Yes, it’s legal in some places. Is it sporting? Is it ethical? Does it increase mortality for catch-and-release anglers?

Or how about another favorite: Targeting Dolly Varden while the rainbows are spawning?

In certain fisheries across the state, like the middle Kenai River, both practices are legal, but concern us for the long term welfare of the rainbow trout fisheries, especially trophy trout fisheries.

Let’s start with fishing with bait for trout. As a kid fishing the streams of upstate New York, we used anything and everything to catch pan-sized brook and brown trout. Most popular baits were nightcrawlers and grasshoppers. Both baits were fished live. Trout would explode from their hiding places to inhale the tasty morsel and more so than not, the hook was deeply buried. We knew no better and kept the majority of trout we caught to eat, but I now realize that mortality was probably pretty high on the trout that we released. More recently, I fished a stocked lake for rainbows. My companions wanted to take some home to eat and bait was legal to use. We rigged up nightcrawlers and had a limit quickly. Very few fish were lip hooked.

I am not suggesting that fishing with bait for trout is ethically any different than fishing with flies and lures. Nor am I suggesting that it can’t be done with a low mortality rate. Certainly, it is very effective. A very attentive and experienced fisherman can set the hook immediately once a strike is detected. However, unlike other artificial lures, a fish tends more to try and eat the bait offered, and if the fisherman doesn’t set the hook quickly, I have noticed that there is a far greater chance of hooking the fish deep in its throat, insuring profuse bleeding and increasing mortality. In trophy, native rainbow fisheries, it is my opinion that everything should be done to protect this precious resource. If you must fish with bait then do it responsibly. As much as anyone, I am a fisherman that fishes what works. Lure, bait, fly—try them all and use the most effective. However, when I intend to release the fish, pinched barbs, single rather than treble hooks, artificial lures, and careful releases are the way to go in my opinion. If I have an itch to fish bait, then I go to any of our many stocked lakes where bait fishing is legal and pitch chunks of shrimp, roe, herring and worms.

When it comes to “targeting” Dolly Varden while the rainbows are spawning and catching rainbows, I can see no excuse for this behavior. If you are truly fishing Dollies and catch an occasional ’bow, which is probably inevitable since they are spawning and quite aggressive, it is understandable. But lately, we get too many photos of gigantic trout caught well before the June opener. If we expect to have healthy stocks of rainbows in our trophy fisheries, then they need the chance to spawn unmolested. This is a loophole in the regulations that we hope will be closed.

In the end, it’s the ability to catch-and-release giant rainbow trout that is one important facet of sport fishing in Alaska. In order to pass on that valuable gift, do everything possible to treat Alaska’s rainbows with the respect that they have earned.

—Marcus Weiner
Publisher