Steelhead World Record: Hoh River Controversy
There has been some serious discussion about the 30+/- pound Native Steelhead that was caught and killed on the Hoh River a couple weeks ago. There have been many that were out raged that he killed the fish becasue he wanted a skin mount, thinks it is a record….etc. I am not here to take sides although I was there when this all went down and the boys I chum around with up there were not happy with English Pete. All that a side, I have had discussions with some of my fishing boys regarding the size of this fish, we know that there are fish caugh/released each year in BC this size so why would this guy think that his fish is a record? especially after seing THIS. There was an interesting post over on moldy chum regarding this issue if you want more info on the subject. I just thought that I would show some more picture of fish that are clearly just as big or bigger that have been release and not taken to the “taxidermy man.” Any thoughts?
This is the fish that was taken out of the Hoh River. Estimated to be about 30lbs.
These fish were caught a few years ago in BC while my friends Jason and Kory where up there. You be the Judge.
Killing fish this day and age is bull shit with a digitial photo time stamp measureing l+g you can have a quality mount done that will last 5 life times. Your great grand kids will be selling them at a yard sale…. shitty call English Pete.
One pissed off Bull dog!!!
I don’t know the guy’s intent and neither do most people passing judgment.
If a record was his intent then he should be made aware you don’t need to kill a fish anymore to verify a record fish.
If trophy was his intent, fiberglass replicas last longer than skin mounts.
If his original intent was to release it, he made some poor choices in handling the fish for photography’s sake.
If his intent was to catch a fish to eat, then he was in his legal rights to kill the fish at his discretion. If that doesn’t sit well, the locals need to advocate making it no-kill.
If we take him at his word and the fish was bleeding out then what was the thing to do? What would you do?
The possibility of a fish bleeding out from our hooks is something we all have to accept and live with every time we make a cast.
In any event, the guy doesn’t deserve to be getting death threats for this.
Agreed- Fishing is fishing and there is no need to be violent in any circustance. He was following the law, which allows you to keep one a year- correct me if I am wrong. I am sure the fish has spwned many times over passing its genes on to other fish that will hopefully grow as large as this one has. Now lets hope more awarness is spread about the declining numbers of steelhead and make the consumers aware of what they are buying at the market is not of abundance. Hopefully this would make the price per pound drop down to .50/pound instead of 4.50/pound which would result in less netting by local tribes….but that is another can of worms.
You do need to kill a fish to verify it to IGFA standards, it needs to be weighed on a certified scale. The closest one to the Hoh is like, 2 hours away or something. Weather or not, the man is allowed a native fish a year on that system and he took it. Good for him. I work for fish and game in washington and I feel no remorse for taking the fish I am allowed to take. The last comment left by joey said it best- fishing is fishing, and that fish has clearly passed on its genetic qualities. Bonk it if you want to.
A friend of mine somehow knows this guy and I was forwarded the email he sent out after catching this fish. From his email, the guy seemed like a true steelheader who cherishes the resource. He was not out after a record or anything like that. He was fishing with his wife when the fish took. The fish was bleeding badly from the gills when landed (original email had a picture of this) He decided to keep the fish as a “fish of a thousand lifetimes” as he thought survival was unlikely. The fish was landed on 8lb tppet and may be an IGFA record. The fish was weighted a few times before it finally made it to an official scale much later. I thik it weight around 32 lbs fresh and just under 30 lb when officially weighed. I think he made the right choice.
You can get a personal scale, like a Boga Grip, certified by the IGFA and weigh it on land (river bank) in front of a witness and document it with measurements and photos then release it.
Boga grips are good for small pan fish etc… They do a lot of damage to a salmonid specie IE vertebrae etc.. In Washington you may not remove a Wild steelhead from the water unless it is going to be killed and legal to do so. I hope that some day we will see total wild steelhead release on all Washington rivers. But until then it is legal to take one per year on most Olympic Peninsula streams. I was there when English Pete caught that steelhead, he held it up for us to see. I told my customers that he would have rather buggered his sister than killed that fish, knowing that he would talk about it and spread the word on the Web…. It was not long ago that are catches and accomplishments were personal archives of slides and photos that were shared with friends and family, not the world. It is ego that gets us into trouble.
Capt. matt
Well I tell you what. I Love and Respect wildlife as much as any and more than most. None the less I eat a half dozen or more steelhead a year sometimes more.
If you got a beef with that than consider this, the Cowlitz salmon hatchery kills steelhead by the thousands and dump them in holes in the ground. Not to meantion the commercial trade.
One man keeps a record fish and people wanna crucify him, well go hug a tree, maybe it’ll make yah feel better
feaphoveafelt Sebycexytyday
we all pay for a license to catch and harvest fish. if some people choose to participate in catch and release, more power to them. just don’t look down on the folks that catch and keep for the table. these particular rivers allow a one native fish per year. if people don’t like this rule, get the word out and try to get it changed. no need to be a dick and say shit just because he kept a native fish.
Landed a 44 inch hatchery fish on the Klickitat that was actually same or larger as the fish pictured - there is a mount of it at the Rainbow’s End fishing shop in Vancouver, Wa - It was over 35lbs and sadly I didn’t get it “officially” weighed. It was landed on a 2x tippet - the girth on it was 26.5 inches - It also made the news on I think it was Koin 6 out of Portland.
Nice fish above - last time I checked; it’s legal to keep a native on the Hoh; personally - I would have taken pics and got measurements and released it, however - there was nothing wrong with what the man did. I know how it feels to be bashed by “the establishment” for catching Steelhead on a fly rod. Again - nice fish English Pete; welcome to my world
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