Bronc,
I see from your profile that your intrests are in fishing not snagging. However after reading your opinion and thoughts posted here I am left wondering. Help me out......is it fishing or snagging?

I just want to reply to the last post, not only are they getting harrassed at the R.V. hole they are also getting the same from the fly fisherman. I went and watched the other day and the fish were getting snagged to death. I know the fish cops are aware of the problem lets just hope that they can do something about it like raise fines .
I would also like to comment about legalizing snagging, what an ignorant thing to say ......

Drift,
Keep the pressure on Enforcement and talk to your friends or the guys that you meet on the river. Give out the phone numbers and e-mail contacts to those that are going to listen and encourage them to make those calls. A good place to start is take note of the guys on this page who fish the Kalama and get them to petition the department with e-mails and phone calls. Set your own SNAG-NET and put the pressure to these guys.

Quite simple...Snaggers Are Poachers! They are no better than those who spotlight deer at night or take twice as many as allowed fish or game! They are thieves to our sporting heritage and they may be endangering its future! They have no connection with or respect for our natural resources other than sheer primordial gluttony....they are like a pack of dogs that chase deer... their only interest is the slaughter. They have excuses such as the fish don't bite...well sorry but they do sufficiently enough for me to catch and keep my daily legal limit legally if I really wanted that many fish in the freezer. And have these poachers even tried to be legal...no they're just to lazy or inept to be sportsman. I keep what I only need regardless of hatchery/wild origin and enjoy being a sportsman while I'm at it. What morals or ethics does a snagger have? They certainly don't practice any measure of courtesy around others. They just bust in on those of us who are there to be legal sportsman enjoying the pleasures of what its all about. No respect for anything or anyone.
As for the excess fish left to die and rot in the river get a clue. What do you think it was like before hatcheries?
Same amount of dead rotting fish and guess what ...healthy runs. So using the excuse that the hatchery got its fish is stupidity at its best. Those fish create food for fry and smolts and in drought years like this may just help the runs to survive so we can fish them when they return! Gawd I really hate preachin the facts to the ignorant but its time to start educating these guys and if that fails then look at the legislature to pass a 2 strikes you lose for lifetime all fishing privelege law.

SNAGGERS ARE POACHERS!
SNAGGER FREE ZONE!

Cove RV Park & Tackle Prostaff(1)
Always FishOn! PS and legal too!
Gooose

SKA GUY I been fishing these rivers for a long time . an although i never practiced snagging . i always felt it should be legalized . you know the expert snaggers could . write a book , fine art of snagging i know the true blue sportmans would neverrr keep a foul hooked fish mercy. i notice the absence of beer cans an bait cartons an litter where snaggers frequent.an once a fish see the size of a snaggers hook , fishy gets lock jaw. thus preserveing his specie bronc

Willierower - I fished the lower Kalama this morning (9/20) and picked up a 10lb hen (on a spinner) but the snaggers were out in force again. I am going to petition the WDFW to make the lower Kalama from the I-5 bridge upstream to the deadline at the fish trap a "flies only" section. I wouldn't want it closed entirely since it is a nice stretch, particularly between Rainbow Park and the Green Barn Hole. But the current situation is totally out of control.

Good luck on the water. <@)(((><.

I realize that snagging can put fish off the bite.But any of you people that spend time on a river know that a lot of legitimate fishing does also
I have seen more times than I wish to remeber the last few years.When you get to a hole,the fish are biting good.Then the boats come in.Beat a hole to death and it isnt long before you can't get those fish to bite anything
When you have 20 or so guides and at least that many privates running their sleds on the river it knocks those fish down so bad its pathetic

Bronc I've spent a long amount of my years on the rivers too and yeah snaggers(poachers) have always been there. You say snagging should be legalized. Why? I'd like to hear your justifications? Any any given river and hole absent of a snagging zoo I am capable of getting my limit of even 6 fish by legal means if I wanted to kill that many so there goes that justification.
If you feel the fish are going to waste because I can only harvest 6 per day and the run is huge then make the limit 12 fish by legal means. if I want those fish I'll be able to do it absent a snaggng zoo! Sh!t raise the limit to 24 and absent a snagging zoo I'll fill the freezer by legal means. So therer goes that justification!
The fish are goin to waste once the hatchery and wild escapement needs are met ? Well this years brood is goin to suffer due to the drought and even before we walked the banks mother nature provided a backup system. Huge excess runs of fish unharvested mean huge amounts of nutrients which lead to more prey(insects,etc.) in the rivers and estuaries for downstream migrant fry and smolts. The nutrients from these fish also help support critters in the salt such as crab, shrimp, rockfish and on and on. This might save this years production so we can fish them in the coming years. Bronc do you have the clue yet? What? No? Then what about teaching a generation of youngsters that snagging is cool? Hey then turn them loose on some wild stocks that are either already
listed by the feds or in danger of listing!
Hey let's let PETA and such groups film these snagfests and present them for what they really are...bye bye sport fishing!
So they can write a book...so what...so can common thieves. As for the garbage reference well I suspect that your claims of having been around is suspect as my crdentials include all of the rivers in Puget Sound, Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor and yes I'll admit that the stupid legal fisherman can be slobs as far as litter but I've noticed no differnce in littering between slob fisherman and slob poachers. A littering slob is a littering slob and in reality this genetic trait crosses all class lines. So Bronc or anyone else please try to come up with reasons to allow snagging? But plese at least try to support them with facts and justifications? Oh by the way...Peace Dudes!

Snaggers Are Poachers!
Snagger Free Zone!
Cove RV Park & Tackle Prostaff(1)
Always FishOn!

Gooose

Bronc

I know that we will never see eye to eye on this one, when it's all gone, it's gone. Like Goose said nature takes care and provides a way to remedy the situation. I for one don't want to see an entire generation make the mistakes that ours is making now.
I know that we can do better than that by teaching the coming generations that the mistakes we made are not the norm.
We can do better right? If not, then it's all for naught.

EXTINCTION isn't STEWARDSHIP < )>><

Snagging goes on and on, generation after generation, Father teaching son, son teaching his son.
Education in our schools is the the only way to stop this BS. If kids are taught true conservation then there is a good chance that peer presure will win out over daddy bragging at the dinner table about all the salmon he snagged on the way home from the saloon.
I think it's time for all sportsmen to unite and push our state reps to get our fish & game way more money for enforcement and for some mandatory conservation classes in our schools.
If anyone can vidio this mass snagging on a few rivers I will put a program together to present in Olympia.