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Best tip for a steelhead virgin...

4K views 35 replies 15 participants last post by  Philster 
I agree with Eric. A good guide can teach, in one day, more than you would learn on your own in a year. One more thing. Hang with steelheaders. Ask them questions and listen, listen, listen.
 
I must admit this year I dusted off the bait caster and harvested a few silvers from the Skagit. It was almost laughable. I hadn't cast my old bait caster for a number of years and had a difficult time of it at first.
 
I know people that say a purist is the person looking to put food on the table and the rest of us are just tormenting the fish. In a way I must agree. In the beginning of fishing I would think somebody noticed the fish were eating bugs. He then stuck a bug on his bone hook and caught fish. Maybe the same guy or his bro figured out if he tied a bunch of feathers and stuff on his bone hook and made it look like the bug, he could use it over and over again. He spent more time fishing and less time hunting for bugs to bait his hook with. More fish on the table with less effort. Fly fishing is born.

We have since elevated this to a form of recreation. Which begs the question. Is the purist the guy who figured out he could tie feathers to a bone hook, make it look like a bug and hand toose a sinew line in the water to catch fish for the purpose of feeding his family? Or is the guy with the 14 foot graphite rod using a high tech plastic coated, lazer imprinted line and a anodized, machined aluminum reel who catches fish just for recreation the purist?

KLS
 
O C,

Don't get me wrong. I know we are the alpha predator. I have no problem with where I sit in the food chain. I do not necessarily agree with Plunker or Larry Moe. I merely see their side of things. I acknowledge the fact that I participate in a blood sport that most people believe is for the taking of fish for food. I truly believe I or we are in the minority when it comes to c&r. Not because people think catch and release fishing is somehow morally wrong but, because most people view fishing as a way to get food. "Eat what you catch" is an old and still popular teaching. Most people don't understand catch and release. My wife still doesn't understand c&r and believe me I have tried to explain it to her many times. She thinks fish are for eating and if you have to let them go why bother fishing.

It is when we start to attach some sort of mystique to fishing I guess I get bothered. Yea, I know catching a steelhead can be the experience of a lifetime but, jeez, it's still fishing. I remember feeling kinda like that when I was a little kid and caught my first trout. I like to fish and the next big steelhead will be the experience of my life until the next.

Sorry for the rant about this and the purist thing. It is just the way I fell about fishing.

KLS
 
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