Check out the above link before you hoist your next wild salmon, steelhead or trout out of the water to stroke your ego with a picture.
I've done myself in the past but no more! It's more important to insure that fish swims away and survives! Keep that fish's head in the water for your picture.
We, as sports anglers, are going to have to retrain ourselves.
Now I understand some of your egos are going to take a big hit but how about setting your selfishness aside for the sake of the fish.
One self-proclaimed PNW fishing expert said this on Facebook after someone called him out for holding a beautiful, wild steelhead out of the water in a boat.
" I've CnR'd (caught and released) fish with proper gentle handling for 40 years. It was hooked just inside the jaw line, not deep. It will definitely live to spawn!"
So where did you get your biology degree? This same person also bragged about using bait to catch that beautiful wild steelhead.
Almost everyone in the Pacific Northwest agrees that using bait when a large number of wild fish are present is unethical and dangerous to the fish because of the hazard of deep hooking.
Folks we are going to have to change the way we do things if we hope to see wild fish everywhere survive and flourish. It doesn't take a science degree to see that. All it takes is some common sense and the realization that the world does not revolve around us.
My education in becoming a wild fish advocate came through learning from others a hell of a lot smarter than myself. It also came from paying attention and learning that there are bigger things in life than looking like some kind of fishing god on Facebook.
Here is a link that addresses this topic
Dying for a Picture
