For years catching was my big part of fishing. My fishing buddies would mingle and talk of sensational numbers of fish. Today it is different: We talk about fish management programs that promise old-style returns. Their failures include the rules and regulations imposed on sportsmen that gave us barriers and businesses financial loss. Then what improved? Nothing.
So now, the fish rulers dictate to us some mathematical equation of science that falls short of predictions, while forgetting how they strangled fish populations to an acceptable level for the indiscriminate harvesters. These rulers have left languishing salmon in the same revolving door, spiraling down, making fishing about as exciting as watching grass grow and natural fish permanently unsalvageable. Proper perception is an ongoing sequence of pathetic measures promoting an injustice with spins.
My friends wish nylon had not been invented, realizing the only good salmon fishing we will see cannot be netted from our memories. Our “fishing tales” left and won’t be back, and no one but our side acknowledges why. Our rivers provide a funnel for the greedy and sorrow for us who pay for their way.
Larry R. Carey
Vancouver
