If you are fishing stationary gear on the bottom, ala the Samish leadhead method, your fish are snagged they just happened to be snagged in or the mouth quite often. The notion that any fish, let alone a king salmon, would root around in raw sewage and tidal mud (aka Samish substrate) to dig out and eat a chunk of lead and marabou is pretty much the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

Using the Samish method, the fish swims into your stationary line with an open mouth. When the fish continues to swim and/or the angler adds tension to the line, the hook/jig can quite often wind up in or near the mouth. Albeit a fairly creative and somewhat refined form of snagging, it is snagging just the same.

The points about trying to introduce angler ethics into a hatchery only zone are valid. I really don't think it is worth anyone's time trying to spruce up this fishery. Let people get them however they want. Pitch forks, dynamite, leaded trebles, whatever. In the end the main purpose of this fishery is recreation and groceries and I doubt that anyone who winds up on the Samish for either purposes is terribly worried about the quality of the angling experience or "ethical" methods.