Ethics and Great Lakes Steelhead.

Couple of days ago I pretty much wound up my steelhead season here in Ohio. The reason being? Spending hour upon hour of casting to good holding water that held fish, but no takers. The fish have hit the beds and like drunk coeds they have nothing else on their minds but sex.

I picked up one dropback fish and the odd freshy, but other than that donut.

Which brings me to the point of my post. Why do people rake the gravel? Ok its one thing to point out that our runs are almost completely stocked fish(Did pick up my first Ohio Wild fish 3 weeks ago!), but the risk of snagging is phenomenal.

I was fishing a tailout that was between a long gravel stretch about 50 yards upstream and a long stretch of fast water downstream. Looking upstream I saw 7 anglers fishing what could only be an area about 30 yards in length. Id look up there and every other guy would have a fish on. Well I took a rest from the pool and walked upstream to take a look at the shale falls that were just above this area. Sat down to eat my lunch and watched the show.

Fish after fish came in, or were broke off. All of them snagged in one area of the body or another. One guy fought an average size two year fish for 20 minutes..........Because he had snagged it in the tail.

One of these guys pulled one out that was snagged.... Removed the hook and had his buddy take a picture of him and his trophy.

Saw a guy drifting to a fish directly downstream that was holding in fast water. Lift and hook. It runs downstream past me and a guy I know as a regular through my winter fishing there, and we both notice the size 8 sucker spawn sticking out of its dorsal. We inform him that its snagged, he swears that it isnt his fly. Fish shakes the fly and lo and behold it was his fly.

After all this nonsense I decided to head downstream to some holding water I knew about towards the confluence of the main river. By this time the sun was out and the fish were a little skittish, or trying to get to gravel so only one other taker which promptly spat my fly and took off downstream.

Well one of the guys I saw earlier comes up on me while Im rerigging my leader and fly and starts up a conversation. Directly in front of me there is a slot that I know holds a few fresh fish. I take a look at the guys rig and the split shot is 6 inches above the fly! Well there are no laws in Ohio concerning split to fly distance so there was nothing I could do.

A couple minutes later his buddy shows, Im still rigging because Im splitting my time between yacking with this yahoo and trying to tie a knot. Well the second guy stops. Takes a look across the water. Spots the fish and promptly wades halfway through(Mind you the stream is only 30 feet in diameter here and I was standing back from the shore ten feet and drifing the area) and tosses out about three feet of fly line and the rest leader right on these fish, drifts sets the hook and snags a bright hen. Lands the fish and unhooks it while his buddy stands on the fishes tail. Lifts it up for a picture, the whole time this fish is dropping eggs everywhere.

At that point I broke what was a long standing record of tolerance and let loose with the longest string of profanity I think Ive ever uttered. Now these two guys who had to have been twice as old as me gave me a stupid hang dog look and promptly left.

Why do people do stuff like this? Is it mostly ignorance of how to properly fish these waters? Or is it deliberate because theyre too stupid to notice the difference?

Avarice and Greed.

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LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL

I'm sitting here after reading the above and it occurs to me that this may not be too different from the rifle hunter who pumps multiple wounding bullets into a game animal to finally bring it down and then proudly proclaims his prowese...what do you think?

Do those lake living, hatchery bred "steelhead" really deserve the same respect and treatment that we give a wild fish?

I hunt too..and think more like a sniper. One bullet = one kill. Folks that wound, wound, wound and wound tend to be ones that didn't do their home work and don't deserve a hunting license.

Wounding is similar to snagging fish. We all do it sometimes, but the goal is to make it rarely.

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bubba_orvis

Calling that type of person a hunter and that type of person a fisherman is like calling a person that frequents a house of illrepute, a lady's man!
.....lee s.

Years ago, before I took up flyfishing, a friend & I waded a stretch of the Chagrin River in Wiloughby, Ohio. We got skunked on spinners, but I couldn't believe the number of fish being purposely "snagged" with large trebles hooks. Paul & I were actually made fun of for "fishing"!!
Lee..."lady's man"...LMAO!!!
Mike

Benjo.Do they deserve the respect?

Sure. And heres why. Im sure Im with you on many levels, Id love to have a self sustaining wild run of steelhead. The upper tributaries of these rivers have proven to yield a self sustaining(Although fragile) population of native brookies and a minor amount of wild steelhead. Sadly development and the horrid environmental history of my state leave that almost a non-option. Also many of them flow too low in the summer to support the fry.

My point being is that they are stil sportfish. Now I wont lie to you and make you believe Im some bleeding heart who feels for the fish and has never taken one for table myself, but I do respect the fishery. Thats what its all about. Respect for something, that though its manmade is a natural wonder.

Displays like those above are what gives creedence to animal rights organizations to continue attacking our sport(Though I dont think I need to tell anyone here that sportsmen ARE the reason we have any wild places and animals left.).

