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We caught two . . .

25 January 2008 - 08:28 We caught two Skagit steelhead to the fly yesterday. One was a hatchery hen, bright and still bearing sea lice; the other was a wild buck, sturdy but net-scarred. Because a fish is too valuable to be caught only once, we released them both.  
 
I am disheartened to guide in a state whose fishery conservation ethic is twisted and tarnished. While threatening to close the Skagit's upcoming catch-and-release season, an artificial fly or lure, single barbless hook fishery, the Department of Fish and Wild now subjects wild fish to mortal netting, and swallowing baited, treble hooks. Conservation demands you manage a fishery for survival of its weakest link, irony proves otherwise in Washington State.