Volume Three, IssueTwo I theflyfishjournal.comI or+.qscr:ru | srz.95us
yfishrouRNAL
. u.RTlr,
v,,^\L
P ro fi l eSIMON " B ON E FIS H " B A IN N assau'Fi s nest 4\^--(.
cFLINe-
FSC-certiired prper, PCW, manufactured rvith {reen porver
Conservation WALLS CRUMBLING DOWN What's Next for the Elwha? tavel YUCATAN Fishing is Life-Literally
mnr llllllllillllilllllil
LocaleWATERFOWL AN D FLASHBACKS SippingWhiskeywith Jim Morrison Gallery MISERY LOVES COMPANY the Fine Art of Failure
PLUS Flyfishing Ghosts,Drifting with the Grim Reaper,and Battling Big Oil
CATCH AND KEEP? OPENWATER
Words:TomKeer
THB BLUEFIN BITE was asperfectas I had everseen it. Thirty- to 6o-pound fish were so close to shore I could have paddled a kayak to reach them. The seas were flat, the wind was light, and the fish ate any fly landing within ro feet. My back liked the fact that I didn't have to log countlesshours on the pounding sea looking for them and mywallet breatheda sigh of relief gas on the docks. sinceI could forgo six-buck-a-ga11on The quarter moon meant the fishing would remain consistentlyhot for a week. It did for the three consecutive daysI was there. I'd catch and releaseone or two, poke around a bit, and then catch and releaseone or two more-you know how it goes.After battling these tough fish, I needed a day off so I took it. When I
JoURNA98 +re FLYFTsH
returned, I found nothing. There were no breaks, no tails, no boils, and certainlyno fish.Theywere allgone. In the Pilgrim State of Massachusettsand the Ocean State of Rhode Island, a few grandfathered permits allow commercial outfits to net tuna and the word about a hot tuna bite closeto shore,the samebite I just fished, was the topic of conversationson websites,blogs,online forums, and evenin the newspaPers. Captainsreferencedit in codespeakon their radios,but make no mistake: the word was out. It just happened the commercial boats arrived and filled their holds with netted fish during my z4-hour sabbatical.Just like that, the tuna bite in this areawas over.The fish I releasedwere netted anyway.
Fishing continues as it always does, and I shifted my focus to striped bass and bonito. I caught enough to suit me as a sport fisherman, but it made me question the
because they not only get a meal, but they also get an incredible shot of oxygen before pursuing dessert. Flyrodders catch these bass by mimicking
the bait
situation at hand. Where do we stand with the catch-
with small patterns. Unfortunately, stripers suck in the
and-releaseethic? It seems that catch and releasegrew out of centuries
flies with such force the hooks frequently stick in the fish's gills (and it happens a lot with small, top-water
of sustenance-fishing pressure from both the recreation
patterns). The fish bleeds, no matter how carefully an
and commercial sides. Combined with dams built on
angler extracts a hook and releases the fish, and fish
rivers for hydropower and pollution
frequently turn belly up.
caused by indus-
trtahzation, fish stocks depleted. The spirit of the 196os motivated many anglers to follow Lee Wulff's
mantra
In this instance, the legal law is quite different from moral and ethical law, because a conflict stems
of "a good game fish is too valuable to be caught once."
from releasing a sub-legal fish knowing
The fish that were typically caught for the table iived to
die. Releasing a mortally wounded fish, particularly
be caught another day.
those that make such excellent table fare, makes about
it's going to
The ideology of catch and releasemay also have been
as much sense as socks on a rooster, but by doing so,
part of a British Invasion. IVe heard the movement began across the pond with a group of coarse fishermen
we follow Johnny Law's rules. There is some comfort knowing the crabs, eels, and lobsters feast well that
who returned their landed carp to avoid overfishing the
night, but the real question is, can we find a balance
coveted big-lipped fish. Regardless, we anglers entered
between the legal law and an ethical law? Is there a
a new era of fishing, one that continues to arouse a tre-
catch-and-release middle ground?
mendous amount of heated discussion to this day. It's
The Swiss took a stab at this very dilemma. They
evolved to a point where often, if an angler kills a fish,
decided that fighting and releasing fish was torturous
there is a public outcry.
and immoral. So, beginning in zoo9, the law required
Perhaps the boundaries of catch and releaseblur be-
anglers to properly dispatch any Swiss fish caught. In
cause what was once an ethic now carries legal implica-
addition, the law set specific limits by species, and if
tions. Take the striped bass, for example. In my home
someone reached the bar for a particular species-
state of Massachusetts, the legal length for keeping a
game over, pack up and go home.
