Fish monger

You asked ;

You or I wouldn't pay anything extra for a snagging license, but there are plenty of people out there who would. Not everybody is in it for the pure sport of it. Many fishermen are pure meat fishermen and most likely would be happy to pay a little extra for those "guaranteed biters". A couple of trouble hooks are a hell of a lot cheaper then buying 20 new spenders, plugs or jigs! These people want fish, and they will pay that extra fee to get them! I would rather see 100 hatchery fish being snagged then one hatchery fish being sold. At lease the fishing industry will be economically benefiting from a fish that had been snagged compared to a fish being sold by some fish buyer.

There was a time about 35 years ago that I thought snagging salmon was really fun! That was when I young and had just started to fish for them, and I didn't know how to catch one in the mouth, even though I had tried to!

I can remember driving 9-10 hours to get to a river that had salmon in it to catch. I can remember spending all my money on buying lures and stuff. I can remember buying all the gas, food, and camping gear to get me there. At the Time, I was having fun even if I was only snagging the salmon that I caught! It was illegal then, but I just didn't care because I was having fun just fighting them. Even though most were dark and on there redds, I was still having fun fighting them!

So yea, people still do like to "fight fish" even when they are not hooked legally in the mouth !

People will continue to snag fish, so why not make it legal at certain areas that can justify it? The law enforcement can benefit and so can the guys who are going to snag. Like I said earlier, double the fines for snagging out side of these special areas and let's see what happens!

Its way past the time to try something new!

Cowlitzfisherman