To Fish, or Not To Fish

I'm camping this weekend at Montana Creek Campground near Talkeetna. It's my first camping trip in Alaska! Angie, Kaylee, a friend Rachael (her dog Wally) and I are going tent camping. There won't be air mattresses. There's no shower facility at the campground. The toilet is an outhouse. In Virginia Beach, this experience would be considered "roughing it." In Alaska, this is normal.

Another normal thing I'm finding here are the fishing regulations on catch and release fishing. We've got 5 different types of salmon here that all spawn at different times. Some spawning seasons overlap, but fishing regulations vary for each type as to when they can be caught and kept. I was informed that I wouldn't be allowed to keep any king salmon that I caught if I fished Montana Creek at the campground. When I read the regulations, I found that I couldn't keep ANY fish I caught there what-so-ever.

I don't believe in catch and release fishing just to do it. If fishing to eat the fish, and a fish is caught that isn't within length or weight reguation, that's one thing to throw it back into the water. However, fishing just to catch one, knowing that no matter what is caught it is to be released, just seems cruel to me. It's against my fishing "ethics." So, I won't be fishing.

Next weekend we are going camping on a friend's land down near Soldotna. They live just off of the Kenai River. I will not only be catching fish there, but I plan on eating every one I catch. Ok, I plan to eat every one I catch that I'm able to keep within regulation, of course.