There was a younger guy there saturday in a row boat. I think he was nuts though (or really tough) because he was not wearing waders and was wet to his stomach.

I remember fishing that crap down there when I was about 7 or 8 and with my dad, Kinda turned me off and I still have a bad taste in my mouth from it. I guess working at the hatchery for a few years and seeing all the crap didn't help any either. I have an Uncle that fishes it pretty regular. Kinda wonder if he's flossin or if his morales are as high as he would have us beleive...I know there are guys down there with standards, but why in the hell they fish there, of all places, is beyond me...

I too, am annoyed by snaggers and people keeping foul hooked fish. But I don't agree with your equating flossing to snagging. A snagger is trying to hook a fish and doesn't care where it is hooked, whereas a flosser is trying to hook fish in the mouth and doing no more harm than a bait or lure fisherman. Snaggers are repeatedly jerk setting on nothing, flossers that know what they are doing impart a swing. Where do the critical draw the line? Fishing for reds in alaska is a lining fishery, fly fishing for kings on the kasilof is a lining fishery, any fly fishing where you are using a swing will line fish. When I go to a fishery like barrier, blue creek, samish, wind, etc. I am going to put fish on the table as efficiently as possible without breaking any laws. I am not going for the atmosphere. There are plenty of other places I'd rather be fishing. It has been my experience that the biggest finger pointers are the ones not catching anything. My advice is to figure out why you are fishing the zoo. Is it so you can complain about the liners catching all the fish, or is it about putting the fish on your plate instead of your cat's.

A fish hooked OUTSIDE the mouth is an ILLEGAL fish. So I guess thats where the critical draw the line. You're right if I was a snagger I wouldn't complain about other snaggers.

Jeez guys - lighten up!

Fishing is supposed to be fun.

I go to the barrier to fish for people. I like to use the smallest corky in the box and a #2 green hook. After hooking a couple of fish the folks begin to drift down on me until I need to be careful with my backcast. then I move a hundred feet up the river and start it all over again. It's great fun draggin' folks all over the place.

If it wasn't fun I'd fish somewhere else, wouldn't you?

"If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."
Doug Larson

First off I do not believe in snagging and wish there would be more tickets wrote!!!!


Globall- I'm not sure thats right about outside of mouth being illegal..I have always read gill plate forward..unintentionaly of course....which means NO 10ft leaders...Or jerk jerk jerk!!!

Not too sure what you are reading TM!

The below is not a tirade against TM. Just a tirade in general.

That gill plate forward line is a load of crap. Always has been, always will be. You hear that line a lot on Snagger Row (insert your favorite here).

The State Wide Definition of snagging is:

"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"

If you are fishing in a region with Selective Gear Rules:

"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."

IE, since snagging isn't legal, this is still a line of BS. Also, most of the popular snagging institutions don't happen during a selective gear fishery.

I hate hearing that gill pate forward BS "excuse to snag" on the river.

What's that they say? "Ignorance is no excuse for the law?"

I used to think this board was about fishing, now after reading this topic Its about *****ing and whinning. I remember about a year ago when a guy could get a fishing report with out hearing political stuff. Yes some people snag, some people floss, some people use eggs and plugs. But you people apparently dont fish at all because if you did you would see that the barrier Dam and Blue creek arent the only places to fish on the Cowlitz. Thats just were few of the idiots that pick up the seattle times or fishing&hunting news on friday night looking for all the answers thinks those are the hot spots. Ive met some very nice people from this board and had a lot of fun fishing with them, but would sure hate for someones son or daughter to stumble across this web sight and start reading some of the topics.

Very well said Werner!!

Funny thing is, all these people moan and groan, so don't go!! Like Werner said, the Barrier Dam and Blue Creek aren't the ONLY places on the river. If you have a boat, go explore, that's what I do.

I'll say two things about fishing the Cow last year and into this year: 1) I NEVER fish in the crown, I always find my own place, and 2) I HIT FISH LIKE CRAZY!!

If you don't like it stay away, it's that simple, but don't bag on the river like the entire thing is trash.

Yeah way to go werner! It would be horrible if a young fisherman or fisherwoman was to stumble across this thread and find out that their snagging father is breaking the law. I'd hate for kids to find out about ethics and what being a true sportsmen is about.

Flossing is like shooting a deer with your gun during bow season. Not a slam dunk but its cheating. Not much satisfaction in it but you get to eat venison for dinner.

There I was thinking about the June 1st general river opener in Wash. and kind of missing it because I now live in Ireland. After reading these posts I almost forgot, I don't miss that one bit. Keep up the good work boy's, i have to go and C n R some sea runs on my local, oh ya I'll probably be alone. Just letting you envy me as I give you [Bleeeeep!] about the Cowlitz. Fish on!!

You're just hopped up on Stout again, aren't you headshakes?

I'm with Glowball. If you need to floss a fish, I hope you're man enough to not feel proud about it.