Hello all. It is not often that we as a community are given an opportunity such as the one which I am about to present. No - this is not a solicitation in any way for funds, gear, goods, or what-have-you....what I am offering to this group is the chance to help define a small section of the Book of Fishing Ethics (a mythical publication contained primarily in the mind of the fisherman.)
The question of the day pertains to the Philosophy surrounding the question of "When is a fish caught?" This, as with most philosophical questions, might seem at first like an incredible waste of mental energy....but I encourage you to dust off your Flyshop-Logo-Embossed Thinking Caps, fire up those synapses and prepare to opine. -----------------------------------------------------DISCLAIMER------------- ------------------------------------------ What you are about to read is entirely true. After having been duly reprimanded by Master DonObiwan Ordes (a.k.a DonObi Wannabe, a.k.a. DonObi Wantoomany) for my, shall we say, inaccuracy in Piscatorial Enumeration, I don't want to have people thinking that I am exaggerating...we are talking about ONE fish here...I think. Last night I was fishing the Salty Pacific by the pier in Santa Barbara, Ca (future home of yours truly...Santa Barbara, that is...not the pier). After quite a long period of not catching anything (while watching my friend repeatedly hook up) I began to become quite desolate. Cast after cast....nothing. Then (and the Wheel of Fishing Karma spins and stops on......I'm not sure).....hook up. To something with weight. That doesn't move. It just sits there. "Crap...just a hang-up," says this future-philosopher. Then the hang-up moves a bit. "Oh boy, not a hang-up." I start to reel in....feels like I'm pulling in a piece of lively kelp. "Bummer....lively kelp," says I. My buddy had come over to see what kind of hog I was pulling up...then quickly lost interest after the "life" slowly ebbed from the "kelp" which I had so artfully tricked into taking my fly. As I pulled my catch to the last five or so feet of water...my fly breaks the surface...and it is snagged on a long piece of green nylon. "Aw crap...a piece of green nylon snagged on a piece of Ex-Lively Kelp," thought I. And then.... My Green Nylon Kelp Fish decided that it didn't like the beach...and took off... Now - upon bringing this heretofore unknown creature back to the beach I noticed that it was actually a halibut of the Quite Large persuasion attached to a green nylon stringer. Apparently some sad soul had caught a nice halibut, decided to put it on a stringer...and promptly lost it back to the welcoming arms of the ocean. Said halibut was landed and, to the tune of much laughing, my friend and I started to philosophize (which consisted mainly of a lot of head scratching. Here's the question: Did I catch my first legal halibut? Points to keep in mind: -I did land this fish -I did cast the fly...played the fish...landed it without any assistance -the fly was not in the fish's mouth...or even TOUCHING the fish at any place on its body...it was attached to the STRINGER So - If a fish is landed but only because of a snag on something left behind from another fisherman...is it really caught? Another point for consideration...if the person who had initially caught the fish was a C&W guy (or gal)...and if the only reason that I caught this fish was because they had ORIGINALLY caught it....do I lose any Purist Points (please see the recent comment as a JOKE!!!)....am I to be classified as a C&W Fisherman-by-proxy (twitch....shudder....)? So - for those of you who have been kind enough to stay through the whole story...now is the time for you to cast your vote. Did I catch a legal halibut? Yes or no. Or maybe.... Justify your answer...remember that we are defining the philosophical standpoint for posterity. Everyone has an equal vote...I'll let people know what the final outcome is (a note to our esteemed delegates from the great state of Florida....we're only voting ONCE per person....). Cheers, Chris (a.k.a Chrishopper)
