From the KATU site:
September 17, 2003
Salmon Snagging On the Rise
FALL, 2003 - Some call it a sport but on Washington's Lewis River that's not really true. Fishery officials and law enforcement officers say too many fisherman are taking advantage of plentiful salmon runs by taking the salmon any way they can.
Some fisherman equate it to the "combat fishing" they've seen in Alaska, where hundreds of anglers line the banks, casting lures, quickly jerking the line to hook or "snag" the salmon in the body or the tail with hook and line.
Along the Lewis River, assistant hatchery manager Jim Byrnes says more than 40,000 coho salmon could return this fall, and that the fish are so thick in the river right now, snagging - whether intentional or not - is easy to do.
"I don't like seeing this kind of unethical behavior and there's a lot of people here that don't like seeing it, but I'm not really sure what you can do about it."
It's easy to understand why the temptation to snag salmon is so strong, especially if you look into the water just below the hatchery intake. Here, an estimated five thousand coho salmon swim and rest, but just beyond the fish are scores of anglers, lined up elbow to elbow, casting, retrieving and sometimes snagging the fish.
While most of the fish are released so no fish and game laws are broken, many anglers, like John Askin of Vancouver, are angry about the lack of sportsmanship. He suggests there's another reason the activity goes on:
"Not enough enforcement - there's just not enough rule enforcement on this fishery.These guys snag fish after fish after fish and just burn up our fishing time as we wait for them to get out of the water."
Lewis River Hatchery Manager Pat Phillips says Washington Fisheries Law Enforcement officers are spread thin this season. Plus, this year's run of Coho salmon is produced at the nearby hatchery and the surplus fish could go to waste. As a result, much of the snagging activity is tolerated. "Law enforcement cannot be everywhere all of the time and this area just falls very low on their priority list. It is a problem, but you deal with it as best you can."
Despite the lack of an on-going law enforcement presence, fish and game officers have, and will continue, to issue citations for any illegal fishing activities that they see. But for now, snagging salmon is a problem that promises to last as long as the salmon run.
