I guess I know why their is no cut throat trout left in your holes now after you go though Ralph. Killing one third of them Jesus
How would you know how many are left in my holes?
There are few or no cutthroat 'holes' in the FV/LM that are subject to a bait ban yet almost every study done on cutthroat show short term mortality from c&r bait fishing is 40% or more.
I almost exclusively fish for cutts with a fly. I am under no delusions that all or almost all the fish I catch survive and are fine after release. I don't stand or hang around catching dozens of fish when that is possible like some people.
I think you like others need to educate yourself about the consequences of your 'choices'.
Exactly what Rodney is saying "the importance of catch and release is not understood and recognized at the department."
they understand it far better than you or many others. There have been many so called 'meta-studies' that have combined the data of the thousands of c&r studies done over the last 30 to 40 years and on the whole when the sort of tackle used - bait, multiple barbed hooks, the environment; saltwater fish have higher mortality, fish have higher mortality when water temperatures are higher in warmer seasons - the overall effect is mortalities are much higher than the typical propaganda published on angling websites and magazines. But I am sure you have never heard of such studies and you just swallow the tripe of that propaganda whole and think it makes you a better person than someone who doesn't take such a shallow approach.
This is leaving out the non-lethal effects that look increasingly more serious than previously imagined.