Thanks 4Salt

Good to see that there are others as disgusted as I am with this fishery. :p Give us back our Gamies and consider what I have recomended. Can't see why anyone would defend the status quo for this fishery. There needs to be changes in the way this river is managed, not more Gamies and enforcement on this River.

I have been to six different rivers in the last two weeks,not the quill!!! I have managed to usually get legal limits daily but yes in some places it has been Impossible not to snag a fish occasionally unintentionally! I don't keep snagged fish usually don't even land them mostly just break them off right away. Anyway I have seen hundreds of snagged fish packed out of the places I've been to and yet to see one gammie around !!! Whats up with that?

FW

That's my point. :p There are to many Gammies on the Quill and not enough else where. Make the rules appropriate for each stream. That way one system can't overload our enforcement resources. This system requires to much attention as it is now managed. I am sure a lot of the fish you are seeing trucked out unlawfully are endangered Kings.

This whole thread has got out of hand....I agree with to many gammies on one river thats a fact..It seems they do gang up on one river instead of spreading out but thats so they are all close for lunch J/K ..But seriously we need to get them spread out..I know of several rivers I have fished for years and once or never have seen gammie's..There are places like hoods hatchery that they have put up camera's to catch people snagging and monitor them daily...But whats funny about that is the indians come in and net 3500 fish in one day and sportsman on there best day dont take more then 100 fish...while the hatchery keeps there gates closed on netting days and open on all other .. Then give 1000's of fish away to the food bank...Don't get me wrong food giving fish to the food bank is ok but when the hatchery has its quota why not close the gates and let sportsman catch fish...Isnt that what hatcheries are for?

off the subject sorry!

Our state needs more gammies for sure! I have witnessed tons of illegal snagging and retention of fish this year and it needs to stop...

I think where people go wrong here is if you feel a take and set the hook a little late and hook a fish in the head .(which happens alot) That shouldnt be considered snagging..Personally I keep only fish that are hooked in the mouth but my point is If someone feels a hit (not a line rub they are distinctive in feel) sets the hook and hooks a fish on top of the nose or under the jaw I feel they could keep if they want....The problem with this being. People go out perposely to try there luck and snag one in the head!!.

With that said I believe its an ethics call for the idividual to keep or release. A ticket could not be determined by a gammie if he wasnt watching...

Best thing is to state in the laws IN THE MOUTH only shall a fish be legall to retain..

The game laws some times are hard to decide whats legall and whats not unless you have your lawyer there to interpret it for you ! TM

here is how to go 20 years with only one foul hooked fish.

1. do not fish in areas where fish stack up by the hundreds so close together that you cant get a lure fly or bait through them without hitting them!!

2. don't fish for visible fish so long thet you eventually snag them!

3. don't fish pools where the fish are all stirred up by snaggers.

I fished for coho 2 days last fall on an extremely popular river on a weekend and never saw another soul. The first day I caught 9 all on spinners all inside the mouth. The second say I hooked 5. I started at 11:00 am and was done by 3:00

frankly that was enough salmon fishing for me ina season. people fish for different reasons
i don't go fishing to put as many fish on the bank as I can. I go out to have a good time and to see if i still have the knowledge and skills it takes to be effective. I enjoy the level of skill I have and I don't need to impress other anglers and I don't want to impress them or the people on this board.

almost all of the snagging in the state of washington is done by guys using corkies . That is a fact. In the fall months there are more people snagging with corkies than there are fishing legally.

When I was about 10 I tried snagging a steelhead with a steelie rigges with a siawash. It was near impossible. When I jerked the soppn would ride up over the top of the fish not hook it the action of the spoon insured that. That is why spoons with singles rarely snag on rocks.
My point is the vast majority of fishermen in the fall using only a corkie and maybe some yarn are guys who are attempting to snag. If taking floating drift bobbers away from them is what it takes to make life hard on them I am ALL for that. if you don't like that idea then make sure that every time you see a guy snagging that way turn them in, with a description,license number, and be willing to set aside a day to go to court and testify.
I think the best thing we could do would be to close terminal salmon fisheries.
cedar creek on the North Lewis. These guys want to go where there are lots of fish and lots of other snaggers. They will not be displaced to other rivers they will simply quit fishing.

