So another C&R question

[bigwalleye1]

While there's another thread going on the new catch and release regs, this spins off from that.

The DNR C&R decision supposedly takes into account the hooking mortality of the C&R fishery, and the tribal harvest, by spear and/or net, but this is my question:

Do you think it's better to lose the total sportsman's take weight to hooking mortality, then close the fishery (which is STILL POSSIBLE) or lose the weight to filleted fish within some size restriction and then close the fishery anyway?

Seems to me that if the total take is achieved in some combination of spear, net and hooking mortality in a C&R only fishery, the fishery will close anyway, and we're right back where we were last year. Maybe it's shortsighted, and a small piece of the puzzle/decision process, but I'd rather see somebody eat the fish we're going to kill (according to the numbers). Hooking mortality is a function of a lot of things, water temp, depth, length of time out of the water, where the fish was hooked which has some relationship to live vs artificial bait, etc., etc.

I know we're not going to change things by talking about it, but we're also not changing things with the C&R discussion.

What say you?