I just dont get it...

Bowhunting for Carp.  Can someone please explain to me why this is fun?

I made it out recently to Carpganistan, aka, Carptropolis to throw flies at them only  to find a pile of rotting Carpon, some on the upwards of 20 lbs.  The best was finding one that had been struggling for a long time with hole in its middle from the arrow...it was doing it's best to try and die a horrible death.  I quickly dispatched that one.

There are still mobs of the fish patrolling the flats at this particular local, but I just dont get this.   

I hunt, I fish...I kill game animals.  But if I am going to take it's life, I will eat it

This all seems pretty wasteful, right?

No More Wild Steel at Pikes Fish Market

Read it on their blog here

Wow....

I will say it again...

WOW.

In a drastic turn of policy, the World Famous Pike's Street Fish Market has changed it's stance and will no longer carry wild steelhead at the market.

This entry in their blog says it all:

"We've read your emails, we've taken in the conversations at the market, we've had sustainability representatives speak at our meetings, and we've asked the tough questions to our suppliers. Our commitment is to make a difference and we can do that on many fronts, the supply of our seafood being one. We're constantly educating ourselves and understand sustainability to be a process and one that starts with no longer carrying wild steelhead"

Last week when I posted about my interraction with the fishmongers and I assumed, through the email I got back in return...that it would be status quo.  Status quo being, continuing to sell wild steel.

With this news, I am brightened by the fact that the collective can influence people to do the right thing.

I most certainly was not the only one that contacted them, so cheers to the others who voiced their opinions

And most importantly, cheers to Pikes Street Fish Market

Carpon...the Inland Tarpon

Oh, ok...not really, but it's as close as I can get to flats fishing without a $900 airfare bill

An after work trip to the Carp factory near home and the water was boiling with fish.

Finally, paydirt

and I'm pretty sure this thing's so ugly it wasnt even loved by it's mother.

But that's ok...they pull and fight like a Mother F*&^@#

Mices, Meeses, Mouses

All destined to meet Mr Bass soon....

5 new mice patterns of the Moorish variety.  Ready to throw up against rocks, into lilly pads and sucked down by a big bass snozzle.  GULP...

Wild Steel on Ice...How do I respond to this?

I need your help.  I need to know how to respond to an issue that's under my skin.

As detailed at Washington Fly Fishing, Moldy Chum and Skate the Fly, world Famous Pike's Street Fish Market in Seattle continues to sell wild steelhead

I am a hunter, I am a fisherman, and I retain a good deal of what I set out to catch or kill.  But there's one item that can get us all going....the retention of wild stocks of andronomus fish.  Washington State still manages to allow us to keep one wild fish per year on the Olympic Penninsula and I cant figure out why. 

Now the tribes still can retain whatever they catch via the Bolt Decision....and that's where these fish at Pike's are coming from. 

So I put my do-gooder hat on and fire off this message to the Fish Mongers
(sorry for the poor grammar...I was doing about five projects when I sent the mail)

Message:
For gosh sakes, please reconsider your practice of selling wild steelhead. The stocks your selling from are some of the last remaining, somewhat heathly, wild stocks...and even they are hanging near the edge. Consider selling hatchery fish...which we have in abundance on some of the rivers in the state of Washington. This is just terrible PR and poor form when the rest of the globe is looking harder at sustainability

These fish are our canary in the coalmine. Please change this practice

Quickly enough, I get this response back

"I have received your email and will forward it to the owner. Please know that we don't buy any illegal or endangered steelhead. The Native Americans pretty much run the commercial steelhead industry in Washington and are highly regulated by the state. It is not illegal for them to catch and or sell wild fish. The fish are coming from rivers on the Olympic Peninsula, and if you check the link I sent you, you can see that the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife are not concerned with Steelhead populations in this area. Thanks for your concern. (Name withheld here) @ Pike Place Fish

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/diversty/soc/soc.htm"

So here it stands, and I dont know how to go about responding to this. 

Is it illegal to sell wild fish...NO.

Are they contributing to the rapid decline of the OP wild fish.  Yes, I would think so. 

If the market wasnt there, would the tribes continue to net and sell wild steelhead.  I dont think so. 

Please, help me properly respond to these guys.  Just because it's not illegal doesnt make it right

And if you want your voice heard by Pike's Street Fish Market, click here

Yep, that's my champion bird dog...

They Must Go Down, They Must Go Down HARD

Clay Pidgeons that is.  Many of them, dusted and put to bed.
















I joined my neighbors, Andersons, aka "the coolest couple" ever in a round of Sporting Clays at Landt Farms west of Spokane.  We had the range to ourselves, shot as many as we wanted and had a hell of at time.  The typical weather of early spring in our area provided beautiful photos.  Dark and ominous clouds followed by brilliant sunshine.

Hillary busting the sky

Not going to lie, this station worked me

Next up this week,  Post week Carpon Fishing....