As for proper technique JC.. Id say just using common sense. Cast to the current seam so you arent lining fish. Keep split to fly distance farther apart by weighting your fly and know the difference between a fishes take and getting the fly bumped by it. Ive been fishing these tribs since I was a little kid and honestly Ive only foul hooked two. One of them was a fish I saw swerve out of a pool and swipe at my fly I set on him, pulled him in and he had it sticking out of the bottom of his kype.

Oh well just had to get that out of my system. Thanks for the replies.

Its legal to fish the redds. But I would say unethical. Snagging fish is illegal but then you run into the whole debate of whether its intended or not. Ive heard that if a fish is determined to be snagged DNR requires you to either land the fish quickly or break it off.

Bait guys can do some pretty boneheaded things too, but they rarely snag fish due to the nature of their rigs. Its not really a fly versus bait versus spin debate anyways. Id say if you put it in their mouth more power to you.

My point being if you go out fishing and every time you hook up its in some place other than the fishes mouth you would try to change things up. I wouldnt care if someone was out fishing a Tarpn rig, as long as they were catching them legally and showing a little respect.

And I agree that perception can account for alot. I guess Im too much of an idealist.

I would invite you to go to fishing reports and look at Easter on the Henery's fork.

Rich

I have lived with this brutal streamside behavior for just over 25 years now here in NY. Over these years I have seen far too many acts to detail here that were flat out disgusting and incredibly aggravating. I have seen countless Chinook, Coho and Atlantic Salmon abused as well as Steelhead and our large Brown Trout. I used to speak up and ??talk?? to the . . . well they were not fit to be called anglers and let them know that what they were doing was either illegal, unethical or both. In this day and age though it really isn??t safe to confront these scum bags. I??m not interested in getting hit or shot or have my car vandalized. I do however carry a cell phone and have used it on many occasions.

The flat out snagging of these fish is common here. While the blatant ripping of fish is not once what it was, it still happens with far too much regularity. Then there are those who set of their drift so that they are ??flossing?? the fish. This is simply a kinder, gentler form of SNAGGING. Anglers of all types do this and yes, MANY who are ??fly-fishing?? are culprits as well. Slinky rigs or rigs with lots of split shot and sinking lines IS NOT fly-fishing. The IGFA definition of fly-fishing is that the rod and the line is what propels the fly, not the weight of the fly or the added weight to the leader. IF you go to the Fly-fishing Only Areas on the Salmon River near Altmar, NY, better than half of the ??anglers?? are nothing but SNAGGERS as they are set up to floss the fish, plain and simple.

Now, if you fish the waters enough, especially during the prime times, you simply cannot help but foul hook a fish occasionally. Any angler with some skill can quickly assess where the fish is hooked. If it??s foul-hooked, point the rod at the fish and break them off, plain and simple. I to have never understood why folks would be proud of a 12lb Steelhead that they hooked in the dorsal and had a picture taken.

Of course there is then the discussion of when to fish and when not to fish for . . . well . . . the fish ??
Here in our area the Steelhead and domestic Rainbows spawn sometime between October and late April. The bulk of the Steelhead spawning occurs between late Feb. and mid-April, depending on the weather and water temps. So, if I didn??t fish during the spawn I couldn??t fish at all. With the numbers of fish we have, you might have a bunch of fish on beds with an equal number that are done spawning. Those that are done spawning (drop-backs) really come to the fly well. On the West Coast, most consider targeting drop-backs a mortal sin. This is understood because in many cases, the runs are in tough shape, these fish often have a heck of a journey with the dams and all. Therefore, the drop-backs are in rough shape and targeting them when so weak could kill them. Things are MUCH different here in the Great Lakes. For starters, in much of their range, the rivers simply cannot support successful spawn. Also, most spawning runs are a few miles and the fish are in great shape before, during and after the spawn. So, our drop-backs are strong fish, in good condition that sure come to the fly well. Do I target them, sure I do when I have the time BUT I do not fish them when out in BC or other areas of the west because of reasons mentioned above.

It is sad to see fish treated as described Enemy_of_Carp. I have seen it too, too many times and it sickens me. Education is all when can do in hopes that these people will learn what they are doing is wrong and that the fish can be caught ethically and should be treated with respect. Granted this will never happen 100%, but I know that some angling buddies and myself have ??converted?? many over from the dark side. Then you have the stupid stuff like a person walking right through your pool or walking right out in the river too close to the fish. Or the person that does not remove their line from a pool as you pass by fighting a fish, they hook your line and break you off. If you spend time on the water these things happen.

The last thing you should do is hang up the gear and give up. Lead by example and for those slow learners I encourage your introducing them to the local conservation officers??


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Jeff - AKA Dr. Fish
If it has fins and swims than I must chase it!



[This message has been edited by Dr. Fish (edited 03 April 2005).]