My brother in Washington state...

...with a big rainbow trout he caught last weekend. He said he threw it back. I don't know why. (Photo taken by his fishing buddy.)

Due to the conversations below regarding the release of this fish, I did a little research and found out that a lot of West Coast US steelhead (AKA rainbow) trout are in decline and listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as either endangered or threatened. The same happens to be true for the Kamchatka Peninsula steelhead. The bright red cheek and stripe of this one shows it is a currently breeding male, another good reason to let it go.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_trout

I wouldn't be surprised if, because of the extremely cynical nature of our prez and his Secretary of the EPA, species like this were simply removed from the endangered list, thus enabling fishermen, fish & game lodges and tour companies to rake in more money. Business first and planet earth last on their list of priorities. www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/us/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-trump.html?mcubz=1&_r=0

You might not guess it, but the fisherman above is a flaming liberal and despises everything this administration stands for, particularly environmental issues.

On Explore