ROCKPORT, Wash. (AP) - A row of anglers cast their lines into the Skagit River at Rockport to protest regulations that prevent them from catching steelhead.
No fish were caught in Saturday’s protest. There were no hooks.
The Skagit Valley Herald reports (https://bit.ly/1rXYM6g ) the group also carried signs that said, “Catch and release is not a crime” and “Let the people fish.”
The anglers want the state to allow the return of a spring catch-and-release season. They say it would not hurt the recovery of wild winter steelhead.
The Skagit and Sauk rivers have been closed to wild steelhead fishing in the late winter and early spring season since 2010. Anglers can fish in December and January when the hatchery fish come through, but many prefer the wild steelhead for their aggressiveness.
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Information from: Skagit Valley Herald, https://www.skagitvalleyherald.com
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