Catch and release not under attack

To the Editor;
In reading John Holyoke’s recent piece, “Catch and release fishing not to blame for togue population explosion,” I was struck by the writer’s claim that catch and release is “under attack.”

This notion that asking anglers to catch and kill certain fish as a fisheries management tool threatens catch and release in general is flawed. While many Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife practices of the past are responsible for challenges of today, we, the anglers and hunters, are one of the most effective tools the department has to “manage” wildlife populations. If catching and killing lake trout will help IF&W better manage some of the finest cold water fishing habitat in this country, what’s the problem?

I applaud IF&W and their fisheries biologists for what they have done over the past 20 years in Maine, setting slot limits for trout, protecting legacy trout waters, designating catch-and-release-only waters and, yes, even encouraging anglers to keep and kill fish in some instances.

Josh Reynolds
Wayne