Seems like the hillbilly, white trash humpie snaggers on the Snohomish should take some lessons from these proffesional 'snatchers'!

Catfish Snagging

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Battery-powered snagging tackle now is a common site on many Southern tailwaters.
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WOW, they are even to lazy to reel

hey sparkey you wanna go fishing sometime soon?

I think I saw some of those guys on the Kalama last fall. :p

I have seen a few of those set ups in the rocks of the Green River down by Hwy 18.

IMHO, snagging is more akin to commercial netting than sport fishing. It takes no skill, just having the equipment and the fish being in the right place is all it takes. And even the article says that many times the fish are hooked in the body and escape with hooks attached 120 pound line buried in their sides. It's an unsporting, and injures fish that aren't caught. I'm glad it's illegal in this state.

i snagged something like that off of a log @ my favorite *zipper* spot and it had about 15' of dacron behing it.

Tyler

Time to stir the pot! It seems that BB members are either perpetuating the stereotype that hillbillies, rednecks, trash, etc are all snaggers or are peering down from an upper caste in the ridiculous hierarchy of fishing methodology.

I got to witness this type of fishing last year. And as par for the course, 10 percent of the snatchers got 90 percent of the fish. Sound familiar? Maybe it takes more skill and know-how than we think. I'd like to see one of you naysayers bring your Loomis and Abu 6500 down to one of these tailraces, then hook into a 90-lb blue and count how fast a drag can melt!

Hohwaiian

If I ever catch a fish large enough to melt my drag it will be the happiest day of my life!!!!

What other methods do they employee to catch these bottom dwellers? One might do just as well with a plunked bait, like sturgeon fisherman on the Columbia.

In that part of the country they also wrestle the big cats...no ****. They learn the holes in the river where the big cats lairs are, like undercut banks and old logs etc., and reach in and grab 'em. Then the fight is on! I'll se if I can find a weblink for that.

Ratherbfishin, ive seen that too. if i remember they would anchor open ended 50 gallon barrels to attract the cats then go back later and dive down there and wrestle them out, it was really cool watching them thrashing around and trying to toss them up into the boat. some of the cats were almost as big as the guys trying to hold on to them.

I believe it's called noodling, and it takes a stup... err, special type of person who wants to do it. This is the land of nasty poisonous snakes that take offense at people wading around on their turf, such as cottonmouths. Plus there's always the danger of sticking your hand in there and grabbing a pissed off muskrat, or worse, snapping turtle instead of a catfish. One of my cousins (who lives in SC) is missing two fingers off his left hand for just this reason.

They[who in the hell is they?] also harvest[fish?] this way for Paddlefish in eastren Montana- Paddlefish are plankton eaters so they don't bite- the fishery is highly regulated by the state- and the fish commonly run over 100 lbs.

that makes us up here in the pacific northwest look pretty snobbish lol

Arklier-- I spent time in Arkansas as a teenager, which is where I learned about the noodlers. The rivers were were loaded with snapping turtles and we would often pull up our lines to find bent hooks. Shooting turtles with a .22 was just a way to pass time for most of the kids I knew. Saw cottonmouths almost every time we went fishing, which was all the time.

Makes chasing Steelies and Salmon seem like a pretty safe sport! :p