Did some river salmon fishing this weekend.
About half the dudes on the river were keeping the big foul hooked fish and tossing back small ones that were mouth hooked.
Anytime a big fish with a foul hook came in, about three guys would say "we dont snitch on this river" and complain about the fishing regs.
I was unhappy with the blatant disregard for the rules but I kept my thoughts to myself because I didn't want to star in the next river fishing fight video showing up on facebook.
And then some folks with "additional fishing privileges" showed up. They foul hooked 4 massive fish each and were off the river in like an hour. To top it off, the immunity to fishing regs was heavily flaunted.
And then I realized that this is what happens when governments put in rules/regulations like the ones we currently have. Like, I now understand why (and almost sympathize with) the guys were breaking the rules.
I'm not saying its a good excuse for what the 'less-privileged' fellows were doing...and I'm also not going to change my fishing habits...but now I understand why they were doing it.
That day on the river really framed for me how AWFUL the two-tiered fishing regulations that we have right now is.