Saturday afternoon my family and I put my Grandfather in the Satsop Cemetery. Afterward I talked everyone into going up to Satsop Springs hatchery. I had never been, and having young kids with us gave me an excuse. I knew it had to be full of fish and everyone would get a kick out of it. We walked through the ponds and down to the river. As expected there was good numbers of fish.
What happend next I did not expect.
When we got to the river we saw 3 guys fishing, (closed waters) or so we thought they were fishing. One of them approaches us and says we are in a Authorized Personal Area.
I stated to him I saw no sign.
He said it was on the gate that was open.
I told him the sign on the road sayed open 10-4.
He sayed he was not trying to be give us a hard time, and then went on telling all of us about the ponds and how the Grays Habor Task Force Project was doing. As he talked I noticed he had a trebble hook with lead attached tied on his meat stick. (Snagging) I muttered a few words as we walked away. Then my 11 year old daugter asked me why those guys can fish above the park bridge and why they had no corkeys or bait. I told her the truth. "Those guys are not true fishermen. They are snaggers. They think they are above the law. They are abusing a good thing. They do not think anyone will know they are poaching."
Well guess what? Eveyone on this board knows now!!
I know I should have reported it to the state.
But I prefer to let other fishermen and people that may be involved with this project know whats going on. :p
I saw a Trout Unlimited sign along with other groups on a building next to the ponds. I know this type of behavior is not what they work so hard for.

Nuff said,
Rivernut

They are probably trying to collect chum for broodstock. It is fairly common to see them collecting chinook too.

yep relax...I am sure they were collecting broodstock. I have been involved in this in years past.

Jim

Wow!
I guess if I saw the way they were transporting them I might have understood.
It sure looked like guys just out to have fun. Boy do I feel like a horses a$$.
I have never seen this method.

RiverNut:



At that time and at that place, the fish were for broodstock. If you went to the Humptulips hatchery area, at certain times, you'd see the same thing going on.

I have taken part, and still do, in the broodstocking of both salmon and steelhead. It's alot of work, tough on equipment, and its done for free.......just trying to help the resource!!!!!

"Worse day sport fishing, still better than the best day working"

And they collect the broodstock by snagging them with a treble hook and a hunk of lead??

Yeah, tyhat's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Why dont they harvest broodstock with a net?

That's what they were doing. Snagging to put at the hatchery and spawn them when they are ready.

I did alot of it when the Humptulips hatchery was just starting up. Great program to get the hatchery going. The fish just didn't swim into the hatchery all by themselves when it was just installed.

And I also believe that snagging them is way better on the fish. Lot better than letting the fish eat a gob of eggs or netting them and ruining their gills.

Alot of fun, you bet, alot of work, you bet.

Now, if we could just get the hatchery to clip all the fish we will continue to have a great c&k fishery. Maybe they do???????

fp

fp

How about a complete explanation of the Satsop broodstocking process, and a better explanation of WHY these fish have to be snagged?

How can you put these guys down for getting of there butts and volunteering for a fish enhancement project? Netting fish for broodstock sounds difficult. A gillnet is definetely not a good choice because of the other kinds of fish that would be killed.
Chasing fish around the river with a dipnet does not sound very productive. If there were more than three volunteers a beach seine might be dragged out in the river depending on flows.
I hate to see snagging on our rivers as much as anybody but it may be a good way to collect broodstock for new projects in certain areas.

For one thing Clubber, it is my right to question when there is no logical explanation...yet.

For another, the 2 times I have encountered people who said they were working with the Satsop broodstock program, they were FISHING (as in with bait or lure) in CLOSED waters, and they told me it was their right (but clearly not mine). And they were real jerks about it!

So what am I supposed to believe?

i just got off the phone with the coordinator for the satsop springs.and it is true,they snag chinook using treble hooks because it is the fastest way to get them.using a net would even be harder work when you think about it. the chinook don't go into the traps like coho do so that is the easiest way to get them,put them in the holding pens till ripe then they spawn them. i had a hard time believing this when i first read it because i always seen the traps full but thinking about it they were always coho and some chum.so i stand corrected and still learning something new every day.scott

Those guys were likely legitimately working collecting eggs and sperm from native broodstock. I've done that myself for both WDF and ODFW years ago. The reason for the snagging gear is the way this is done - basically you pick out a ripe but unspawned wild hen sitting on a redd and snag that specific one, so you don't harrass a bunch of green fish that are not yet ready to spawn. That's why you don't use a seine net or conventional gear - you are purposefully sight fishing for that one ripe fish. Once you get the fish you club it, bleed it, dry the fish off, and strip the eggs into a bucket - keeping all water away from the eggs. Typically we would then grab one buck for each 4 hens, but we would use this one buck in several buckets so that each group of eggs got sperm from different "doners" to ensure diversity and good fertilization. After adding sperm and mixing well the buckets were flooded with water, mixed again and quickly rinsed with clean water, and allowed to sit quietly for an hour or so until they hardened up and could be transported.

Those guys should have had WDFW hats or vests on and should have identified themselves, although if you were in the hatchery facility and out of the visitors area then they were probably trying to set you striaght on where it was ok for you to be. The eggs they were taking are incredibly sensitive during fertilization and if you or your kids inadvertantly bumped bucket at the wrong time it could have killed a bunch. They could also have been worried about disturbance of the fish - often this job involves a lot of waiting for that perfect ripe fish to show up and if folks are sightseeing and inadvertantly spook the fish away it can make for a long day.

When we used to do this out along the river where people would commonly come upon us we often had to bring along an extra crewman to explain to people what we were doing and why - I remember on a few occasions we even had a fish cop standing by to do the explaining as nobody would believe us otherwise. I can see from the responses to this post there are still a lot of non-believers out there even though this tecnique has become much more common in recent years with the increasingly popularity of native broodstock programs.

Thanks for the excellent response, Spawnout.

I have never visited the hatchery myself. Twice I ran into folks above Schaefer park while I was hiking. After November 1st (when this area is closed), and these guys were fishing...and I mean catching and releasing salmon. So they appeared to be having fun, not participating in fish enhancement. And when I asked questions (and I was nice about it), they were quite rude.

Maybe it would be beneficial to have a small flyer to hand out explaining what your group is doing...you would get a lot more support from other fisher-folk that way. It would work a lot better than the responses I received.