It was bad enough a few weeks back when I got in an argument with a white guy (part of a m/f couple) who kept a snagged, black King. Him and his lady friend were using spoons/trebble hooks. Saw them hook 10+ fish in a couple of hours. 1 kept in the eye and the King he kept was hooked in the back fin. They never landed the others. Heard they left with 6 fish in the end.

Then yesterday we drove up to one of the more popular holes. No cars parked there. We walked up river and looked down to see a kid fishing/snagging in the hole below. Saw him land a fish so when we finished covering the water above we walked down.

I dropped into the hole and saw 4 Native (all hens) salmon laying in the trail. 2 Kings, 2 Coho. No kid, just his pack & rod. Then up above me, on the bank I see the kid. I tell him he is breaking the law and he says "no I'm not, I'm tribal".

He comes down and we talk for a while. He says he was snagging and they are allowed to do it in the Sol Duc. He does it every so often. Selling some and using the others for food. I talked to him about letting the dark, King hens go. Not sure if it will do any good.

Anyway, seeing a tribal person snagging in the Duc was the 1st for me in 20+ years.

I think the best things to do if you see some illegal stuff going on are to get as much info as you can or even photos and call it in without confronting the offenders. Try to make sure you can indentify the person later. Get license numbers etc. Also try to make your report timely, the sooner the better. Try to imagine you were the enforement guy trying to locate the person and the evidence .

dropped into the hole and saw 4 Native (all hens) salmon laying in the trail. 2 Kings, 2 Coho. No kid, just his pack & rod. Then up above me, on the bank I see the kid. I tell him he is breaking the law and he says "no I'm not, I'm tribal".

He comes down and we talk for a while. He says he was snagging and they are allowed to do it in the Sol Duc. He does it every so often. Selling some and using the others for food. I talked to him about letting the dark, King hens go. Not sure if it will do any good.

Anyway, seeing a tribal person snagging in the Duc was the 1st for me in 20+ years.


The kid is full of crap.If he is tribal has nothing to bear on how he is fishing. If he is fishing outside of the tribes usual and accustomed areas he has to abide by the states rules. What hole was this? Also next time you see snagging call 911 the game warden lives on steelhead drive and he will be right there. I saw some snaggers in lake creek earlier this year.

I did not go into detail here about contacting the game dept. I did make the calls. Talked to the Warden about the m/f couple. He knows who they are. Left a message about the Tribal kid.