[[email protected]]

Did you see Grant just now?
With the story of the Lewis River Snaggers?

I have NEVER been so appalled!
What is WITH these guys???
That is SPORT or HARVEST? OR CRUELTY? OR IDIOCY?

I can't figure it out!

They drug salmon over the rocks that had been snagged!

...and they were laughing while doing it!

I had to turn away! I couldn't watch!

Man, if there is one thing that makes my blood boil, I think I found it!

I'm SO glad I wasn't there. I'd end up in a fight.

[ 09-17-2003, 05:40 PM: Message edited by: [email protected] ]

 

[Reel Fun Fish'n]

A fight on the lewis at the hatchery area were they've been know to snag a fish or 2. Gee that would be a rare sight..( hey right) and if you believe that, well let me sell you a salmoneeze dictionary.
That snagging and yea the fights have been going on for as long as I've lived in SW Washington like 1986. And i agree it's sickening.
The really sad thing is there are or was 3 slots in the river there that if you fish them even close to correctly, you wouldn't even have to snag. But oh well some peoples childern never learn

 

[[email protected]]

It's so flagrant, they do it in front of reporters?
Why is nothing done? I just don't get it!

I just can't imagine, first, feeling good about doing it, as a person, and second, doing it so openly and laughing!

This really makes me disgusted for humanity.

Or, am I wrong?

I have never felt so strongly, I don't believe, about anything in my life. :depressed:

I guess the fish are going to die anyway, right?

Someone, please help me to understand this.

Why are there fights? Do people feel like me, and get mad?

How can someone justify what they are doing as alright? Play devils advocate, but please preface it with that, and tell me their side of the story.
Jen

 

[fishisabonus]

Fishing is so hot down there right now, there is no need to snag. I have been smoking fish constantly since Sunday (remember it brines for 24hrs) and that doesn't include the fish Mikie has given away or the beautiful brights that we didn't smoke!

 

[steelhead22]

What did I miss?!

 

[Fast Water]

Rats, I missed it.


We were processing Coho when Grant showed up and started taping to other day. He interviewed Jim (our manager) and took some shots of the fish processing and the circus.

They also came back and took some more tape this morning.

Jennie - I know what you mean. However, if you were gonna fight it would be a bit lop sided and a lot of the people there ya just need to stay away from. It is a sad sight for sure and I see it every day.

Maybe this will spark the WDFW Enforcement to write more tickets.

 

[Fast Water]

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.

 

[Sturgeonbait]

Some people accidently snag some don't but what realy gets to me is when Someone catches a fish see's how black it is and leaves it on the bank. One occasion I saw a man pull up a 40 + pound chinook out of the Lewis leave it fordead it was very black, then he caught his limit of bright ones and left. It was a big hen eggs werejust about comming out. When you do this the fish can't spawn then there are less fish that make it back that makes me mad.

Kalama high cross country is best.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">

 

[Fast Water]

I agree with you Sturgeon Bait. I have release two Chinook in the past couple days.

Tonight I helped a guy land a fat hen (about 30#) that was about a week from being ripe. He said that he was going to smoke it. :shrug: I went on to say that the meat was going to be pale and that there is not a Fall Chinook program on the NFL and all the fish are natural spawners.

He took it away... :shrug:

:smile:

 

[Pete]

"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."

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">I think the obvious start of a solution is to call the number listed below. They may not respond to every call, but it creates an incident report and if the numbers of incident reports are large enough, the legislature will have to fund more enforcement officers to address the problem. If they don't have a measure of the extent of the problem, they won't fund it. Use the phone, don't expect an arrest this year, but understand that every report helps get the mechanics in place to address the problem in the future.

 

[Fshklr]

Mark,
Great to hear of the efforts your putting into the hatchery and your continued support of the resource there.
To bad some just don't get it!! :shrug:
See ya on the water there mid Oct, once the modern firearm starts.

 

[Fast Water]

Dan - Thanks! It's fun getting the snot beat out of you by a few hundred salmon. :wink: I've only been there a couple days, but I really am enjoying the job and processing the fish! Let see if I feel the same way after 40,000 fish. :shocked:

:smile:

[ 09-17-2003, 09:59 PM: Message edited by: Fast Water ]

 

[Guest]

Told you the pro-snaggers are out there.

 

[Dr Strangelove]

I was at the Meathole with Snapshot maggoting today. Lots of darker fish. About 200 people, 80% snaggers. I waded out and tried jig bobber and rubber worms after work. We got outta there and try the lower river with plugs. Slow. I'd say stick to Alvins in the Columbia for brighter fish. Can't wait for duck/pheasant/Winter Steel.

[ 09-17-2003, 11:02 PM: Message edited by: Dr Strangelove ]

 

[AuntyM]

Jennie,

I haven't witnessed the Lewis situation, but I have seen the hoards on two Hood Canal tributaries. The Skokomish and the Quilcene both have reputations for being major snagging venues.

As I posted in the snagging thread, WDFW has very little incentive to step up enforcement. Fines go to the jurisdiction that the citation was written in.

I propose we get legislation passed to require a mandatory fish and game ethics class and community service picking up trash on the rivers in addition to fines. Violators would be required to pay for the class and WDFW gets to keep excess funds.

 

[[email protected]]

I'm in. Anything. This is just plain GROSS.

Jen

 

[Ratbaby]

I was at the NFL last night and was amazed at how many people are snagging. Hooked and landed a nice 40# buck Chinook and he was hooked in the mouth inside out that is. THat was my fisr trip to the river for a couple of weeks. I agree with AuntyM make em do community service picking up around the rivers all the garbage they probably left.

 

[Sturgeon 42]

Snagging is just cheating cause they can't catch them the right way..... :grin: :grin: :grin:

 

[rola76]

I second that!!! Learn to fish you snaggers

 

[slamin salmon]

The snagging was only part of the madness. You see the way the small amount of snagged fish were released. Drag the fish throught the rocks,then chuck it back in. Pull a fish half way up the bank, pull the hook out and just leave the fish setting there. They have hunting classes so why not fishing classes. At least then no one could say they didn't know what the effect was on the fish or that it was illegal.SS