Whoa! whoa! whoa! let's not slag the angler so quickly without getting the full picture. I could have been very wrong when I used the word "moron" in my first post. Allow me to think outside the box. Is it not possible that he was just ASSISTING someone else who landed it ? Seeing that the fish is in "prime" spawning condition and looking at his kneeling position it looks like he was about to release the fish in a proper manner. It does'nt appear to me he was posing with his "trophy"as this "compleat" angler does not have his Sage rod and Calcutta TE reel to show off with it. Nor from his position is he facing the camera.
Good observation, F4L, no gaiters worn with boots. I lost both gaiters while wading in strong current one steelhead season as the velcro seems to come apart fairly easily under water pressure. Lesson learned is to use some other form of strapping over them to be more secure.
Looking at the shore background it's kinda muddy like and I don't recall anywhere looking like that on the Vedder/Chwk. Just guessing,
it looks more like the Nooksack or some other river. Maybe Koho knows about this.