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Snohomish River Report
Snohomish County, WA

Details

10/04/2012
Casting
Coho Salmon
None
Orange
Sunny
Corky & Yarn
Morning
10/04/2012
3
1830

Well got up at 6 and casually got ready, had a good breakfast, and a cup of coffee to go. Arrived at bob heirman park around 7:20 and was fishing by 7:30. Tried dick nites first and nothing. Then eggs and nothing. Then corkie and yarn with kind of a slow jigging motion and finally about 10:30 hooked one. I got to play for about 5 secounds and the hook came loose and lost that one. I found it really strange that the coho would hit that presentation and nothing else. About 11:00 I hook another with that same technique and got it in and a beautiful hen is bonked and after that i called it good and went home. As I got back to the parking lot I got stopped by a game warden. He checked my fish, my license too, and everything was good and sent me on my way. While I was standing there waiting for him to finish, there were about 7 guys all getting tickets for snagged fish. They all had their gear taken and fat tickets given to them. I couldn't help but grin as i left because finally i saw snaggers getting what they deserve. Also, to the fisherman to my right who was smoking a cigar and i think had a curado reel i have your pocket knife. You said you were coming back tomorrow, so hopefully i see you then to return your knife.


Comments

BentRod
10/4/2012 1:51:00 PM
Glad to hear you had success....and that the snaggers got what was coming to them.
oneshot
10/4/2012 1:54:00 PM
how did he catch the snaggers? did he see them snagging actually? like walked down there and watched? glad to see them showing up on the SNoho.. to this day i have never seen 1 gamie anywhere on the Snoho.. but i have seen plenty of bad ethic fishing..
Sthao92
10/4/2012 2:20:00 PM
Oneshot- There were 2 of them. 1 was in uniform and the other was in plain clothes so i believe the plain clothes gamie came down and watched them for a while and the other waited at the parking lot for fishermen coming out with fish. Plus when i was standing there the other gamie was telling them that even if they caught the fish in the mouth, if it has a snag mark it has to be let go. Some of the guys had fish with snag marks and got tickets for that and their gear taken away. Also i clarified a question i had about taking other peoples eggs to cure. The game wardens answer was that the person you get the eggs from also has to give you his name number and wild id #. Also, he said you would be ok with nothing if you just go around picking them up off the ground becuase i do that sometimes when i run out of eggs
BentRod
10/4/2012 2:34:00 PM
As much as I hate snaggers, I have to admit that if I caught a fish in the mouth, I wouldn't think to look for snag marks on it, let alone release it if it did. I've never heard that you'd have to let it go if you caught it legally just because it had marks on it. I think this goes a little far in regards to law enforcement. I could potentially be penalized even though I did nothing wrong. That doesn't sound right. On the other hand, I've heard they'll look for fish with snag marks. I guess there is a grey area between what the law is allowed to do and what they're not. If I can ever catch a darn salmon, I'll have to pay close attention to see if it's got anything that even resembles an errant mark.
oneshot
10/4/2012 3:03:00 PM
yeah, what about fish with NET marks? supposed to let those go too?
90% of my fish are caught on video thus i can almost always prove i was legit..

Thats some BS! if it has snag marks? more than hooks make snag marks.. they battle to get up river scraping all kinds of things including other fishes teeth.. BS...

thanks for the reply..
Sthao92
10/4/2012 3:13:00 PM
Bentrod- I can understand what your saying especially now because it has been tough for me catching salmon right now too. But from a gamies point of view tho if you have a fish and you did catch it legally in the mouth and it does have a snagged mark. They don't know if you caught it legally or illegally so they go on what they can physically see on the fish right there and then. Just keep at it, play by the rules, and do a lot of research on salmon fishing and when you find that golden ticket it will be easy. I think i finally found the golden ticket for those pesky snoho coho.
BassSlayer1981
10/4/2012 3:16:00 PM
Funny I ran into this report. I was there in the lot when the game warden was there bustin all those guys. I was there just checkin out shadow lake for bass fishing because I have never been here or fished it. Those game officer guys are sneaky. You are always being watched even if you don't think you are. They are in the bushes and whatnot with binoculars watching. I have seen them. Nice place but I think I will wait till spring to fish shadow for the bass.
chrome_chasin
10/4/2012 3:26:00 PM
So I just re-read the regs and this is the only thing that i found where they might get you, its not clearly written but I guess that they could make it stick. I am guilty of breaking this rule then, because I have taken fish home with marks on them. Your bound to bring in a fish that has been foul hooked in places like the puyallup, the Skok and the green. To many lines in the water not to. Some serious BS if you ask me. I can not count how many pinks I brought in last year with gear still attached to them. Didnt keep any pinks but still...

page 11

Snagging Attempting to take fish with a hook
and line in such a way that the fish does not
voluntarily take the hook(s) in its mouth. In
freshwater, it is illegal to possess any fish
hooked anywhere other than inside the mouth or
on the head.
tele_maniac
10/4/2012 3:37:00 PM
Nice report Sthoa92. I've never heard of having to release a legally caught fish because it had marks on the outside. Do the regs actually say that?
chrome_chasin
10/4/2012 4:28:00 PM
tele- No where does it say that. Just what I posted. I guess it would come down to proving that you were not the one to leave the snag mark. Time to start recording all catches, a bit of CYA
Sthao92
10/4/2012 4:50:00 PM
Oneshot- i don't know about net marks and other marks but i guess its just another question for the gamie next time.
The way i see it for rivers like the skok, which has a ton of kings in it, you would just be able to fish longer if you catch a fish with snag marks becuase its not a legal fish to take.
Sthao92
10/4/2012 5:00:00 PM
Chromechasin- I think its more of a implied rule meaning that the snag mark on the fish would make that fish an illegal fish to take just like a native king salmon in most rivers
loxmills
10/4/2012 8:42:00 PM
nice post i smiled a bit as i read it lol good to hear that the snaggers are getting what they got coming to them they give a bad name to the rest of us
dpfarrar84
10/4/2012 8:46:00 PM
Rookie question....is flossing against regs?
fishingboy
10/5/2012 12:00:00 AM
Yes it is, technically its snagging fish! But SHHH!!
Sthao92
10/5/2012 5:56:00 AM
Loxmills- Thank you. The fishermen who go their stuff taken had some expensive stuff too. I saw a st. croix, g. loomis, and i couldn't tell what the others were. I wonder what they do with the stuff they confiscate?
dpfarrar84- Definately yes, flossing is snagging. don't believe the ignorant people who say salmon don't bite in rivers. Total BS and all they are trying to do is justify there snagging. Just do more research on fishing techniques for salmon. I've been fishing all my life but as i got older i got more serious about salmon and steelhead becuase i was tired of plunking with my dad. Now with all the resources you have like the internet and seminars it will be easy to learn how to get salmon to bite instead of flossing them. I'm still learning new stuff every year.
schu7498
10/5/2012 9:17:00 PM
I talked with a game officer about this issue once, and he said he can only ticket if he sees a fisherman, as what he judges, purposefully snagging a fish, then retaining that snagged fish.
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709