What started with a question about why people flop fish on the stream bank to take their pictures has turned into a lively discussion about what fish can withstand, that this is a blood sport, that if stocked fish can survive the ride to the stream ? then they should survive the beating that they take at our hands once they are out of the water and dropped on the stream bank.

But stocked fish stay in the water the entire time they are sloshed around ? whether it?s in the truck or the bucket ? and when they are scooped up with a net ? it?s one that?s designed to do the least amount of damage to the fishes mucus membrane.

You can ask any fish biologist (not just the DNR guys) about the importance of fish maintaining the mucus membrane to help prevent infection.

Every see fish scrape themselves on the stream bottom against rocks? See those white spots on a trout? That?s fungus that has infected the fish. How? The mucus membrane was scraped off and made the fish susceptible.

But I know that really doesn?t bother some people. But whether or not you agree with that, I hope that there?s one thing that you will agree - it?s a matter of respect. Respect for our home waters and the fish within them.

If you respect the fish that you catch ? you will do everything you can to ensure its safe return to the water as soon as possible and with as little disruption as possible.

Here?s why I feel the way I do.

Up until the last year I called the Black Hills my home waters. They are special for several reasons - but one is above all others.

Trout are not native there?never have been. In the hundreds of square miles in the Black Hills , the streams that criss-cross the area hold some of the finest trout fishing around. And they are only in those waters because someone put them in there.

Up until the Didymo infestation there was some limited natural reproduction of German Browns in Rapid Creek ? but that has stopped. And at this point there is no confirmed natural reproduction of any trout in the Black Hills. I got this straight from the president of the Black Hills Flyfishing organization.

So if you catch a fish in the Black Hills ? it?s because someone put it in there, or that someone caught it before and released it to be caught again.

I?m now fishing new waters and these again hold fish that are only there because someone has put them in there. No natural reproduction. And I?ve seen enough dead trout downstream from the heavily fished areas to know that there IS mortality among catch and release fish.

I catch and release every fish I?m fortunate enough to catch. If I really want to eat fish ? I?ll go to the store and buy it. The reverse doesn?t work - I can?t buy the same frozen fish and put it in the stream.

I respect the fish that I catch and the waters I catch them in, so I take every precaution to make sure that every fish I catch is handled as gently as possible, is returned as quickly as possible back to the water to ensure its survival.

You can be sure that if I fish your home waters I will do the same and I only hope that you extend the same respect for my new home waters as well.