Doug Roses lates blog

[shawn kempkes]

Doug is the author of several books on fishing on the Olympic Peninsula and a guide up here
he has a blog. I just got done reading his latest and I thought I would pass it along. Alot of what he says about ghosts is true of steelhead in Ca. The early fish are gone.

http://dougroseflyfishing.com/blog/?p=672

[Don Powell]

What a compelling and spell-binding read!
Doug has lived it and seen it all!
His story speaks volumes on many fronts- the rise in popularity of fly fishing, the intricacy of salmon/steelhead survival and more...
I particularly like his comments about calling it a season after he has caught two fish. On the rivers of eastern Canada when fishing for Atlantic salmon, it is and always has been customary to stop fishing after two fish have been landed. It is unfortunate that many anglers who spend a considerable sum of money to travel to a lodge on a famous water feel that they should be able to catch as many fish in a day because after all, they have "paid to do so".
As the resource changes and conceivably vanishes maybe anglers will appreciate it more? I do not hold high hopes that will be the case, but that is what I ultimately pray...

[rusty fly]

stop fishing at all. Who makes the two rule? Stop harassing them

[SFMike]

Thanks a lot for posting that link, Shawn. It was a great read! It definitely brings up the point that fishing really is a moral dilemma. If he's right that the mortality rate for catch and release is 10%, that's totally unacceptable. But what can you do, stop fishing? I don't want to do that either. I don't have the answer to that one except maybe to have kids so that you don't have time to fish at all. That's how I'm doing my part to reduce any stress on the wild steelhead populations...Anyway, Doug Rose is a great writer and storyteller. I'll bookmark that blog for the future for sure!

[STEELIES/26c3]

Good stuff!

and good that there are other people who stop to consider the "Tragedy of the Commons." Garrett Hardin wrote a book of the same title in 1968.

One of my HSU professors assigned that book in an environmental ethics class I took...

I've pondered and struggled with the whole ethics of fishing (at all even...) and concluded that I'm too selfish to stop but not too selfish to respect and give back so I try and give more than I take from the river and when I take, I do so with reverence and gratitude~

[Half Pounder]

Thank you, Shawn. That is an impressive piece of writing.

[shawn kempkes]

This is still my favorite article Doug wrote. Sadly Doug lost his battle with cancer yesterday.

[Larry S]

Thanks for the link, Shawn.
Best,
Larry S

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

He was very lucky to have had all those good days on wonderful Steelhead rivers.


In California we lost all our habitat to dams (mostly), logging, AG and development too.


I started fishing Steelhead in ~1960 with night crawlers on a one piece spinning rod I built myself on the Lower American River as a teenager. I was lucky that I moved to fly fishing for them in ~1965.

Now at 68 I just want to hook one more 5# wild Steelhead on a two-handed fly rod, swinging a classic wet fly on a floating line on the Klamath River.


Imagine the lose that the Greatest Generation experienced with their fishing (and hunting)?

Pretty sad...

.

[gitt]

Don't mean to be inciteful, but Doug Rose in his Blog post "Winter Steelheading Manifesto" where he makes reference to "mending bobbers from the front of a boat. . . looked more like practicing calf roping" is hilarious. Never looked at it that way before, but now just can't seem to get that image out of my head.