Gamies on the Quill are writing tickets for snagging to people keeping fish hooked outside the mouth but gill plates forward!
Bout time they clarified that irregardless of the lame legal response you may get from Evan Jacoby!

Good for them get thoose snagels, plain clothed, just like Hawaii Five-0.

WoO Hoo thats absolutely great!!!!

now we just need about 1000 more gamies out there writting guys up for every single offence and judges that understand whats going on.

i was fishing on the oly pen this morning and on the way back decided to stop and check out the quilcene river...i cant believe that people fish this river. the water is so skinny and shallow at both bridges with tons of fish stacked up. there is no sporting way to fish in this river. i watched as some redneck carefully floated a hook into a pod of fish stacked in 2 or 3 feet of water and gave it a tug. after landing it i asked him if this was the local technique and he gave me a funny look and said it was legal in the mouth, and he did get that one in the mouth...now i understand why all the tickets are being written there.

Hey Stifler if you want to start your own thread on flossing please do so as that is a seperate subject. If you want to discuss the sporting worthiness of the Quilcene then how about taking my first suggestion?

fuzzy math??

No just an apparent lack of comprehensive reading skills and taking things out of context....please reread your post and then reread my response....thankyou. If you would like to discuss the 2 subjects that you interjected into this thread why don't you create threads for those discussions?

so i agree with your original post and you come back with jabs on my reading skills??
whatever...there's not much point in starting a new thread, it's done with this one.

My apologies Stifler I did not see that you came on this board last November....if you had been here in August and September of last year you would likely have known that the Quilcene is my location every year during the coho run. Your description of that river hit a touchy nerve. I fish it intensely for about 5 weeks and do find considerable sport in playing a legally hooked in the mouth fresh from the saltwater silver in that dinky water....you lose more than 3/4 of the ones so hooked....you don't see that happen on larger bodies of water. So my apologies sir and thanks for agreeing with the central theme of my post.

I am also quite horrified to find myself in agreement with RA3 ! Sheesh nothing intended by that....just gonna take some getting use too :p !

Gill plate forward on the Killsene what's the point? That system needs some serious attention. There are too many Gamies on that river and to few on others. So they get to write lots of tickets but, that river should be closed for Salmon with a small window for legal snagging. I say this because I have witness the assault on these fish and their habitat. Lets take a look at what I am trying to describe. We are talking about a very small shallow stream about 10 to 12 yards or less wide with people fishing both sides and on top of fish. No places to hide.

I think that a small legal snag window would allow a lot of crackers and fishing challenged people to get a salmon on a hook. Once the snag fishery is over, the river would be closed and the fish and habitat can recover and the fish that are sitting on reeds want be disturbed (Chum). :p The way it is now managed both people and fish are losing.(Fines, damaged habitat and stressed fish) I am aware that there needs to be a harvest but lets get it done and shut it down fast so that it doesn't drain us of resources needed to protect other systems. I saw way to many officers on that stream at one time and there are none on other streams that need protecting. North of us(Canada, Alaska) they allow some snagging for salmon if feasible. Go in get your meat and leave it alone.

These fish are constantly cornered the minute they start up that trickle of a stream. You can hook a fish in that river with any ol hook with string and stick as long as you keep your hook in the water and let gravity set it for you. If you want my 2 cents that is not fishing.

Just say no to Quillibilly fishing all together! I am very disapointed with this mess of a fishery. It is starting to stink like a sore that needs healing.

Send our Gamies back. We need them in a lot of other places. Its a lot easier to police a closed river with a snag legal season than it is now on the Killsene. Lots of Kings being hooked in the arse in other areas constantly with no help. Kings are endangered on most streams in our state.

The minute you arrive at the killsene be prepared to be ammused. And if you don't need the meat leave your fishing tackle at home because you probably wouldn't want to use it.

If you must go, do rent the movie "They shot Horses don't they" so that you can get into the spirit of this fishery.

So now you see why I don't think a Gill plate debate is indicated when it comes to this so called fishery, but a closer look at how to manage it better.

Actually if you were able to think about it my original post was intended towards a larger target......the "in the gill plate" logic in general on any and all rivers. But as you have chosen to attack so specifically I gotta ask...are you putting me in the same category as what you just described? Just want to know before eaten someones throat out again? I made a admitted mistake and apologized to Stifler but am finding it difficult to stomach your possible implications dude?

Gooose, Gooose, Gooose,

My throat-eating friend, here's a little thought to mull over while your back heals.

FACT: The Quilcene silver fishery is one of (probably tops the list) the most illegally conducted fisheries in the state!

You are probably the only "Righteous" fisherman that openly defends, and talks it up on any of these BB's. Face it, THAT FISHERY IS PLAIN DISGUSTING! When people come here and express their disgust, it isn't a personal attack on you so much as one on the fishery itself. You're a smart guy, and I'm sure an excellent fisherman, but you talk about the Quil like it's the hilight of your fishing year? If that's truly the case, all I can say is you've got to get out more! :p

To those of us here on the boards that have experienced "fisheries" like this first-hand, it just makes us wonder what the appeal could possibly be? To me personally, the bad just plain outweighs any potential good.

If you enjoy the Quil fishery that much, that you're willing to be associated with all of the sh!t going on there, hey that's completely up to you, but take a minute to understand where opinions like Stifler's and John Lee's are coming from. Most "Righteous" fishermen (at least the ones I know) wouldn't be caught dead at places like the Quil or the Skok. (yeah, yeah, I know I'm a utopian purist, elitist. Just ask LittleZoZo )

"Gill plates Forward" to me has ALWAYS just been a lame justification to keep a snagged fish. If anyone needs to keep a fish that badly (probably a dark one at that) that they resort to questionable tactics, IMHO, a re-examination of why you SPORT fish in the first place is DEFINITELY in order.