Ban all corkies now
Please It is all on how one uses it.

like TM said, seen guys snagg with spinners and and anything else they can get there hands on.

Ok, lets close the terminal fisheries so they can crowd evry little body of water. Now it will be even more of a mess.

Like I said before snagger don't fish and they dont like to work hard for the fish so keep them all around the terminal areas and use cameras to monitor them. If its to difficult to detect fish or see them, the snaggers will be moving on. Now we can have more gammies for other areas.

Maybe we can start a reward sysytem to report and nab these guys. The rewards could be new rods and reels or other gear donated by clubs and shops. This might give some good incentives to those who are afarid to speak out.
Hell this kinda sysytem works for other areas of law enforcement.

Sorry JLH but I'm definitely not defending the status quo on that river........give me more gamies! On all the rivers! Don't see a problem with that? Oh and I can't understand how fining a snagger $500 is causing harm to anyone but the snagger....how's that relate to harming fish or habitat? I'd like to see that fine doubled....cause some real harm to the poachers.

Sorry 4Salt but I believe it is only the strong presence of righteous fishers on every single river if we are to find a solution. Over heard a conversation among the locals yesterday on the river....they are real pissed about a bunch of "too serious" fishermen showing up and bringing all this enforcement upon them to ruin their fun. Makes my day to hear that!

Sorry RA3. I often see some validity behind your somewhat hardlined opinions, but not on this one. Are we to trade our corkies in for buzz bombs? If I were going to intentionally snag salmon my weapon of choice would be my fly rod. I've unintentionally snagged several salmon with it. Each time I broke them off upon realizing what happened.
Make harder snagging rules and the snaggers will just adapt.

Gooose, it would be nice if the budget could afford an unlimited number of gammies base on the total need but, thats not the case. If anything, budgets are getting smaller in this state. So in this case we have to use what we have as wise as we can. I don't think the goal of enforcement should be to write the most tickets for the highest amount of money on one stream and leave other streams abandoned. It should be physically available to serve the entire system doing the fish runs.

The snagger or proacher on the Quill could get their fish if they had a snag legal fishery and wouldn't have to pay money they probably don't have. I believe a lot of these people are just trying to survive. :p If there is such a surplus why not let them have at it for a limited number of days and then close that feasco down until the fish have done there thing. Government is about serving all the people.

If is one area people seem to want to do it there way, then let them do it if it can be done without causing harm. The majority of people on that river are more concerned about having an old boot to take home than how to be the perfect sportsman. This river should basically be closed with special rules. This would spread out some of the numerous officials they have now on the Quill.

I don't care how much money in fines they are collecting if the other systems have to go unattented. It doesn't make me feel good to see so many people breaking the law when the law can be change to allow a different fishery with better results thats healthier for the environment. Laws should not be made and enforced just to see how many tickets that can get written in a season,but to protect the resources and serve the people.

Have it open for snagging to allow the regular Quillibilies to get their fish and then close it . And if anyone fishes it while it is closed, no questions asked( Gill plate forward etc.) that person can be punished accordingly. A single officer (not even needing a gammie) can enforce that rule. :p That will allow the rest of us to be able to call about a problem in our areas and have someone available to respond. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to get this solved.

Actually JLH if you took a closer look you'd see that the larger bulk of the snaggers are from out of the area. The Quillabilies aren't the ones getting the bulk of the tickets...not even close. The extra patrol emphasis is due primarily to the concerns and requests of the river property owners and local fishers who are concerned about the river.....the change from last year has been noticeable....and now that the run is pretty much done I hope you see this kinda emphasis patrol on your local favorite haunts as those zoo's are just beginning to rock-n-roll. Don't disagree with you about the continued lack of funding being a reality....but I'll guarantee you that every one of those urban cowboys who got wrote up for $500 will be awful careful now in your backyard !

Lastly I might like to remind you that the Quil also has a listed run in it.....a few of them urban cowboys just didn't know the difference and paid the price....seems the Quillabillies believe in a better quality smoker .

It's called education thru use of a big stick.

Thank God , now they can get down here and start the same kind of underecoverwork.

I don't take it as fact that they are writing tickets for that just because some dude on the internet says so, sorry. If they really are being that strict that's a very good thing but I don't buy it for one single solitary minute. You see I get out a lot and fish many rivers, I see a lot. I know many many fishers too. I've never heard of this kind of strictness before. Sounds more like a local trying to scare guys away from his local river or just seeing something that didn't really happen that way, an honest mistake.

