steelheads take priority. Any serious angler knows that  ;D

Well now we're getting somewhere! :D

Wait until she reads this in about 7 hours from now FA, you might be banned from FWR for life. ;D