SPOKANE — A Pasco fisherman who caught a state record walleye is catching some barbed remarks from catch-and-release anglers.
The Spokesman-Review reports about one-fifth of its reader comments are critical.
They say John Grubenhoff should have released the egg-laden 20-pound female back into Lake Wallula so it could spawn and perhaps be caught again.
A fisheries manager with the state Fish and Wildlife Department, Bruce Bolding, defends Grubenhoff. Bolding says it doesn’t take many females to maintain a healthy population of walleyes. And he doesn’t begrudge Grubenhoff keeping a “fish of a lifetime.”
Bolding says the walleye population is under-fished in many Washington lakes and pools in the Columbia River.
