Okay, I just can't take it anymore and have to get this off my chest (this has been building for a loooooong time, so I'll apologize in advance for the following rant).

I'm so, so, so sick and tired of seeing guys fish for spawners off the redds in this river! Spawner steelhead are a rare commodity around here and need to been left the hell alone! This practice is unacceptable, vile and reprehensible...

Surprisingly, the major culprits have been fly anglers lately. Almost daily, there have been 1-3 guys standing in the riffle below the Sunrise walk bridge ("Jim's Bridge"), sight casting to bedding fish. It's obvious what these guys are doing -- they'll stand like herons in the water, sometimes not making a cast for several minutes...until they spot a fish.

Then, it's a quick 20-foot cast into 6 inches of water and then..boom..fish on. The fights typically last only a few moments as the dark, tired fish get dragged without ceremony off the nests. The "angler" then usually pulls the fish to the rocks and, with chest puffed out, releases it.

Nice work, amigo. You must be so proud!

These bed rapers are generally using nymphs and indicators, so I'm not going to say that the fish aren't biting, but I do have my doubts. Last Friday, I got so tired of watching a guy tromp all over the redds and line fish with a dry line and a very big splitshot 12 inches above his fly, I had to say something.

"Dude, those are all spawners...it's probably best to leave them alone," I said, trying to be as polite as possible, though I was seething by the time he dragged his third fish off the beds in about 10 minutes.

And that's when he turned around and gave me the finger.

Okay, Mr. Blonde guy, so that's how you want to play it, eh? I had clients in the boat that morning so I bit my lip at your little gesture...but I won't be so friendly next time when I'm out fun fishing.

The other place that bed fishing is rampant is up at the island between upper and lower Sunrise. Fly and gear guys alike stack up there when the water's higher to pound that spot. Again...those fish in the side channel on the south side are spawners -- give 'em a wide berth and try to actually get a fresh fish to eat what you're throwing. DFG should just close that 200-yard section to all fishing all the time.

Okay, I've said my two cents worth. Again, I just hate to see our local resources raped. I know the guys doing this stuff are the vast minority but the rest of us need to police our own, I guess. Typically peer pressure works pretty well. And then there's always CalTip. I just wish they were quicker on the uptake...