My brother-in-law came into town from Canada and while the girls were out doing their thing, I took him to the river. We went down to Bob Heirman about 11AM and headed down to the river. On the way down we passed several guys with a couple of fish with them. They said that they were doing good with Coorkies and Yarn. I didn't have any with me, but some advice I heard was Dick Nites and Spinners and I had plenty of those. I started my partner on a spinner and I tried a dick nite.

As I was fishing, the guys to the left of me were using Coorkies and yarn (well, I saw the coorkie). I noticed that one was trying to set the hook often, which got me excited. I was fishing and no bites. My BIL didn't have anything either. One of the guys to my left hooked a fish, but it was foul hooked in the tail. He released it. After a while, I realized what these guys were doing. They were purposely trying to snag. The one guy wasn't exactly being sneaky about it. Every time he'd cast he would let it settle down, wait a second and then just jerk it up then look right over in my direction. Well, the guy got 2 fish, one was actually hooked somewhere around the mouth, the other foul hooked. Even with the 2, he kept on fishing (I can only imagine because they hadn't caught their collective limit).

Well, needless to say I was ticked off. I wasn't about to go and start a confrontation with them especially being as angry as I was. I packed up and we headed out. On the way I called the hotline to report them. I know that enforcement had been there a few days before (from reports), so I figured that I would call them. 2 things got the officer on the phone excited, the fact that I saw the guy keep a foul hooked fish and that he was still fishing after getting his limit. I don't know if they were able to get down there, but I hope so.

I'm getting tired of seeing people fish illegally (like a guy fishing down there with buzz bombs before salmon season even started), I'm going to have to be calling all the time.

luisdabeast206

10/8/2012 12:36:00 AM

lol he did not show up, and if if I am not mistaken the limit is now 3.

MikeFishes

10/10/2012 9:21:00 AM

Nope, still 2 (at least as of right now). Skagit just went 3. Good year!

bassassassin0

10/12/2012 11:24:00 AM

i know that keeping a foul hooked fish is illegal....but everything else he did is perfectly legal...what you call snagging is actually called "flossing" and if the hook is in the mouth its a legal catch. Guys do it all the time. I've caught a majority of my salmon using a long leader with a very small corky. Letting the line pass through their mouths and yanking on your pole until that hook hits their lip. This is perfectly legal as long as the fish gets hit from the gills forward. You want to see some illegal fishing go up to reiter right before they open. You'll see some poachers up there.

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