Here's something that happened to me last May while fishing for spring Chinooks in a well known Southwest Washington river. I'm not sure if my actions were legal but I'll throw it out to the BB readers to get a variety of opinions.

In early May I was drift fishing eggs while about 30 feet downstream was another guy plunking with sand shrimp behind a spin n' glo (and 5 oz. of lead). The plunker's rod starts to bounce so he picks it up, sets the hook, and begins playing a nice fish. The fight seems sorta odd and the plunker has a difficult time getting the fish to shore. I ask if he needs help and he indicates that he does. So I set down my rod and wait till the fish comes closer before I can tail him. As the fish gets closer, I can see that's it's snagged near the underside of the tail, right behind the anal fin. As the plunker pulls the fish in (backwards), it's obvious to both of us that it's snagged. (It's the first and only time I've seen anyone snag a fish while plunking). The plunker pulls the fish up to shore where I was standing. As I was about to pick up the fish, the hook pulls out. So now the fish, without being hooked, is laying at my feet in about a foot of water. I hesitate before picking up the fish, hoping that it would quickly dart back into the river so I wouldn't have to justify helping to land a snagged fish. But it didn't. The plunker screams at me to pick it up, which I did. So I handed him his fish (a 20lb hatchery male), which he prompty bonked. I then resumed fishing.

Was any of this illegal? The plunker was NOT trying to snag. The fish was snagged unintentionally but it got off the hook before the fish was landed (sort of). Plus, the snagger didn't really land it - I did. So, was the plunker guilty of snagging? Am I guilty of aiding and abetting a violation of regs? Should I have returned the fish to the water or was I right to hand it to the plunker? What would you have done if you were me?

Any thoughts are welcome.


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MSB