ORIGINAL: Litl Dude

If you're legal do what you want to do.

That was

abiding the law and staying legal, is uh, way for it....


ETHICAL

I think implying that it is unethical to keep steelhead is taking things a bit too far...
 
Bear in mind that these are stocked fish we are talking about. The great white fleet will back in the spring with a million more.

I dont keep a limit every time out, but if someone wants too then do it, PFBC says you can legally.




Moderation is the key

Lesser Steels = More Eyes...Then Kill em all

ok for as the stocking goes Im sure alot of the smolt stocked end up as a buffet for the  walleye lol.  But They have to be stocked when they are younger to know where to run back to the ultimate way would be to raise jacks then stock them then you would see a big turn around.  I myself I keep two or three fish a year.  Just enough for me to smoke and eat.  The rest get thrown back.  The sad part is there are laws and the only way to change them is goto the PFBC meeting and take a petition asking them to lower the limit on steelhead for a couple years.  This would work.  I drive 5 hours to come up there and fish now and I still feel the same way I will catch and release.  I want my kids to be able to enjoy what i enjoy and to retire fishing for the bullets.  ITs simple though convince the commission to lower the limit then its noones god given right to catch 3 fish ever day every trip.  I heard stories from my grandpap about this place called fishermans paridise its on spring creek.  when he was younger you had to wait in line to get tickets to fish there, You couldnt use barbs, and you could only take three fish a year I believe.  Or look at West by god virgina where they preseason stock have a opening day then shut the streams down for a month to do their inseason stockings.  There are ways to fix this just have to have the guys that want to make a difference  peace out

ORIGINAL: Mr.Slickfish

Well said! I hope there are some left for my kids and grand kids.

You do realize that you are "protecting" a man-made fishery that resembles Disneyworld with the rediculous #'s of stocked fish - put there for thousands of "sportsmen" that think catching 30+ fish a day = Normality.

You must be smokin the good stuff.

ok  so they keep putting more in but if you lower the limit for a couple years the ones that dont get eaten or all the poacher russians or the guys you see with a 12 inch smolt on their stringer will produce higher numbers its math its simple statistics.  But if you keep he 3 trout a day, then add the poachers, the smolt that get eaten, then you have alot less fish than if you lowered the limit and cracked down on people keeping illegal fish or catching twenty limits a day by snagging like the russian group does

ORIGINAL: steelhound

Ok, say a fish gets caught then it gets released and actually makes it back to the
lake. Then fast forward about 9 months and the fish comes back into the stream. Guess what. I bet it got bigger, but if the first time the fish was caught the angler kept it that fish will never see the potential for it's size.
That's all I'm saying

Do you think there is ample lake forage base for the increased #'s of survivors?
How much bigger do you think the fish will get?

Case in point - the do-gooders successfully lobbied for Steelhead trib creel reductions on the Lake O tribs in NY from 3 to 1. Several years later, the average size of a Salmon River steelhead are "Erie Sized" cookie cutters. The chances of landing one in the 15-20lb range are miniscule compared to years past.

Quantity <> Quality...

Call me old school - but I'd rather fish all day with a couple hookups - with a bona-fide chance of landing a 20lb trophy - vs- catching the same 6-8lber over & over& over again - some of you dwell way too much on #'s...(a.k.a Instant Gratification Generation)

Killum all, let God sortum out......WF, member of good standing in the Goon and Thug Rank and File

blah, blah, blah...same old crap every year. I couldnt care less but thought I'd add to the total to reach at least 5 pages. Headin to MI for some Kings and won't think about erie trib chrome until Thanksgiving. Hopefully most of the retards will have given up by then, and if not its no big deal. 90% dont know what they're doing and refuse to walk further than the access points anyway. I always get my share...then let 'em go.