So here's what pretty much been said about the pro and cons without all the crap in between with the standard peeing and poop matches that always go so far
Cons:1) it's not sport fishing, because there is no sport at all involved in snagging. do you think it's alright to ground sluice a pheasant or shoot sitting ducks with a .22? it's just food after all..." alaska has sustenance seasons, up there it can be useful. we don't have vast resources and low numbers of people here, and most of the people calling for snagging seasons seem to be the ones decked out in $1000 in gear when they're fishing"
2) Snagging is not sporting, hence not sportfishing
3) I say snagging is unsporting, unchallenging, and illegal for good reason in this neck of the woods. the title of this post is appalling.
4) snagging fish is not a sport, its a way of life. its a way of lookin at that nasty old boot, treble in hand, and sayin hey bud lets party.
5) Most of you posters are the problem with todays sportsmen. Real fishermen fish. Then the rest of you start snagging pinks. Then well the silvers have lock jaw lets snag those.
Damm the kings won't eat lets put on the Buzz bombs.
lets teach our kids there is a easy way to bring fish home you don't need to be a fisherman all you need to do is cast and jerk.
Let be real it is way easier to shoot a shoot a deer in the spot light lets make that legal, It is much easier
6) Snagging? No!
Flossing?....Yes!
7) Snagging is FISHING I suppose... but it certainly ISN'T SPORTFISHING by any definition that I would subscribe to.
To me it isn't so much the act of foul-hooking fish as it is the fact that the WORST of humanity come out to do it. Garbage, drunks and dipsh!ts galore
8) If snagging was legal and considered sportfishing here in WA, those doing it would abuse the ease of catch and decimate the runs even more.
9) Snaggers are too ignorant and lazy to figure out how to catch them in a legit way.
If harvest and food on the table is all that matters, then simply have a drive up window at the hatchery for any surplus fish. Hand them your harvest\punch card, they stamp your limit for the day, and you go smoke up some nice boots for the family. Get the snaggers off the water. Heck, after the license, gear, bait, hooks, line, gas, beer, etc etc etc bought, if it was really about food, these guys would be better off hitting safeway for some fresh fish anyway...
10) Sorry, but that is exactly the kind of attitude that bothers me with some fisherman. What the heck is wrong with a slow day here and there? Is you ego too fragile to come home empty handed from time to time? Once in a while, there is nothing you can do and you just have to say "well, that's fishing". But to say, "well, break out the trebbles!" or "let's start flossing!" is just sad. Fishing is a challenge. There is a puzzle and a good fisherman puts the pieces together and works hard to figure out when, where, what, and how to find fish that will bite.
11) Why not just use a pitchfork?
12) Seriously though, snagging nor hunting is the animal voluntarily taking bait. That was all i was saying. I don't fish corkies, yarn, anything like that. I fish hardware and bait. I hate combat zones for the same reason you said, none of the fish are gonna bite bait and they're not aggressive enough to hit a spinner after getting ripped at 20k times. So like i said, i don't endorse snagging salmon in nw rivers because it's not controlled.
13) Is snagging sport fishing? No way. Is it a method of harvesting fish? Sure. Do I want to see it legitimized by rule? No f'ing way!!!!
14) I'm all about C&R.......and flossing does not involve treble hooks......it does involve angling prowess and a keen knowledge of the water fished....
Flossing also requires the angler to move when necessary to cover sufficient water and is not a sure fire method in its own right.....
15) I see too many people on the river today and they have not been taught how to fish. The only way they know how to fish is by snagging, because they only fish terminal areas. So when they end up on the river and see a school/ fish their instinct takes over and starts snagging.
Snagging sucks, there is no sport and don’t compare it.
Pro:
1)Personally I think the difference is population. If there was 289 BILLION in each runs return, do you think anyone would care? Nope...
2) To some yes they think snagging is a sport and get excited about it. Those guys are not real fisherman. It doesn't really bother me when others snag salmon because if I'am bankin it somewhere I have come to expect it, thats why I have boats.
3) In Alaska the accepted way to catch a Sockey is to sling your hook and yarn upstream 10 ft and rip. Everyone I saw uses this technique including myself. It's isn't very challenging but I did have a good time playing fish. I was told that the only reason you are required to have something by your hook is so the gamies can see where you hook the fish. It is illegal to keep a foul hooked fish meaning gill plate forward.
4) Would you rather see some of the Cowlitz silvers snagged.Or caught any way they can be by hook and line.Or go to surplus by the untold thousands.Lets see.A couple 1000 last week.A couple 1000 this week.Several 1000 next week.On and on and on.For the next several weeks.
I have my opinion and flame away. But I say catch them any way you can with hook and line.I see way more sport in that than the way they are killed for surplus.
5) I think within a certain area on certain rivers, under strict control, snagging might fulfill a purpose of feeding the families of those that choose to do it without the stigma of going to a food bank. Hatchery fish are intended for sport and eating, once they've made it past sportsmen and are waiting to be killed, let those that want to partake have at it.
But by no means is it sport fishing, it's crude harvesting.
6) These "discussions" usually just turn into a bash fest though. I'll contribute something to ponder, however.
Everyone talks about snagging like it's this horrible evil thing, even me. I kind of feel like it's destroying a natural resource.
BUT...Does a deer, elk, etc voluntarily take a bullet? Is hunting a sport for you? Tell me how it's different, besides deer and elk requiring a tag.
I'm not putting an endorsement on snagging, fyi. But no one can tell me hunting is a sport, if they're sitting here telling everyone snagging isn't.
7) Wow! Hot potatoe here on this one. I think for example, salmon that are going to die anyway "snag em and bag em," less the wholesale fish mongers pull up with there 18 teen wheeler and drive off with them. Snagging for example maybe allowed in certain areas such as the Barrier Dam once the hatchery has reached thier egg take.........
8) that is good knowledge CF.. Me being relatively new to the sport.. Say 4yrs or so my question is this.. If hatchery fish make it thru the gauntlet will they still spawn and make wild fish at that point or do they not have the capacity to do so? From what i read here and there i guess i am a follower of being a good sportsmen and going by the rules.. But if these hatchery fish cannot spawn on there own.. Well.. The snaggin point is alot more valid to me.. If they can spawn and produce more wild native fish than i of course am all for letting them thru the gauntlets..
9) To snag or not to snag, "that is the question." I believe people snag fish for several different reasons and one that should be seriosly considered here is, "the hunter gatherer urge to secure food." Could snagging possibly be an inborn retro genetic trait past down from our ancient ancestors as an imprinted enviromental survival mechansim, I wonder?
10) A terminal fishery like they have in Homer, Seward and all over Alaska are meat fisheries...not sport fisheries. I have no problem (as in 0, zilch, nada) with snagging in a terminal fishery...but sport fishing it ain't. It isn't skill or sport...it could be fun/exciting/rewarding as far as protein goes but it's not sport fishing.
