i posted a question on another national/michigan site in reference to salmon fishing during there spawning run .
the group stated that 95% of the fish were snagged , only the 5% remaining were cought leagely , by there group . the debate got so rough , the post was removed , my original post was edited .
" salmon are dead when they hit the rivers , they do not eat , therefore all the salmon are snagged " . seemed to be there opinion . so is every salmon fisherman a snagger ? ( except there group of corse )
snagging is illeagle here in michigan . last time i looked we do not boarder any oceans , unless a major quake has happened you california guys just aren't talking about . so why are they dead already , i know they perish after the spawn , not before . there still eating according to the stomach contents i observed while cleaning them .
this all started over rude comments about my bft rod while fishing . they labeled me as a snagger despite the fact i used the same exact set-ups they did , just a better rod then there's i guess , i landed my fish !
are all river salmon fishers snaggers ? some facts if you have them .
i use spawn and flys , chuck n' duck method . not a tight lined trebel hook with mono loops for jaw jamming .
[signature]
This sounds to me like it will be a very good thread to follow. Hopefully you get lots of responses.
What I'm trying to figure out is how people figure the fish are already dead. I mean, they're swimming upstream which takes much more energy than a dead fish has.
[signature]
West Coast salmon are supposed to die in the streams from whence they were spawned. Some species of salmon will take a bait in fresh water, but most quit eating. I watched a bunch of shore fisherman fishing in the Rogue River out of Grants Pass, Oregon. They were using slip, pencil lead sinkers that kept their terminal tackle close to the bottom. Their leaders were 3 feet long, the hook was a Siwash #2 to #4 with red bead sliding down to the kook. The idea was that the leader slipped into the salmons' "breathing" mouth, as they open and closed. The current slips the bead into their mouth allowing a hookup. The hooked salmon did not intentionally take the bead. Yes, there are many fish that get snagged but the law says you have to release them if they do. Treble hooks are illegal.In Arizona they have a snagging season for the Kokonees that migrate out of their lakes. They are going to die anyway and probably don't stand a chance of reproducing.
[signature]
pretty interesting george , i have pulled the same set up out of the water here as well , some with strike indicators between the beads . i belive the guys call it "flossing the fish ".
today i saw several lead lures used and had my finger sliced open from behind by a guy walking past me with several large trebel hooks above his lead lure .
other things used were yarn filled hooks flipped thru the current on a pencil and/or bell sinker sliding set up , and foam tied to a treble hook as if it were a fly . oh , yes large spoons too .
i've been using the traditional steelhead set up with either triple egg bags ( one sac , three eggs ) or small terestrial flys or wolly worms .
with the spawn , i get browns and steel , by switching over to the flys i get neither , just an ocasional king .
with the only change being the lure itself , can this be concidered flossing or snagging ? does the drift or boyancy change so dramaticly as to effect the fish species it encounters ?
i'm puzzled on this one . if it's all really snagging why let people do it ?
if the hook is imbeded in the mouth , can it still be a snag ? if the hook is outside the mouth but still on the lip or jaw , is it a snag ?
we are not allowed to keep a "foul hooked fish" , that's one big grey area open to a lot of different interpritations .
[signature]
here is the lowdown.
salmon do quit eating for the most part, what happens is when they come up the river they instinctivly kill any thing that moves that even resembles a fish, it is a teritorial thing. they want the waters free of any posible preditor that will feed upon their eggs or hatchlings upon thier return to the big waters. they will scoop any stray eggs drifting down the river. they dont want any thing that even smells like a different species. this is pure agression on their part.
what you are finding when you cut them open is, they swallow any thing that gets lodged in their mouths. I have even found rocks marbles and beer can pull off tabs.
this is why spoons work on them along with eggs sacks will catch them. so you are not snagging them, you are agrivating them to the point where they will hit on your spoon.
hopes this helps.
[signature]
lonehunter: To snag Or not to snag! I think as the current runs the leader through the salmons' mouth the bead enters the mouth almost accidentally because the fish "mouths"it; thereby snagging the fish inside where it would normally be if he ate it on purpose. I don't know the definition of "snagging" but if the hook is stuck in the fish outside of the mouth it has to be "snagging" even if the hook entered from a position outside the lip and entered the mouth cavity. You might call that a reverse hook-up.
Once I was shad fishing on the American River (Sacramento) and I hooked a salmon that took me a mile down stream before he broke off. He was a giant. My only regret is that he took my favorite shad fly with him. Great story though, he looked as big as an alligator. Well........!
[signature]
o.k. saw the same thing while searching for info .
went to the d.n.r. page and saw few rules other than no solid leaded trebel hooks , no lures over 1 ounce in weight , 1/2" barb to shank opening on a single hook , no more than 3/8" opening from barb to shank on a trebel hook .
that's it !
i'm gonna keep looking .
[signature]
I've fished for King salmon on Vancouver Island several times (thinking of going back soon!). We were using big mepps and crippled herring lures and caught our limits in a couple days. The local dudes were crying about how they couldn't snag anymore- It just comes down to they didn't know how to catch salmon without snagging them.Change scares people.Here in Colorado we have a snagging season for kokanees and it often brings out a different type of person who don't know how to fish any other way.Most neighboring states have banned snagging and I agree.I have snagged many times and it's kind of fun-but IMHO it's just not needed.If you know how to fish it's not hard to catch them!
[signature]