For me, this issue is mostly seasonal. This season to be specific. It is time go get angry with the snaggers, trash and the WDFW.
Year after year, in much the same way I would get bent out of shape over the Seahawks, Mariners or Trailblazers troubles, I would just about go crazy getting tee'd off at the snaggers on North Fork Lewis.
Well Fall is here and so are the snaggers. At the hatchery there are/will be 40 or more snaggers each and every day for the next month and a half.
I have called people snaggers, thrown across their lines and tried to rip the rod from their hands and have sent in a few licence plate numbers in order to reduce the amount of snagging. Funny thing is that nothing changes.
The last three years I went down to the WDFW regional headquarters in Vancouver about this time of year and talked to them about the amount of snagging going on. Believe me they know.
It is a function of priorites and the allocation of resources. If there are several thousand*** Coho left in the river after the hatchery has had their fill, and "they" do not want them to spawn in the river.... aside from breaking the written law, there is very little impact from the taking of these fish. So most of the resource, as thin as it is, goes up into the hill where people are shooting guns. As an enforcement agency, which is more important.
Oh sure, there are a few tickets written here and there. It is not completely lawless. As much as I despise snaggers and their practice, I'm not going to get bent out of shape over it this year. The WDFW fully understands what is going on and it is their job to provide enforcement not the general public's. I will let them do their job as they see fit and not blow a fuse over the situation.
I would like to say that I understand that there are many rivers in the NW that are more sensitive to this type of impact.
*** The Lewis River Hatchery raise and release approximatly 1.6mm Coho (earlies and lates). Based on a 5% return 80,000 Coho could be showing up at the hatchery any given year.