Well, there's that hotbutton I forgot about. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> LOL


Put me in the fisherman column, please. I've been fishing all my life, and flyfishing for native southern app. brook trout - among other species( the brookie is actually a char, btw ) for nearly 15 years. The latest target( well, it's been out there for some years now actually) for anti-fishing groups is children with the motto " fishing hurts". My reply is that yes, indeed it may hurt the fish to hook it, but it's nothing compared to what happens to your chicken nuggets, big mac or Long John Silver's meal.

Sport fishing is about the only reason I go camping and hiking...it's not THE only reason, but it's what got me interested in better ways to get into the outdoors, stay there longer and enjoy being there more. Fishing is a connection to the living world - and esp. fly fishing, because you must imitate( often to a maddening level) the insects on which the fish are feeding. floating that fly down a creek into the mouth of a hungry 6 inch brook trout I enter it's world - it's life and it enters mine as I hold it in my wet hands and gently release it back into the river. Why, you may ask? So that someone else might have the joy of "role-playing" with this beautiful creature. My friends and I rarely eat wild fish, because they are more rare than the stockers, or pond/lake fish....but occasionally I'll pick up some tilapia fillets at home, and once a year - or maybe twice a year we'll cook some fish around the campfire.

Anyone that finds fishing to be morally wrong should be filing their objections with the Kingfisher, the otter, the eagle or the bear. Ditto hunting - you want to argue your moral objections to hunting, you should first stop the coyotes, snakes, bats, monkeys, tigers, bobcats, ant lions, spiders, whales, sharks, etc. etc. etc. from hunting. When the animals you think you have to protect decide hunting is wrong, then it's wrong. Until then, the deer I shoot today is the jerky I munch on next week. Ok, now I'm gettin' hungry.


Besides that - Jesus was known to hang around with a bunch of hooligans that fished with nets; so I figure my fly rod ain't all that bad. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

i don't mind anyone having their opinions and stating them about hunting and fishing, but they sure better not be expecting to give their side and not hear mine. I respect their decisions, but just like I wouldn't push someone who was against it to go hunt a deer or catch a bass, they shouldn't expect me to throw paint on someone's fur coat or throw rocks at fisherman. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And by the way - I think it is AWESOME that this board is run to allow the opinions of so many different people to coexist. I know one fishing site that locks threads and deletes posts they don't like at the first sign of two differing opinions! No one will ever come to an understanding, or have any respect for the other side if every time something controversial comes up; it's swept under the rug and out the back door. Kudos to you guys and many thanks for the way you run this site. ( and not having to wade through line after line of filth is a wonderful thing too - I don't care what the verbally challenged think. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )