A new world-record steelhead was recently landed on the Hoh River, and predictably, the Intertubes erupted in controversy over the fly fisherman’s decision to kill the wild steelhead, ostensibly because it was bleeding out:
World record steelhead on the Hoh River? Bleeding out??
Someone forward an email outlining the story of Peter Harrison of Port Townsend, who exhaustively detailed his battle with the record steelhead in terms I’d suggest are a little on the mock heroic side, which probably isn’t helping his cause:
At around 2 PM I was swinging my fly through some good-looking water and something that I can only describe as a lightning bolt hit my whole body. Suddenly my Ross reel was screaming at a decibel level usually reserved for Rolling Stone concerts. In a couple of heartbeats 200 yards of line had disappeared from my reel as the fish headed for Alaska.
I told myself not to panic, but my whole body was shaking; I knew that if I could survive the first round I would at least have some chance of getting the fish to the bank. For the next 30 minutes I battled the fish, standing at times chest deep in the middle of the river on a submerged bar.
At this point I had not seen the fish, but eventually I managed to make it back to the river bank and was able to stand on dry ground. At that time the fish exploded into the air, executing three cartwheels. I couldn’t believe my eyes, the fish was almost 4 feet in length. I had never seen a steelhead like it. After 45 minutes of battling the fish I managed to beach it gently.
My intention was to let it go, having first measured the fish, but it was bleeding quite heavily from the gills. As it seemed likely not survive the ordeal, and because it was the fish of a lifetime, I decided to take the fish. In 10 years of fishing Washington state rivers this is the first fish I have ever taken, of any kind, from a river.
As Buster Wants to Fish noted, the Washington fly fishing board has already accumulated 11 pages of comments, many of which are not exactly favorable (the thread degenerates into the usual C&R vs C&K arguments, trolls, etc).
Based on the photos, some doubt the contention that blood was streaming out the gills (you can see the fly stuck in the fish’s nose), but in truth, none of us will ever know.
My first reaction wasn’t simply one of sadness over the removal of the monster fish from the gene pool; it’s that our steelhead fisheries are so messed up that the loss of just one fires up this kind of response.
With Oregon inching towards a logging plan that will further deplete its steelhead runs, many of California’s steelhead and salmon facing extinction, and Washington’s steelhead runs not meeting management goals (which most suggest are too low), the problem isn’t that one guy killed a world-record steelhead.
It’s that our rivers aren’t teeming with monsters like that every year.
Dylan Tomine adds a welcome bit of actual knowledge to the mess:
The fact that it’s even still legal to kill a wild steelhead on the Hoh is ridiculous. The river has not met escapement in 9 of the last 17 years and has shown a marked decline in recent times. That’s part of the bigger picture I’m talking about.
On one popular regional fishing bulletin board, at last count, there were 9 pages of posts condemning the angler for killing this single fish, while just below that there were several threads outlining political actions currently ongoing in Washington, and none of them had even half the response.
As a rule, humanity is a lot better at righteousness than we are at not mucking things up to begin with. And as Tomine points out, the right to “legally” kill wild fish on a river that’s already scraping bottom is the real lunacy here, yet it’s not a thought that provides much comfort.
Through the maze of political “realities” (translation: somebody’s getting screwed), anadromous fish continue to experience the short, brown end of the stick, and right here in my own county, our addled Board of Supervisors have dedicated themselves to fighting dam removal on the Klamath River despite the very real economic boon that would follow should the Klamath return to health and see salmon and steelhead runs a fraction of their former glory.
And yes, I’ll just say it; I have never fully grasped the sportsman’s need for trophies or “world” record keeping, especially when the latter seem useful only in documenting the precipitous decline in the quality of our fisheries.
See you on the river, Tom Chandler.
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Tom,
Check out the write up on this over at “The Big Pull” from a couple weeks ago
http://thebigpull.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/a-steelhead/
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Tom,
I read your comments as well as just about everyone else’s it seems about this guy’s catch. In a series of photos showing him presumably fighting this fish and then posing with it, you can clearly see blood streaming from it’s gills in one of the pics.
As far as whether he was right or wrong in killing it, all I can say is I wasn’t there. If it was truly dying in his hands, then I have no problem with him dispatching it and claiming any record he’s entitled to.
