A Derby for the largest dead spawning rainbow...all proceeds to profit the bait shop and the local gin mill makes a few bucks. Cool.
A small trib. I know of that has natural reproduction, meaning some of the trout are left alone to spawn due to its remote location, was special to me.
when I called the...now retired...DEC biologist and voiced my concern for special regs...like shut it down and make it a nursery stream...he laughed.
the stunning "wild" lake rainbows I used to catch as a result of many reproducing in remote clean trips, are becoming very rare.
the main inlet to this particular lake is a total circus on opening day...news man there snapping pics of dead rainbow after dead rainbow...the DEC says no worry all the breeders have already come and gone
So that's why there are dozens of pics of hookjawed males and fat pre-spawn females...and the banks of the small creek are trampled and littered with styrofoam worm containers, cigarette butts, beer cans...and the news guy publishes pics on his web site...and within a few years...it is tough to find a rainbow at all...
true story.
Things will change only if and when minds are changed...and popular...albeit naive...opinion is that the rainbows are an edible resource, not a beautiful trophy fish to protect and enjoy...alive.
IMO...of course.