Took a much needed break from being around the house and eating left over turkey and fix'ns, so grabbed my dad and Liam and headed out the door. Hit the Skagit Valley only to encounter 20-40 mph gusts paired with a nice down pour. Figured we'd just drive and scout places where we could fish in the future and not risk 'ruining' the 4-year old with crappy weather fishing. At about the Sauk Valley Rd. bridge Liam's patience ran out, made clear with "Papa are we ever going to fish today!!?" We decided the best location with minimal bush whacking to the river would be Sutter Creek bar and maybe if lucky only a few would be down there. Pleasantly surprised we were the only idiots attempting to fish in that weather. Half a dozen casts later and I hooked this nice dolly, a nice 'welcome back' fish since I've not fished the Skagit in 2-years. Decided to call it quits when the flow seemed to switch directions due to the wind. FLY GUY 1 : gear guy 0
Nope...I know it was over 20" and could have, but rarely (all most never) keep anything other than salmon...and it better be nice a silvery too. Are bulls even worth eating...I've never heard of anyone keeping/eating them?
If you didn't keep it (which you shouldn't do with bulls anyway), then try to "land" it by not pulling it on the rocks. Keep em in the water so they don't beat themselves to death on the rocks.
My Son was ecstatic and so was the bull who expediently swam out of my hands.
Critics of how the fish was handled, you only see a picture with a fish laying on the 'beach', what you did not see is how I caught, landed, and released. Mr. Burck before you make comments regarding fish handling cleanse your gallery of your "beached" fish, plenty of rocks that this beauty climbed over....
Andrew, still wrong, Evan's fish was a hatchery fish that was bonkdified shortly after the picture.
What's so hard about just taking a critique, and changing your tactics to better suit the fish? No one 'had a go' at you, or was rude/insulting, there's really no reason to be all offended...
Andrew, still wrong, Evan's fish was a hatchery fish that was bonkdified shortly after the picture.
What's so hard about just taking a critique, and changing your tactics to better suit the fish? No one 'had a go' at you, or was rude/insulting, there's really no reason to be all offended...
Whew thanks for sharing that tid bit I thought I'd have to spend my night going through Evan's pictures and writing comments about not lifting fish out of the water or beaching them. My point exactly...it's a picture which doesn't tell you anything about if a fish was killed or how it was handled. His post assumes I dragged that dolly over rocks.I'm just saying he can preach but he best practice too.
Seriously? I didn't even come off as an ass, but I sure can take that route if you want. The fish is laying on the rocks: Seen as bad form in the catch and release world. I laid that info out there in a nice, informative way.
If you want to critique my photos and be an ass yourself, that fish had just had a rock over the top of its head as all hatchery steelhead should. Bull trout shouldn't touch the rocks, ever. Sorry if my passion to see bull trout treated well got the best of me. That fish may have swam off, but that doesn't mean it survived. It's also illegal to remove that fish from the water if it's to be released like that. So there's that whole breaking the law thing too.
Evan - I assure you that the bull swam away to enjoy more salmon flesh and eggs. To be honest I consider your last comment of your second post to be the more helpful and or informative than your first for it made me fact check the regs (page 10), I was not aware that dolly/bulls are in the category of fish not able to be lifted from water if subsequently released. Thank you.
Reality: some of us leave the fish in the water at least 50% to admire the fish for a moment, snap a photo and release, others remove the fish totally out of the water, admire it for awhile and release it. I have my own preference of doing this (keep it in the water), but if a fish does not live it is either eaten by a bird or adds nutrients into the river for other living things, that is the reality. Seeing beer cans and other litter including tossed fishing line by gear guys bothers me way more than this photo, besides Andrew hasn't been to this river for 2 years, I am glad he got out, caught a fish and gave his son a great memory of fishing with his dad
From the WDFW regulations (Page 13):
"FRESHWATER: "It is unlawful to totally remove salmon, steelhead, or Dolly Varden/Bull Trout from the water if it is unlawful to retain those fish, or if
the angler subsequently releases the salmon, steelhead, Dolly Varden/Bull Trout."
Regardless of how you think the fish survived, you need to keep the fish in the water if you are not going to harvest it.
Kudos for taking your kid fishing though and I dig the comet.
Well damn learned something new. No more dolly hoisting shots.
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