Guido
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The dwindling population of steelhead should mean no anglers in any state on any rivers are allowed to kill them. period
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@Guido: The circumstances surrounding the fish’s demise have been pretty exhaustively talked about in a lot of other places (I didn’t link to all the conversations about the thing because there were too many).
And as Dylan noted, the fish was legally taken, which – in my thinking – is truly the starting point for this whole circus. That fish this big aren’t caught all the time suggests the mess we’ve made of those rivers, and it would be nice to see the venom directed at Mr. Harrison redirected towards those who fail to recover (or protect) our anadramous fish populations.
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Tom, have to agree with you on the actual point to be angry over, that the fish could be taken legally to begin with. Add in that so many seem not to connect the dots between preserving the fishery and the number and quality of the fish.
Working the Pleasanton Fly Fishing Show I was trying to get folks to sign letters asking EBMUD not to further drown the Mokelumne for drinking water and several EBMUD customers just refused to do so. I don’t get that kind of thinking… which is to say there is a whole lot I don’t get.
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Why on earth are we worrying about this guy? He is a hard-core fly fisherman who practices catch and release tactics pretty religiously. He, most likely, is telling the truth about the fish bleeding. I feel bad for the poor guy–being surrounded by people condemning him who have most likely done something similar within the last year or two.
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TC,
Although he has been likened to food poisoning on many occasions Dylan’s last name is spelled Tomine.
Everyone should read his enviro essay -
State of the Steelhead – The Canary Ain’t Singing Anymore, But The Fat Lady’s Just Warming Up – http://tinyurl.com/bwwkpq
We’ll be posting a link to it tomorrow.
ps A 34 pound fish was recently pulled out of a tribal net on the Hoh.
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First, I have to concur with Mark here – the X% chance that the fish survived is forever lost, but the worst you could blame him for is an adrenalin charged rush to poor judgement.
I don’t particularly care for the class tippet race, as it’s a fish killer. But if smaller world records are being caught on a burgeoning list of classes, how is that actually ‘documenting the declining fisheries’?
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Hey, he’s wearing Dan Bailey waders, so he’s not some rich toff. Leave him alone. BTW the tippet wars are fish killers. Find the heaviest tippet that won’t spook the fish and go up one notch.
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Hey JPL, I wonder how many of these lads tossed a whitefish or Carp up onto the bank last season – figuring they were ridding the world of another pest.
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Tom, I agree that the real issue is why there are not more great fish like this one in our rivers. Seems to me that’s where people need to put their focus, and their energy. However, trying to organize fly fishermen is like trying to heard cats at the “kitty round-up”.
As far as this guy keeping his fish goes, I say congratulations to him. I think his writing is pretty good, with the possible exception of the last paragraph. It has the makings of a great short story.
I dare say the fish did not have many spawns left in him (her; can’t tell from this angle). Between this angler taking the fish, and some shark in the ocean, I’ll vote for the angler.
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I agree here. I think most people are willing to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. I may be naive, but I just have a hard time imagining someone who is experienced and even “hard core (?)” fly fisherman actually killing a trophy fish for an ego stroke. Like TU is suggesting, tar and feathering this dude does absolutely nothing to fix the bigger problem. It would be great if this guy was actually the catalyst for some serious change.
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Agreed that the best way to combat Catch & Kill is to have regs that prohibit it… 30 minute fight, probably out of the water for another 5 minutes measuring it and taking photos, unfortunately(obviously) it was probably near death in any case. 15 minute battle with heavier tippet?
More and more, given that there aren’t anymore “Secret spots,” I’m fishing in stealth mode: No big fish pics, skunked more often that not, just plain no heroics shared. Its better for my fishing experience and the fisheries. Call me selfish.
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I agree with Mark, DS and most others that I am sure he didn’t want the fish to die.
I wish I could pull in hogs like that once and awhile.
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Folks!
I’m frantically preparing to teach tonight’s online marketing boot camp, so can’t respond to all the comments, though a few things occur to me.
1. The conversation here is very different than it is on the message boards, and if you believe people are willing to give Mr. Harrison the benefit of a doubt, a few minutes there will dispel that illusion.
