For those of you not sure if anything will happen if you call in or e-mail your complaints to WDF I am posting this in hopes of encouraging you to continue to call or e-mail in about illegal activities that you may see taking place. The following is an e-mail sent to WDF:


I have been fishing the Skokomish River quite regularly and I have seen numerous fisher persons blatantly snagging King salmon. Most of these snaggers are using a double barbed hook in a barbless restricted area, most are taking more than a one fish limit and don't seem to have any regards for restrictions on the Purdy creek closed area. This activity is taking place all up and down the river and is not restricted to any one area.

I realize that Mason county is not your area however, if you could relay this information to the responsible officer in charge I feel he could do some good in that area. I would be glad to e-mail to him direct if I had his address.

Thank you for your time.

Mark

Here is the reply:

Mark,
I'll be seeing the Sergeant tomorrow and I'm going to work the river in the morning. I've had friends tell me there is a lot of snagging being done on the tribal side by young tribal kids, but it sounds like you're talking about adults. Get back to me and I'll tell you what I found.
Steve

Here is my thank you back:

Steve, thank you for taking the time to hear me out and to respond by working my complaint. I appreciate your efforts and I would be interested in the outcome.
A friend here at work fishes the Nisqually regularly and he mentioned an increase of enforcement presence by your department and by the M.P.'s from Fort Lewis. Thanks again for your efforts.

Mark

Here is the report back from WDF with the results on the long Labor day weekend:

Mark,
We worked the river for two days last week. We issued a total of 29 citations and took one subject to jail. Most of the cases were for snagging and over possession of salmon. We have started to work the Nisqually and Mcallister Creek. I'll keep you updated as you request the updates.
Steve De Miero

The system does work and I encourage you to take the time to report and follow up. I feel that an honest e-mail will do more than a phone call. You can usually get the address of the agent in charge if you ask for it. If we all work together we can make the system work better by getting the information reported to Enforcement. They are just like police men who go on tips everyday to catch the bad guys. Help them out by sending your complaint in.