Keep or release?

[P7M13]

for me for me it's all about the style of my fly fishing. Don't fish much, when I do I don't care if I catch anything because I'm more interested in the presentation.
Yes, when I get strikes, I enjoy reeling them in. My favorite is walleye, you don't find it out here.
Cutthroat, brown, rainbow, mackinac, & golden trout. Whiting, pike, perch, bass and walleye. Fished and caught them all in western mountain rivers and midwestern lakes.
Never tried fishing salmon.

 

[Mikej]

I stopped buying a steelhead tag 2 yrs ago... I hate standing out in the blowing snow and losing most of my tackle!

Being in PDX 20 years ago we had salmonid paradise. Spring salmon, Willamette and Columbia. Summer steelhead the same. Fall chinook/coho in the Columbia. Winter steelhead in the Willamette, Clackamas and Sandy. Not to mention coastal if a person want to drive. And that has become so crowded with guides and people from the valley, from what I've heard

Standing in snow? Fishing for snake steelhead that have been in fresh water for a couple/three months? You shouldn't have to buy a special tag for that. You still can't keep wild, they ought to PAY you guys up there to fish steelhead. They want them out of the system! I'd probably eat some of it, but it's nothing like it is, I mean WAS, down here.

 

[bbbass]

Being in PDX 20 years ago we had salmonid paradise. Spring salmon, Willamette and Columbia. Summer steelhead the same. Fall chinook/coho in the Columbia. Winter steelhead in the Willamette, Clackamas and Sandy. Not to mention coastal if a person want to drive. And that has become so crowded with guides and people from the valley, from what I've heard

Standing in snow? Fishing for snake steelhead that have been in fresh water for a couple/three months? You shouldn't have to buy a special tag for that. You still can't keep wild, they ought to PAY you guys up there to fish steelhead. They want them out of the system! I'd probably eat some of it, but it's nothing like it is, I mean WAS, down here.

I guess there's no reason to live in Portland anymore, eh?

Yes, many years they are not even milking the fish at the hatchery, they just scoop them out and give them away. I used to be on the list to get 3 steelhead from the hatchery catch, but two years in a row they delivered dark, soft fish that didn't taste good at all. Since the wife doesn't eat trout at all, I gave up on that!

Freezin my keister with ice in the guides and risking frosting my ears... not any mo.

Hey, I still remember fresh fish out of the Chetco and Rogue, the Winchuck, Elk, Sixes, and Umpqua! The only crowds were at the deep holes just above tidewater where the salmon would keg up just before the first big rainstorm, and the bank anglers and fly fishers in their little 4' punts would keg up too. Once a person eats fresh salmon, or tuna off the boat, they never want to buy it at the grocery store!!!

 

[Mikej]

I guess there's no reason to live in Portland anymore, eh?

Getting out of here is in our sights in the next year +.

 

[bbbass]

Getting out of here is in our sights in the next year +.

You won't regret leaving the city! When I left San Diego, which was nice before 1980, I breathed a sigh of relief and my home life has been less stressful ever since. Work, biz, not so much... work or business is always stressful!