Also, don’t know if anybody noticed, but the “One Year Ago” posts widget to the right of the top sidebar is acting ironic for us – a year ago I posted an article about whether there were enough Atlantic Salmon in Maine rivers to even support an extremely abbreviated C&R season: Enough Atlantic Salmon for C&R
Are we heading in that horrific direction out here?
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Tom-
The poor schmuck, he just turned the best day fishing of his life into a PR disaster. He shares with the world his big accomplishment and then kills it…
That’s equivalent to a teenager telling his date’s father his true intensions with his daughter.
Well , we now have the 2009 “dumb move” candidate of the year award.
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Good one, Snowfly!
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I bet that fish was tasty
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Seriously the problem isn’t Mr. Harrison and his right to retain this fish, the problem is that there are not more catches like this that could have been let loose safely, or “Legally” retained with out a impact to our beloved river system. If everyone focused half the attention, effort, and trash talking on the true “Eco Terrorists” of our fisheries which is the tribal Indians then maybe this wouldn’t be such a big deal to everyone!! I’ve fished the Hoh and many other coastal rivers for over 18 years and have seen some truly horrible things “sportsmen” have done, BUT add up all those things I’ve seen, and they don’t even equal half of what I’ve seen 1 Indian boat do in a single drift on the Hoh with there net……Nor have have they come close to equal the HUNDREDS of Native Steelhead I’ve seen (many which have been “Trophy Size”) being sold out of huge white tubs as crab bait in La Push for $.12 a pound, yes that’s 12 cents a @#$&% pound. I agree 100% with out lawing the harvesting of Native fish….However when someone does it legally!!!! Until all is stopped I can’t see looking down your nose at Mr. Harrison, I would bet my fishing rights that if the net’s were stopped, hell more regulated, OR EVEN CHECKED!!!!! You’d find that many many more of these wonderful beasts exist and the accidental bleeding which resulted in the harvesting of this fish wouldn’t be such a chance for jealous anglers to bitch!!!!! Congratulations Mr. Harrison on your catch, and I feel for you for taking so much flack from people that are too ignorant to see what the real problem is……..Fish On
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many good points stated…..I have to side with the angler. what law did he violate natural or unnatural? the guy catches a fish of a lifetime-he makes the choice to keep it-so what. he has earned that right! on the way to nailing this guy to the cross, did it occur to anyone to ask him how many Steelhead he has released in his life?
if you have a problem with it, you might want to cut this guy some slack and go after the regulatory body that manages the fishery!!
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Who knew Steve Bartman was a flyfisher. A involuntary lightening rod for change.
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cograts Mr.Harrison great fish sounds like you are a better sportsman than most. dont let it get you down. My brother will do a great job on your fish of a lifetime. in the years to come when god forbid you cant get out to fish. you can look to the wall and rember one of the best days you ever had congrats and godbless the world would be a better place if there were more ethical people like yourself. Brad Heck.
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Or, he could have released the fish and had a reproduction done. That way, [em]when god forbid[/em], he can’t fish anymore; he could look up to his wall and remember one of the best days he ever had and take some pride in knowing that the fish also lived to tell the tale.
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The Underground is clearly changing – I just killed my fifth comment in a week for what I’ll politely suggest was marginally abusive (and yes, mildly racist) language. [sigh]
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Tom,
If it’s okay, I’d like to respond to a couple parts of that deleted comment.
Yes he could have released that fish to die, assuming that it was indeed gill-hooked and bleeding. However, I’m not buying that it was hooked where he says it was for a second. Personally, I’ve never seen a spey caught steelhead(actually lake run steelbow rainhead) get hooked that deep. And from conversations with people who have seen a lot more spey caught fish than I have, you’d be more likely to win the lottery than have it happen.
And yes, it could have swam into a net after being released, but under your logic, every steelhead caught should be kept to avoid eventually swimming into a net. Sorry, but that reasoning doesn’t fly.
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he is getting a repo’ this fish is the mold. use your energy to go after gillnetters or atleast chech or regulate them im shure they kill more than he did.
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good job. You are a good sportsman. When you cannot keep one fish in 20 years fishing it’s time for us all to hang it up.
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