Officer Bob overly with the wdfw Is trying to have a boundary line drawn from eladen gardens to the old wdfw access on the opposite side!
This will totally shut down all bank access on this terminal fishery for king salmon.
He said he was to late to suggest it for this year or something like that but he will get the proposal in for this years cycle.
Normally he would not spend so much time there writting tickets too snaggers. He would be out protecting native fish naturally spawning in rivers. But so many calls come to the office about gorst creek that he ends up having to spend the majority of his time there while native fish are getting hammered! So his solution is to close it and it will probably happen.

All that is going to succeed in doing is putting more snaggers in the rivers.


I suggested to him that the state raise penalties for snagging and open hoodsport and the gorst creek terminal fisheries to snagging just like they do in alaska for some terminal fisheries up there. That way he could spend more time protecting wild fish stocks without getting calls to protect fish that are just raised for sportsfishers and indians.

Yes snagging is unsporting and all that jazz but people do it and will continue too to the end of time. Why not have them do it somewhere they cant hurt anything. might mean alot less snagging going on in the rivers if the snaggers can do it legal somewhere else.

Hey Micro

Here's an idea that will get them peeing in their shorts!

Why not open up some of these traditional snagging areas to snagging? Make them buy a special snagging license with certain limits and conditions and make these fees go directly into the "enforcement funds"!

That way the guys who want to "snag" can do it legally, and also pay for more enforcement officers to patrol and protect all those wild fish! It's kind of like making marijuana legal and charging really high taxes on its sell, so that the law enforcement officers can concentrate enforcing the laws that stop the use of the really bad hard drugs.

Since these guys are going to snag anyway, why not make them pay for doing it?


OK, bring it on!

Cowlitzfisherman

that doesn't sound too bad cfm. make snagging legal on waters that are terminal fisheries only. i could care less about snaggers in those kind of places, it's the ones going after wild fish or poaching and snagging at the same time that get me!

Yikes, I see at least a two pager developing out of this thread.

Anyway, I've been to a lot of places where snagging occurs, and I've seen the types of people these fisheries attract. Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel. If these people are already fishing illegally, usually blatantly, why would these people pay extra to get (not "fish for") fish this way? Not to mention, snaggers will snag fish wherever they can, legal or illegal. Last thing I want them to do is hone their skills to use elsewhere. Why not just increase the fines by something like 10 times? People would still be stupid enough to do it and the state would bring in 10 times more money.

Another thing to consider: fishing is suppose to be fishing. What kind of message would this send to the general public about fishermen? Wasn't part of the reason the net ban initiative a number of years ago failed was because the public saw fishermen as just being greedy and wanting more fish? Seems that most places where excessive snagging occurs are absolutely trashed as well.

CFM,

That would take away the fun of not getting caught!

Actually, I am all for your proposal!

Through I am not a bankie, I enjoy the Sinclair (Gorst) fishery. As the season progressess, I like to troll Mag Warts down by the tresle. Unfortunately, I have to wear a hard hat because 9 out of 10 guys are throwing 4 and 5 inch buzz bombs in water less than 10 feet!

fish monger

Let's talk a little about your reply!

You say:
Have you ever fished in a state where snagging was legal? Have you ever fished for a species that the "snagging method" was legal to use? Since you have "seen" these types of people . . . what do they look like? Are they malformed? Are they a special color? What the devil do they look like?

Maybe in our state, snagging is frown upon, but in other states and for other species, it is not! Especially if a specie does not want to feed or bite! Does that sound like a spawning salmon that has entered fresh water to you? Hummmm!

The Bottom of the "barrel" to you may be the frosting on the cake to some other fisher. So why not let that fisher pay the big bucks that are needed to increase our enforcement?

You say;
That's simple you just triple the fines for not having a "snagging license"! What judge would let someone off the "hook" for snagging when all he had to do was to buy that special snagging license?

You don't have to worry about the guys "honing their skills"! Those guys don't need any help from any of us!

You say;
The problem with that logic is these guys are not that "stupid"! And the courts will not make "punishments" that strict for a fish!

Finally, you say;
The message it sends says; if you want to "snag" at certain terminal fishing areas, you are going to pay a price to do so! The general public will not look at snagging in special areas as bad, IF fishermen are made to pay a premium price to do so!

For many years now we have tried to stop snagers from snagging with almost no success. So why not try something different and see if the sport fishing can make a difference though trying something new and different?

Cowlitzfisherman

There are several streams that I believe should be closed the Quilicene is one. Last year I watched severlar entire families snagging silvers and the summer chum, which are not all that abundant in that river. When I found a game warden he told me he had written tickets there so often that he was going to be tied up doing paper work for weeks. He also said he couldn't go back with me becaue he was watching some Indians who were netting over the line and he planned to ticket them when they came in.

IMHO any stream or river that is as low and clear as the the Quicicene should be closed. The fine for fishing closed waters should be at least $500.

Yes at least $500. One thing I would also like to see in the reg book is the amount of the fine next to the infraction.

surecatch if its hatchery fish like the quilcene who cares, why have it closed and lose more fishing opportunities. think about stuff like that before you want to close fishing opportunities.

