i heard someone talking today about people who were deliberately "snagging" their fish. i have just started river fishing this summer and have never seen or figured out how one could do that on purpose. i feel a tug on my line and i set the hook, i dont know any other way to go about it. can someone explain this so i can make sure i know what to look out for?

there are many ways to snag.I am not going to teach some body how.You keep fishing just the way you are.The rewards from fishing far outway the meat from snagging.You keep fishing the rivers and you will inevatably run into snaggers and hopefully it will piss you off.

KSR,

Look up the WDFW definition of "snagging" - Page 13 in the 2001 WDFW Sport regs:

"Attempting to take fish with a hook and line in such a way that the fish does not voluntarily take the hook(s) in it's mouth."

A lot of different techniques can be used to snag fish. Just remember that it's not the technique to blame. It's the person who chooses to use that technique to snag.

Also, most snaggers names start with Billy Bob... :p

Five yard drifts or location hooksets is what I like to call em. The mentality being that during the course of a drift set the hook in those locations were bodies are felt. Always frowned upon when others are doing it!

FJ...out.

Oh, does flossing fall in the snagging department?
Just curious.

FJ,

The flossing thing has been talked about a lot on previous posts. I personally think flossing is snagging. If the fish doesn't voluntarily take a bait or lure I think it is snagging.

KSR just look for guys that "get a bite on every cast."

~ Dr Pepper

Avoid spawning grounds and summer time low h2o stacked pools and most likely your snagging ratio will go down. I can't seem to enjoy hooking fish on spawning redds so I naturally avoid it. It makes me feel guilty if I hook one even in the mouth.

KSR,you will know these snaggers when you finally run into them.They have succumbed to the Dark Side.I don't think many of them really know how to fish and aren't willing to invest the time,or seek proper assistence, to learn to fish the right way.Snaggers will never get any better at fishing.
Starting out can be a little frustrating.Keep at it.Continue to learn this sport the right way and you won't regret it.

How do you know that the flossed fish wasn't trying to eat lead.

A good sign of a flossed fish is one with the hook stuck outside the mouth, rather than inside - in which case it is considered a snagged fish and illegal to keep; even if the hook point went thru the outer jaw and poked the tip of the point thru into the mouth cavity.

I dare you guy's to go on the fly fishing forrum next door and start this debate.They seem to think that the shallow water chum fisheries are the icing on the cake and the only ones snagging are the gear guys.

As someone who flyfishes and gearfishes (what a distinction! - please inject sarcasm)I can only say that I have never heard of a flyfisherman 'snagging' any kind of fish. This is because of the type and method of presentation....just as a proper 'gear' fisherman does not 'snag' fish.

Thomas, re: fly fishermen snagging, I have unfortunately heard and seen too much of it. It does happen. You'll see it in groups that fish for chums and sockeye. Despite great evidence to the contrary, there is a certain group of non-sportsmen who use fly gear who persist in believing that sockeyes and chums will not strike a fly. These folks think it is therefore justified to line the fish and try to snag them in the mouth. Some of them are pretty good at it.

You see most of the sockeye lining in Alaska in the roadside streams. I have seen some of the chum lining here in washington. Which is sad, because it is easy to catch doggies fairly.

I agree. Even fly anglers can and do snag salmon, particularly where the fish are concentrated. It is often unintentional. A case in point - Beginners Hole on the Kalama River in September. It's flies only water during Sept-Oct but the fish are stacked so thick it's not hard to snag/floss one. I realize virtually all the folks fishing this hole are legit fly anglers. But there are some who aren't so inclined.

Unfortunatly I grew up fishing chico creek.Anybody that has fished down there knows why I posted that dare.It is a sad.Don't understand how people can pull any satisfaction out of corralling a bunch of chums, then casting out into the middle of school of thrashing fish,Hoping to hook one in the mouth.Hell they block the creek to keep the fish out in the bay.the fish make repeated drives at the legs of the fishermen,untill they finally swim through theie legs.Inevitably one of the fly fishermen gets on one of the more blatant snaggers and the debate begins.something about jumping stacked up salmon that brings out the worst in some people.

wow it looks like I am already swimming upstream!

If you really want to learn to snag go fish the Samish down low! You'll learn all you want! I went this year and couldent believe it! I saw over 40 fish bonked and NONE were close to being hooked in the mouth! They have a pact up there or something. They actually congratulate other anglers as they slide there King or Silver to the bank by there tail! Biggest joke Ive ever seen!
A Game Wardon could clean up there! Plenty of places to hide and witness this hillbilly fishery. And they think there skilled anglers! What a joke!

Bob D

Samish, Carbon, Humptulips, Satsop, Barrier dam, etc... The list is endless. Wherever salmon congregate, so does the scum.

RTi, how can you say a fish with a "hook stuck outside the mouth, rather than inside - in which case it is considered a snagged fish and illegal to keep"?? a fish hooked in that manner would not always be snagged, it could have made a fair chase at the bait/lure and just missed getting the hook into its mouth...since parker referenced the regs in an earlier post, lets open our books to page 13 again and follow along at home - under Selective Gear Rules (last sentence) "If any fish has swallowed the hook or is hooked in the gill, eye, or tongue, it should be kept if legal to do so."..."legal to do so" meaning if that particular species/size etc is legal to keep during that time of year. a fish's eye and gill is very much outside the mouth and under the rules would be legal. i grew up near redondo and would cast buzzbombs off the pier for salmon when i was younger, we would hook a salmon in the tail once in a while. someone told me (i have no idea if this is true or not) that a salmon would swipe at its prey with its tail to stun it, then turn around to take it. this seemed to explain how that would happen, but in no way can that be considered snagging especially in saltwater where they are so scattered.

KSR,

Salmon stacked up in rivers RARELY, if at all, go out of their way to chase corkies with big hunks of yarn and a 5/0 hook.(It's a general statement. I'm not trying to start a debate about salmon taking corkies!) You could justify keeping the fish a million ways, but the bottom line is you know if you're INTENTIONALLY snagging or not. If it's unintentional, release the fish unharmed and try again. If you know that by jerking in the middle of a drift is going to hook a fish and you do it anyway, you're right there with the rest of the snaggers. In saltwater areas like the Redondo pier, those salmon are suspended in the water column, and along comes a buzzbomb ripping up and down with a treble hook attached, and hooks it in the tail. Like you said, it doesn't happen very often, but it does happen. I can pretty much guarantee that the fish wasn't trying to stun the buzzbomb with it's tail.