Dave Micus - Montana moment article

[J Castwell]

Sorry, no pill. Going with what was written.

[D. Micus]

Let me clarify a few things. Ben was not my guide, but a friend. Montana regulations state that any bull trout caught must be released immediately (http://fwp.mt.gov/FwpPaperApps/fishing/ ... ngregs.pdf) There is nothing that I can see that states you cannot catch them, only that you cannot keep them. As we were releasing all of our fish immediately, we would have been within the law.

[J Castwell]

Thank you. But cea says you can not target them. Who is wrong?

[P.Dieter]

http://fwp.mt.gov/fishing/regulations/default.html

Mt 2006 Regs

Money Quotefirst sentence)
Beginning in 2004, bull trout fishing was permitted in four western district waters of Montana:
Hungry Horse Reservoir, South Fork Flathead River, Lake Koocanusa and Swan Lake. All
other waters in Montana are closed to intentional fishing for bull trout.

We all make mistakes when learnning a new fishery...would make a good article I would think...Ben should know better (either with the regs or with taking 'writers' fishing on his days off)

[D. Micus]

jc, no doubt i'm wrong. and ben never said it was a bull--it was in 10 ft of water, 30 inches long, and i jumped to that conclusion. plus i'm a 'writer' so it was actually only 15 inches. phew, glad that's off my chest!

[J Castwell]

And I'm stuck with trying to do the right thing, as I am sure everyone here did too. But, I think I should leave it deleted from the story.
Thanks to all for the contibutions.

[Benjo]

I read the article and I don't see what all the fuss is about. I have caught some huge cutties out of that stream and heard of them up to 26" long in there. Earlier in the year I saw a huge fish that lives under a log in a deep pool and I was trying to coax it out with a streamer thinking it was a large cutt. Turned out there was only a bull trout in there and maybe that is what I saw earlier but I don't know for sure. Anyay, I didn't catch it and had I known what it was in the first place I would have left it alone. Appearently that article has been edited as I just got email from Dave informing me that my name has been dragged through the mud (again) and I didn't read anything in there about bull trout. You can't always believe what you read: my dog's name is Belle, and female.

Fishing for bull trout isn't very sporting and I agree that they don't fight hard. You're a fool to think that there aren't guides out there that put clients on to them. I don't do that. I see catchable bull trout on probably half of the guide trips I take, especially this time of year. My guests have caught two this year, both taken on nymphs, not targeted, not large ones either. I caught one this year, also on a nymph, and maybe one small one on a streamer.

Thanks for being such a jerk cea, I'm ashamed to share the same state with a growing number of people with additudes like yours.

Sincerely,
Ben Hart
Fishing Guide and still Dave Micus' friend after further tarnishing my name

[Jed]

We need our grog, after all that exercise jumping to conclusions. To be truthful, how often do we fish waters with different species of fish and have not idea of what type of fish we are actually targeting until after the hookup. For me, its most of the time. Rarely is the water so slow and gin clear that I can tell what the species is at the distance I am casting to. Never the less, Micus is new here so there is not much reason to trust him and Benjo as well (sarcasm intended). I also assume Benjo being a guide would probably last about 2 nanoseconds in the competitive Montana guiding business if he did that.

So my real question is, are those who were quick to judge equally quick to retract those judgements?

jed

[Jonezee]

Do fly fishermen in Montana eat Eggplant? That is a question that is seldom asked.

[Gandalf]

CEA,

Others have made my point. You cannot assume that someone is targeting a fish just because they are throwing a "bait" that is known to catch a particular fish, because it can be the "right" "bait" for that day for the species of fish that you are actually targeting (like a large cut). So I would have to say that the portion of the law that says "intentionally targeting" Bulls is unenforceable, or at least, it should be if the judges have any kind of sense.

For ex. here in VA, on the Rappahannock in the spring, we have the shad runs. There are one or two kinds of shad that are illegal (US law) to keep, while other shad species you can keep up to the legal limit. But guess what? They all go for the same baits, so its a good thing VA and the US gov't regulations don't stipulate that you can't target those shad, they just say that you have to release them ASAP. Now if the idea is to actually protect the bulls by making targeting of them illegal, the ONLY way to do that that is ENFORCEABLE is to make it illegal to fish those streams, rivers, etc. that are known to be natural Bull habitats. To do otherwise is to make criminals of law abiding fisherpersons.

Paul