Rockfish:

There are many reasons why I don't care to see flagrant snagging. Including the message it sends out. In the example I mentionded there were entire familys, mom dad and the kids all happily snagging salmon.

On a more practical level, as I mentioned, they were also snagging rare summer chums.

I do not consider snagging a fishing opportunity. I consider it an unethical method of harrassing fish. If snagging is a fishing opportunity then I supposed dipnetting brood stock in the hatchry holding pond is also.

I agree with ya on the chums but there is a small percentage not snagging and thats our tax dollars paying for those fish. what should we do then just let all those excess fish go to waste, I would rather fish and do fish for them 99.9% of the time for them not in the river but I do enjoy wet wading on a hot august day on the quilcene. and I do enjoy those 8 plus lb silvers from the twin spits spooling my fly reel in august bound for the quilcene. pods of quilcene bound fish in northern hood canal would be a shame if it was a thing of the past.

i consider the idea of closing water just because of snaggers idiotic, no offense to any of you. why close good water just because of the bad guys? just another lost fishing opportunity my 40 bucks on a license pays for

CFM,

You're right about snagging being a popular and legal method for getting some species of fish. I know it's about the only way to get paddle fish in the midwest, and I'm not going to touch the sockeye flossing issue. I was refering to salmon fishing here in the NW.

About the "bottom of the barrel" comment: too late now, but yeah, I walked into that one. I've just had too many bad experiences where I've confronted snaggers that I swear, if they had a gun, they would have used it on me.

I'm sure some would, but I just don't see people paying a large sum of money to snag. Out of curiosity, what do you think the premium should be for a snagging license? That might be a good topic for a pole. Actually, the legalizing snagging issue should be a whole new thread.

I know we're suppose to get an over abundance of salmon to many of our streams and they'll be plenty of excess fish. What do you think about just selling the fish with proceeds going to law enforcement? After all, where's the satisfaction in paying a large sum of money for the opportunity to drag a fish out by the tail via a 5/0 treble hook? Might as well just buy the fish. I just have a hard time with it because snagging goes against everything I've ever learned and have been taught. Ethically and morally, it just doesn't seem right. But who knows, maybe times are changing.

who cares about the gorst run. That run is entirely man made. They should open up that entire creek. The fish don't even spawn in the creek. The hatchery just kills the fish that make it there and plant fish in the creek for years to come. I remember that it is acutually legal to fish in the creek but just not for salmon.

Oh sure lets close more fisheries and concentrate more anglers on wild runs. Lets make snaggers out of everybody because there will be so many people crowded in on the few remaining open fisheries that the fish wont bite a damn thing.
I use to slay the kings at the skok but since its popularity increase I have to get there early in the morning to be able to catch fish legally. During the day its nothing but a snag fest rip rip rip rip rip that line through the water, make sure you stand right over the fish in bright clothing too, and you have to stand in the water to be able to cast all the way acrossed the river which is a whopping 20 to 30 feet.


The idea is to draw snaggers out of the woods give them some places where they can snag legally and not do damage to naturally spawning fish. The wardens are having to spend most of there resources protecting fish that are basically worthless to the ecology of this state. Terminal fisheries only purpose is to provide for recreation, and they are of some economic value to a few small towns and tribes. Closing these fisheries is only going to make things worse for everybody.

I believe that if we open some terminal fisheries to snagging there will be less snagging going on in the woods. Snaggers wont have any of the worries associated with the illegal practice, they wont have to look around and worry who might be calling the state. With that peace of mind there bound to concentrate more on legal fisheries rather than illegal ones.

Fish monger

You asked ;

You or I wouldn't pay anything extra for a snagging license, but there are plenty of people out there who would. Not everybody is in it for the pure sport of it. Many fishermen are pure meat fishermen and most likely would be happy to pay a little extra for those "guaranteed biters". A couple of trouble hooks are a hell of a lot cheaper then buying 20 new spenders, plugs or jigs! These people want fish, and they will pay that extra fee to get them! I would rather see 100 hatchery fish being snagged then one hatchery fish being sold. At lease the fishing industry will be economically benefiting from a fish that had been snagged compared to a fish being sold by some fish buyer.

There was a time about 35 years ago that I thought snagging salmon was really fun! That was when I young and had just started to fish for them, and I didn't know how to catch one in the mouth, even though I had tried to!

I can remember driving 9-10 hours to get to a river that had salmon in it to catch. I can remember spending all my money on buying lures and stuff. I can remember buying all the gas, food, and camping gear to get me there. At the Time, I was having fun even if I was only snagging the salmon that I caught! It was illegal then, but I just didn't care because I was having fun just fighting them. Even though most were dark and on there redds, I was still having fun fighting them!

So yea, people still do like to "fight fish" even when they are not hooked legally in the mouth !

People will continue to snag fish, so why not make it legal at certain areas that can justify it? The law enforcement can benefit and so can the guys who are going to snag. Like I said earlier, double the fines for snagging out side of these special areas and let's see what happens!

Its way past the time to try something new!

Cowlitzfisherman

I guess another concern I would have is.. If we open legal snagging in designated area, would we have more snaggers in undesignated areas? Seems to me if we did have a snagging license, we might find people snagging in other areas just becasue thy have a license.