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Eat It or Wear It
Our brethren on the deer hunting side of this Field & Stream website offered up a debate over shooting “locked up” deer. That's debatable? You must be kidding me.
Truth is, we anglers aren’t exactly lily-white when it comes to our “fair chase” ethics. And most specifically, I’m talking about foul-hooking (at best) or snagging (at the gutter-worst) fish.
Anyone who snags a fish intentionally is a jerk. And that especially includes salmon snaggers. But what about the accidental foul-hooker? Sure, it happens to any serious angler …
Accidental … okay. But that fish doesn’t count. Belly-hook a 23-inch rainbow and hold it up for a camera shot … shame on you. And more than three fish fouled on a given day means you’re doing something terribly wrong. A fouled fish isn’t a caught fish, no matter how you slice it.
Deeter
One thing to also remember is that when a fish is foul hooked sometimes that fish was going after the first fly (multiple fly rigs) and you missed the take with a slow set so you end up foul hooking a fish.
I agree with you in whole about this. As soon as you foul hook three - go to a single fly rig.
Posted by: A Bartkowski | December 30, 2007 at 02:01 PM
I foul hooked 2 browns one day that were stocked, and only swiped at our red ants. They foul hooked themselves in the fins when they rolled and missed.
And what fish is that?
Posted by: Evan V | December 30, 2007 at 07:06 PM
Well Evan V.I couldent tell you what kind of fish that is but he looks awful suprised dunnet he
Posted by: Trae B. | January 01, 2008 at 09:31 PM
looks like a mountain whitefish to me
Posted by: joey | January 01, 2008 at 09:46 PM
It is a whitefish. One of only a couple of native fish to colorado. They look like bonefish (sort of) and typically will eat heavily weighted nymphs near the bottom. We call them "whitey".
Posted by: tim Romano | January 02, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Snagging fish drives me crazy. Yukoners fish often in Haines, Alaska where the fish are so accessible that novice anglers have their chance. It amazes me that there seems to be an acceptable practice of snagging Coho when the water is too murky for them so see the hook.
I have written about it on my blog http://fishonyukon.com/blog/archive/snagging-fish-in-haines-alaska/
I was at least pleased to see some signs up this year attempting to educate people on how snagging is illegal. Dennis
Posted by: [email protected] | January 02, 2008 at 01:24 PM