For me it isn't about not wanting to float fish for kings. For me it is about being FORCED to float fish for kings.

On top of that, this rule will make people snag more not less. I guarantee it. People snag because they can, a float doesn't keep them from doing it.

If someone has a float on their line and they aren't hitting fish they will resort to snagging with a float. It is that simple.

And again, I am not a snagger.

And again, we are not talking about a sensitive endangered race of fish either.....

There is NO WAY to turn the Ditch into a quality fishery....it's your typical Pugetropolis-King-Bankie-Clusterduck...buy a couple floats, get your fish and work hard to petition changes for next season.

Does the float actually have to .....float?

seriously?

Are you saying you fish a Jig sitting on the bottom and wait for your line to swim away and think you are not flossing???

Yes, the rule states bait or lure must be suspended below a float.

It not every river that gets this rule designation assigned to it.

"We each must clean up after ourselves and pets. Refer to Human and Pet Waste Advisory (page 10)."

Man, without all the trash, snaggers, and dumb rules, it would be awesome sitting in a cow pasture fishing a ten foot wide stretch of water with virtually no current.

But how can it be snagging if it is in their mouth? Impossible.

I have not fished this river in about 20 years. The first time I went down there, everybody used floats and most caught fish including me. Must have been about 92 or 93 as I hit it quite a bit while attending class at USC (University of Skagit County). I was young and thought it was great; big chrome, hard fighting fish. I didn't care about the crowds, the muck, the smell of tidal flats or lack of current.

The next year when I showed up, everybody had switched to no floats as they fished eggs right on the bottom. Most folks caught fish, I saw very few obvious snaggers. From one year to the next, 95% of the people fishing switched from floats to no floats. It was like there was a memo sent out to everybody that I didn't get. In order to go along with the crowds, I took the float off.

I have not fished there since but have often wanted to go back after hearing conditions improved but I'm not sure I could deal with the crowds now. Either way, fish can be caught on either method. It sounds like this was a measure put in place by WDFW to address a social issue, not a biological one.

SAMISH RIVER (Skagit/Whatcom Co.)
from mouth to Farm-to-Market Rd.
Bridge
(ALL SPECIES - Aug. 1-Nov. 30: night closure, only one single-point hook allowed, and bait or lure must be
suspended below a float.

Hello people! You can still use other methods to catch these fish. However if you use bait or a lure you must use the floaty floats!

So snaaaaaaag on!

While I understand that this rule may be frustrating to some, and its unfortunate that those of us who obey the laws get caught in the middle. I would hope that it would have the effect of making it more difficult to fish unethically, and if properly enforced force the knuckle draggers to adapt or move on. Personally I'd like to see the department enforce these types either monetarily or criminally out of the resource. I think float fishing eggs could be very effective on this stream. I know I used to do very well drifting straight eggs with no weight in there as long as there were not to many scale pluckers around. If left unmolested these fish bite bait very well. I understand that a lot of people do not see much value in this fishery due to the environment and the participants, but I don't see that as a reason to allow the bad behavior to continue. Make no mistake that bad element will move on to the fisheries you do value if left unchecked and in many cases they already have

The knuckle draggers ain't going anywhere...I'm for having the most liberal rules possible, and pay the farmers to allow littering and taking a crap on the river bank, too, to make sure the knuckle draggers stay there and don't visit anywhere else...unless they want to all pile in a '76 Vega and road trip to the Skokomish

Fish on...

Todd

in my experience, the guys in the '76 vega don't tend to stray far from home. it's the ones that show up in an F350, hop out dressed in matching realtree outfits, who grab their $700 shiloomis setups(rigged with a 3/4oz cannonball and 9' leader) and talk about how much they need to get eggs for steelhead fishing, that are a bigger problem these days.

Hey! I have seen that guy...

Okay so answer me this......

1. You have a barrel with 1000 kings in it. You could probably grab one with your hands......

2. Now you add 100 fishermen standing around it with floats on their lines.....

It is still going to be a snag fest because of point 1.

Hooking these fish in the mouth is only possible if you don't set the hook. You will snag one on the very first cast if you even pull your line back after it hits the water. I am not saying that some of my fish aren't flossed. I am just fishing for fish in the mouth so I can keep them and have no idea what is going on in that barrel full of kings. But I am saying this area is jacked up with hatchery kings and that is what makes it what it is.

These fish are raised for meat, the hatchery meets its goals, why not simply let this fishery be what it is, a grocery store. I simply do not get all the people who are "concerned" for it. What the hell are you concerned for?

OK problem solved, no fishing during low tide, high tide only.







So it is OK to have ethics in some places but not others??

I don't think people are concerned about the run of fish so much as they are concerned for the lame attempt at practicing our sport that seems to be rampant around hatchery zones for fall Chinook.

My post was a tic referral to the unfortunate truth that the jackasses who floss/snag fish, toss garbage around, get in fights, and generally make themselves and the rest of us look like laughing stocks are spreading, to lots of places and year 'round.

Fish on...

Todd

Public invited to propose
changes to recreational fisheries

OLYMPIA - People with ideas about how to improve state sportfishing rules can submit their proposals to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) through June 15.

Only those proposals that are necessary for resource conservation or provide a significant recreational benefit should be submitted to WDFW, due to a moratorium issued by the Governor’s office on non-critical rule making.

Craig Burley, fish program manager for WDFW, said people who would like to submit a proposal can use a new online form available on the department’s website.

"We are looking to improve the rule proposal process and make it more user-friendly with this online form," Burley said.

The form, as well as information about the sportfishing rule change process, can be found at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/rule_proposals/ . A printed copy of the rule change process and proposal form may be obtained by calling (360) 902-2700.

Sportfishing rule changes developed through this process will be available for public review and comment in early September. The final opportunity to submit written comments to WDFW on those proposals will be Dec. 15.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, a nine-member citizen panel appointed by the governor to set policy for WDFW, is scheduled to receive a briefing on the rule proposals during its December public meeting in Olympia.

The public also will have an opportunity to provide comment on the proposed rule changes during the commission's January 2013 meeting. The commission will take final action on the 2013-14 sportfishing rule changes during a public meeting in February 2013.

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.