I live overseas and don't do much salmon and steelhead fishing -- couple of times a year. With Washington more or less under water and my fishing vacation there cancelled, I'm hanging out at my brother's place in Sacramento this week trying to get into some No. Cal. steelhead.

Today I fished the American River right in Sacramento (Goerthe Park). Tough sledding but downriver a few summer runs 1-4lbs were taken on crawlers (no details).

Now onto the reason for the post. A couple of old-timers were lining spawning kings using beads (for buoyancy), 10-15 foot leaders and a half ounce of lead for the 18" of water they were fishing. The retrieve was a drift till the lead hit bottom, then 6" jerks.

First fellow 'fair lined' in the mouth a native hen of 15-16lbs. As this geezer is about 70, I helped him by tailing and unhooking his fish (a treble hook, no less). The hen was reasonably bright (for a spawner) and probably edible. The geezer told me he wanted to keep it. Knowing that lining is legal in California, I handed him the hen as she spewed on the beach a half pint of eggs that should have been going onto her redd (the beat up buck followed her to the shallows). The geezer bonked it and that was that. I felt a little ill.

But wait, there's more. The geezer's friend had had a couple of strokes and was snagging seated in a lawn chair set up bank side. Eventually, he got one too and as the nearly black male was coming in sideways I downed tools and offered to help land this one, too. Well, that poor king was not only snagged while in bed, he had a treble lodged firmly in his vent. Milt was squirting everywhere when I backed out the treble.

I told the two old-timers that this fish was snagged and had to go back. The enfeebled fellow said 'I want to keep it.' I argued that the meat would be useless -- not even huskies would want it. He wouldn't hear of it, so I reluctantly handed him the black buck and watched as he was filleted on the spot. I felt like I was witnessing a murder.

A few minutes later both elderly gentlemen left, no doubt fearing that I'd turn them in if a warden came by.

Does everyone mind their own business over these sorts of incidents, do you insist the fish be returned or do you take the law into your own hands and release someone else's snagged prey?

With these old guys, I didn't have to fear for my safety but with most of the rest of the fisher folk I saw today looking like they had either come from bird hunting (season opened this weekend) or were on their way, I'm not certain I'd want to look down the barrel of a shotgun over a fish.