But we ran a photograph from the trip in today's fishing report, and a few of you e-mailed or called to tell me that we shouldn't have run a photograph of angler Dwight Forington holding a wild steelhead out of the water.
Reader George Sharrett asked me to address this today, and he's right.
"It's a cool photo, and the guy is rightfully beaming with pride, but it has no place in print given it's a bad example and disregards the law," Sharrett said.
Forington called me this morning to talk about our mutual bungle. "I can't belive I forgot about that," he said. I can't believe I forgot about it as well.
State fishing regulations call for release of wild steelhead on most rivers. It also calls for releasing the fish without taking it out of the water. It's a good rule, and I follow it when I'm fishing for wild trout and salmon as well.
But everyone's mind shifted into neutral Wednesday when that beautiful fish came to the bank, and we snapped a photo.
I can tell you that Forington quickly released the fish right after the photo, and it swam off without a problem.
I'm sorry we broke the rules -- they are there to protect the fish -- and I promise we won't do that again.
Thanks to everyone who wrote or called. It's good to know that so many of you love and care for wild steelhead.
