The Accidental Environmentalist - Newbies and Regs.

I share this story as a "lesson learned the hard way" from a newbie. I was out this AM at Mukilteo and about 6:45 AM I get a nice hook up and it turns out to be a 24" Coho. I had studied the regs the night before and knew I had to release Chinook but maybe a Coho was a keeper. I even had printed out the Salmon ID pages and sure enough- I had a Silver. Then I noticed the adipose fin and knew I had a wild one and the example if on the page was a Coho so I assumed it needed to go back. It was great fun catching and it was a beautiful fish but I dutifully released it back for someone else. Then I encountered some other fisherman who explained that I could have kept it. Damn.. I thought I was being such a good steward of the sea.

A couple of pinks were added to the day but it still didn't quite make up for my personal stupidity. So for any other newbies out there, do take the time to figure the regs out. I wish I had.

No worries YY. You're not the first to have trouble w/ the regs. Landing a coho is awesome so pat yourself on the back a little.

Z

Been there and done that.  

It's better to err on the side of caution anyway.  Those tickets are spendy.

Oh, and congratulations on catching that coho!