I think most of your post is on the money. :lol: Except for the 99% swallow baited hooks. I’d estimate that only one in ten fish actually swallow the hook. I have fished with worms for over 55 years and believe me when I was younger I prayed for fish to swallow the hook so they wouldn’t get off. All those misses were not from swallowed hooks. Most trout I have caught with bait and lures did not swallow them. Most mooched herring were swallowed by the salmon that hit them In that case I’d say that probably 80-90% swallowed them.
last season I was fishing a high mountain lake with #22 PTN a lot of the fish were swallowing them so I switched to #14 PTN’s which did just as well but no swallows.
A recent study showed that 83% of all quoted statistics were made up on the spot by the person quoting them.
( I just made that up :lol: :lol: :lol: )
I’m told that bait fishermen who use circle hooks catch fish which suffer about the same mortality rate as those caught on flies.
If this is true, then there is no need of FF only C&R stream sections.
(Dr. Fish may want to weigh in on this.I know he fishes with streamer patterns with them and mustad makes a dandy circle hook)
Best,
Black Gnat
Hi Fly Goddess!
I guess the unspoken conclusion would be there is no need for an artificials only regulation on those C&R waters, if fish mortality is the only concern.
Here in PA, It would be hard to get the bait guys to use circle hooks (there is a learning curve and the things just dont look like they should work!). But if they would, then more waters could be put under the C&R regulations, and no one need be excluded for their fishing style.
Best,
Black Gnat
I think the C&R think being percieved as elitist is cultural. Historically fishing was done for the fish. In Maine there is a strong culture of catch and keep. A friend of mine put it very clearly, why are you torturing fish if your not going to eat them. To many whose families have fished to put food on the table it like going to the grocery store, picking up the piece of meat that someone else is wanting and then throwing it on the floor.
Part of this equation is not how we think, but how others percieve us.
jed
I fly fish and use spinning rods. Sometimes I use bait. I have a far worse problem with bluegills and redbellies taking flies deeply than I do with them taking bait too deeply. I have been trying to work out ways to make some of my patterns less prone to making it all of the way to the gills of the 'gills. The other extreme is that they gnaw my flies up to the point about a half a millimeter from the point of the hook. That’s a different problem.
I do C&R mostly. Often it is because the water that I am fishing gets hammered pretty hard and I want some fish to make it. Where that is not a problem, then I have no problem keeping and eating fish. Sometimes the best use of a fish is to be caught over and over, not caught and eaten. That is my personal opinion. If I needed the protein, then I might have a different opinion.
I prefer my cornbread baked in an iron skillet, except for pones of course. Those are fried in an iron skillet. Either goes well with black-eyed peas.
Gnu Bee Flyer,
Have you lost your mind!!! :roll:
You said you fished with worms for FIFTY FIVE YRS!!!
That means your going to have to flyfish with flies for the next 55 yrs to make up for that. 
Make sure you tell JC that so you don’t go on probation.
Good Luck! Release your fish also!
Doug, and have a good day too!
I’m with Fly Goddess on this one. I practice C&R for no great and noble high falutin reason. I simply enjoy the catching and have absolutely no desire to eatem. If I want to eat fish, fish sticks are just fine* 
Mark
PS: *Or Halibut fish fry at the TIDES in Gig Harbor Washington