From what I saw when we visited the Quill, not ONE fish WE saw being taken were legally caught. We did talk to the under cover Gammie( 4 of them acting as fishermen one was a fly fisherman) and they said they had given out a few $500 tickets . I asked them about taking there gear and they said they have in the past got cars, boats and other gear but it is more of a hassel them it is worth, the $500 seem to work better. He showed me why taking there gear was not worth it. (cheap rod some one had ditched when they took off).

As far as the Gill plate issues goes, I was not sure exactly what you were trying to say,

Rrevised code in the F&G says anything fwd of gill plate is leagal, but I think it is up to the officer, if he sees that you are trying to line / snagg and it sticks int he gill plate or out side of the mouth then they were attempting to snag.

Sorry Divers but that just doesn't exist as a Revised Code.....if it does please cite it specifically...I'd love to see you do that...the only thing any one has is a bs answer from Evan Jacoby that states that generally you won't be nailed...I'll go with the officers who are writen tickets.

Been looking for that, that is what I was told when I called the Law dept. of the F&G in Olympia. Maybe you can get more out of them then I did.

Divers you and everyone can get a quote from Evan Jacby that in "general they will not write you a ticket for hooking them in the gill plates forward and bonking." Please all read that reply carefully...it does not say that the letter of the law won't be applied. Please read the reg's for me and recite after me ...."in the mouth." That's just what the gamies are doing this year on the Quil and other rivers.... cry me a mile my friends but that's reality and the law . You want to rely on someones half ass legal response when it comes to a $500 ticket be my guest ! Sheesh can any one read and comprehend?

we go through this pretty often but here it is again, it is clear by the regulations printed in the WDFW pamphlet that any fish hooked anywhere but inside the mouth is illegal to keep. Also the hook MUST have gotten there by the fished own deliberate actions! Anything else is illegal. Any gamewarden not citing people for fish hooked elsewhere is failing at his job. During the fall salmon season there should be (in my opinion) a zero tolerance policy even for fish caught and released! As snagging is the attempt at catching a fish where the fish does not volentarily take the lure/bait or fly. No where does it say anything about harvesting so keeping a snagged fish is not what should evoke a citation it is the act of snagging that should.
After 20+ years of salmon/steelhead fishing and only having foul hooked one fish i feel confident in saying that if a person commonly or even occasionally foul hooks a fish then there is something wrong with that persons method! It should almost never happen!
Also there is no such thing as too many gamies on any river. I would not cinsider getting checked twice a day every day excessive if it kept snagginf idiots away from the rivers.
I also think that instead of a non-bouyant lure restriction for salmon there shoule be a bouyant lure ban except for plugs.

Spinner fishermen don't snag, plug fishers don't snag, bait fishermen don't snag. The people who are snagging are using corkies and /or yarn. Sure maybe there are legit corkie fishermen for salmon but I have never seen one.

20+ years and only snagged 1 fish

Guiness book of world records here comes Robert allen..

I think you might have opened a can of worms here Robert allen!

First off ban ALL bouyant lures...hmmmm you think it wouldnt be as easy for a snagger to snag with a spinner or spoon

second legit corkie fisherman for salmon..c'mon! I have 3 local rivers that produce salmon with corkie and yarn and they are hooked IN THE MOUTH!

You said spinner fishermen, plug fishermen and bait fishermen dont snag fish...The key word there was FISHERMEN..
Snaggers are NOT fishermen...

but you hand a snagger a spinner and I garantee he will be able to snag more fish then by corkyie and yarn..

Judge, much?

If you've read many of gooose's posts, you'd know he lives right near the Quil. If I lived right near a river that gets black with fish -- any type of fish -- I'd fish there and enjoy it, too. I think most would. Fishing there in spite of some of the practices that may go on is not a moral failing.

Robert -
When are you available to instruct myself and others on "proper" fishing methods? A rhetoric question as I'm sure that your comment doesn't come across as you intented.
Over a lifetime of fishing (both gear and flies) and more than a few fish caught I would say that occassionaly foul hooking a fish is inevidentable.

I remember a summer steelhead that missed my waking fly, completely clearing of the water and landed on my fly which ended up hooked in the pectoral fin - even though I never even set the hook I ended up with a foul hooked fish on a surface fly. Coho in the river are notorious for ending up fouled hooked. Many times I have watched fair hooked fish roll up the leader, the hook fall out (barbless) and as the leader unwinds the hook ends up in a fin or elsewhere - another foul hooked fish. Chums are another problem - In the fall and early winter I have gone to trying to fish several feet off the bottom with my wet flies and still foul hook chums way more often than I would like. Given the forecast for chum returns in the Puget Sound area I would say that it would be likely that in a week of fishing in late November or early December with swung flies, drift gear and bait, plain yarn, spoons or other terminal gear it would be highly probable that any angler will have one or more chums fouled hook when brought to hand.

Eliminating corkies and other floating terminal would help reduced the flossing problem though there are many that are quite adept at this method using bait or yarn. Lots of intentional snagging occurrs with lures, jigs, and even flies. On the North Fork Stillaguamish (fly only water) there is a annual problem of folks (I refuse to call then anglers) snagging salmon using weight flies.

While we can and should continue to regulate fisheries to help to control this distasteful problem the underlying problem continues to be the erosion of our collective angler ethics. It is becoming more and more common for "fair chase" ethics to go out the window in favor of ego boosting success. The ultimate solution is ourselves not some magic "rule".

Tight lines
Smalma