striped bass is z8 inches. You can keep two fish per day
This year, Canada took a different approach when
for table fare. If an angler kills his two bass, he may con-
responding to poor Atlantic
tinue to fish provided he releasesall other fish. These
order to improve egg deposition in the Northwest
are Massachusetts' rules, and when I run my boat across
Miramichi
state lines, there are different rules to follow. When the
lower portion of the Little River and up to and includ-
salmon return rates. In
and Little Southwest Miramichi
rivers, the
commercial side says a species is "recovered" and the
ing Catamaran Brook and all tributaries on the system
recreational side says it's not, then a moderator needs to make a call that is fair and equitable to both sides. My
became mandatory catch-and-release until July 3r, for the next three seasons.I wonder if the netters at the
vote? A single policy that protects breeding fish would
mouth of the river have any thoughts on the subject?
be a good idea, but that's a different subject. Anglers test the ethics of catch and release every
Conservation is critical to our way of fishing. While A Rizter Runs Through 1r increased flyfishing participa-
June when the sand eels arrive. This long, thin baitfish moves onto the flats, along the beaches, and into
tion, conservation created the initial wave of interest
the coves in virtual abundance. Bass go on the feed
was on the menu from five-star gourmet affairs to fish
in skinny water, but they don't crush and swallow the
shacks. Coastal Conservation Association (CCA)
baitfish headfirst like they do pogeys or buckeyes.
forts in Florida resulted in the restoration of the spe-
Instead, they inhale the entire water column and the
cies. The same holds true for striped bass along the
several years earlier. In the r98os, blackened redfish ef:
fish, purging water through their gills and swallowing
Eastern Seaboard. Some fish die upon release, but all
the bait whole. Stripers constantly repeat this behavior
fish die when we don't.
T H EF L Y F T SJH O U R N A L9 9
{ rrrr}
ch;;i"sbi;;ii;*";
Moine-does it coun if they jump into the
boot? Photo: Borry or Cothy Beck.
WATER OPEN CATCH AN D KEEP?
{neovr} Dove Sherwood rigging up on the shore of o remote brookiepond in westernMoine. The pond is on privote propertyond behind o number of locked gotes, but thonks to Moine's Greot Ponds Act you con't be denied occessif you're on foot. The doy this photo wos token, Dove ond the photogropherhiked oboutl8mileswith pocksond floot tubes ond fishedfour ponds, oll of which held good numbers.Photo: Mott Boutet.
Many outstanding U.S. fisheries developedfrom contaminatedwatersheds.Some of the best trout fishing in the Northeast is on catch-and-release stretches, and thesestretcheswere previouslycloseddue to high levelsof mercury^nd PCBs depositedby upstreamfactories.Mandatory catch and releaseworks for increasing fish stocks,but plan on burgersfor dinner. When Peter Harrison caught a world-record steelhead on Feb. zo, zoog on Washington State's Hoh River, the certified weight w^s 2g.Spounds. He dispatchedthe fish in keepingwith the state'sone-fishlaw. Ayear and a halflater, onJune25,zoro,someonecaught 'J.W." a state-recordsteelheadin Ohio. Jason Brooks' 2rj-pound Lake Erie fish edgedout the previousstate recordby a third of a pound, and he alsodispatchedthe fish, legally.Harrison took more grief from the masses over killing his fish, while Brooks becamea hero.Jim Holland, Jr.'s zoor world-record zo2.s-poundtarpon and the accompanyingphoto of the behemothhanging from a scaleon a tree brought a similarly mixed messageto his doorstep.And with dwindling brood stocks of the biggest,most-thriving specimensin cleardeciine among native steelheadand striped basspopulations, it's not hard to seewhy. Are catch-and-keep anglers heroes or villains? Dependswhich side of the argumentyou'reon. Some anglersare proud they "haven't killed a fish in zo years." Others aren't afraid to put a meal on the table.
IOO THE FLYFISH JOURNAL
Most
fishermen want legendary encounters, and
the fish caught by Harrison, Brooks, and Holland, Jr., provided an out-oFbody experience. By keeping their catch, I hope they can savor the moment time and time again. M"yb.
that's what we need to draw more blood
into this sport's dwindling ranks. Mryb. our thinking
looseningup
would lead to more out-of:body fishing
experiences. Fellow anglers who keep fish aren't the sole problem. Commercial fishermen aren't the sole problem, either. M"yb.
the blame for decreasing fish stocks rests on
the refrigerator/freezer that decommissioned the rgoos salt works and canneries and made fish preservation universal. Perhaps the solution is to return to the traditional Native American ethic of "harvest only what you can eat." If we didn't have freezers to fill, wouldnt the problem solve itself? There would be no need for catch and release, and there would be no need for slot or size limits on striped bass. What we would haveis a self:regulating system that follows natural order. Catch and release makes us feel good about helping our fisheries. That said, many of us like to eat fish, and when we catch a particularly big one, we might want to hang it on the wall. "Limit your kill, don't kill your limit" seems about right. It's close enough to the Native American
attitude to work. Maybe this is the middle
ground that will help us get done with the fightin'and get on with the fishin'. The fishin'is a lot more fun. C