Forget that river and the ways of that river. Take my advice and you'll thank me later.

Kilo, I think there are more then just One guy who has witnessed this on the Quil.
I am sure they can go into detail.
Here is what we witnessed.

We we were there, we saw one get cuffed and taken away, (9/14/2002 around 3:00 pm) and 2 tickets being written.
I don't think you are the only one who gets out, or know people, some of the guys on this board hit 2-4 different rivers a week, fishing and scouting.

AS far as scare tactics go I doubt it.

I'm glad, I hope they raise the fine to $1000.00 and loss of Lic. for 5 years.

Kilo please check with Jefferson County Superior Court and ask them how many Quilcene violations they have processed so far and how many are on the docket ? Thanks Divers....sheesh and I'm trying to attract righteous fishers....certainly wouldn't want to scare someone away ! BTW Kilo I get around too....Chehalis is next followed by the Elwha and Dungy ....then of course there is the Satsop and Cowlitz.....maybe see you around dude . Oh and after that it's winter steelie season but sorry I'm a known zipper when it comes to those fishen spots. Hmmmm...9 posts since Feb 2002?
Yeah it's winding down....but still managed 2 nice ones right before dark....snaggers were baffled as to why me and not them as they put zero on the bank. :p

Thats my point. There has been very little patrolling in other areas while the Quill drains us of the man power. Those zoo's,.. meaning more than one fishery has had very little attention because of this drain. King's in other systems are coming out of the water tails first on a lot of streams because they don't get minimal patrol. We are witnessing snagging out of control while there is a debate about Gill plate forward on the Killsene. I say close it and re-think that fishery. Someone $1000 dollar fine don't mean a hill of bean if the majority of the system is overlooked. We need even handed management.

You infer that the people being cited on the Quill are the ones that are snagging daily in our areas and that's just not the case. WE have snagging daily without restraint because these snaggers are here and not on the Quill. If that river had a snag leagal window followed by closure,.. we could have a more even handed approach to managing the many systems that are dependant on enforcement having a consistent presence. No body watching the hen house until they finish purnishing the snaggers on the Quill. You don't even hear rumors of snaggers getting busted anywhere but at the Quill. Will that deter the snagging, that has continued outright while all eyes are on the Quill? Not!

The snagger have been rocking and rolling on our endangered king's while the Quill silvers take top priority. I say lets get it right.

Guys getting tickets for snagging..........yawn. Now guys getting tickets for keeping fish hooked in the chin("Gill Plates Forward...") with no other tell tale signs or statements that indicate the intention of snagging(other than fishing there) that would be interesting to see. Mind you that would be fine with me but about as likely as seeing tickets for going 61mph in a 60mph section of I-5 as the 70mph+ drivers zip by.

I'm just sticking to the original post's theme, not snagging in general. I didn't think I had to state that.

And your point JLH please? Kilo and your point please? My point: It's called the Sheriff is cleaning up the town! Comprende? When you check dude you'll find that the score is just around 250 tickets....glad to see it and wish the officers just as much luck hunting snagging poaching urban cowboys on the next rivers :p ! Of course if you got issues with having the man watch you closely Kilo....then I see your concern about driving a mile over the speed limit ?

I wasn't going to get involved, but RA 3 brought up a couple of points I wanted to address. First of all, you need to change your moniker to "Salmon Nazi" or something like that. Secondly, If you really want to line fish like a pro, leave the corkies at home. I keep hearing you piss and moan about corkies and how everyone who uses them is a snagger. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can line fish better than just about anyone I know and I never use corkies. I run a ten-fifteen foot leader, down to a 3/0 hook with either a little bit of yarn, or a small glass bead, depending on my mood. Anyhow, not trying to flame, but I just had to let RA3 know how misinformed he was.

If RA gets his wish, I will be more then willing to be the black market for Corkies. Any color or size email me. Wow I think I hit the jackpot now.

Sheesh right on Divers and LZZ! I don't use a corkie where I fish in the Quil because it causes the setup to pass over the fish....not sure I lined them 2 fish tonite as they both were stuck in the tongue...but I will accept educated opinions?