It Is Fish We Desire After All!

This entry is a continuation of what I posted yesterday. I thought of all these clever concepts while on the river today not catching any fish.I fished four different rivers in search of cutthroat trout I did manage one small fish.
We fly fishers have a tendency to romanticize our sport a bit and I am as guilty as anyone.
There have been many books written about fly fishing that talk about the beauty and the magic of this type of fishing and I agree with all of it!
Let's face it though, we want to catch fish! We wouldn't travel to rivers like the Madison or the Kispiox if we didn't want to catch fish. We wouldn't travel to exotic locations like Belize o Christmas island if we we didn't want to catch fish.
So I am asking simply this. Is it reasonable for us to expect or even demand our wild fisheries be managed in a way as to insure that there are fish to catch and of course release? Hey I would completely leave certain rivers alone altogether if it mean the recovery of wild salmon, trout and steelhead.
I'm not talking about hatchery fish here either. I wouldn't lose a bit of sleep if every hatchery in the state of Oregon were to not be funded and therefore closed. The state does not owe us fish to kill....remember that!
I have no qualms about calling out the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on their gross mismanagement of our wild salmonids and I will continue to do so in a not so pleasant way.
Remember from my last rant where I am asking ODFW where the hell the fish are? Well I know at least a few people at ODFW look at this blog and I would offer them to comment on anything I say here and would even let them do a post if they so desire.
So while we write and talk about the beauty and "zen" of fly fishing it would be nice to have a few wild fish to pursue wouldn't it?