Illegal and unethical forms of fishing!

[meluvtrout]

Please do not post comments, just add forms of illegal fishing that you know of, and we can make this a sticky so everyone can benefit from it...

Here is where you'll find information about illegal and unethical forms of fishing and what can happen to you if you prefer to perform this act...

Snagging:
To catch (a fish), especially by hooking in a place other than its mouth and not releasing it. Most common form of catching fish illegally in rivers and creeks.
Here is some more information from steelhead site:
Fair vs. Foul Hooked Fish By Thomas Steele
Webmaster, The Steelhead Site

For some anglers the difference between a "fair hooked fish" and a "foul hooked fish" is not clear, so The Steelhead Site has developed this section of the site to explain the difference. When a trout or salmon takes or hits a fly, it is because the fish is either hungry or striking out of aggression. The angler has either fooled the fish into thinking the fly pattern is a food source or pissed the fish off and thus a strike of aggression. Both situations prompt the same response...a strike to the fly...in the fishes mouth.



What Is A Fair Hooked Fish?

A Fair hooked fish is hooked in the mouth of the fish only. In the mouth means in the upper or lower gums of the fish. It also means inside the mouth. That is it. Anywhere else in the body of the fish is a foul hooked fish.



What Is A Foul Hooked Fish?

A foul hooked fish is anywhere in the body of the fish that is not the mouth or gums. For example, if you hook a fish in the gill plate it is a foul hooked fish... so is the tail dorsal, side, top of the head , fins or anywhere else that is not in the mouth of the fish.

How Can I Tell The difference?

By looking at the location of you fly when you see the fish or when the fish comes out of the water on a run, the angler can visually check the fly to see if the fish is hooked in the mouth.

Experienced anglers can feel the difference between a fair and a foul hooked fish. They can tell this before they see the fish, usually midway through the first run, even before the fish comes out of the water.

Fair Hooked Fish
Head can be controlled
Fish feels buoyant in the water
Head CAN BE turned with the rod
Fish strips line smoothly
Rod arcs or bends evenly during runs

Foul Hooked Fish
Head CAN NOT be turned or controlled
Fish feels like a wet log in the water
Head CAN NOT be turned with the rod
Lines comes off reel in shakes, not evenly
Rod tip shakes during runs

Why Is This Important?

It is very important to understand the distinction between a fair hooked and a foul hooked fish. First of all, a foul hooked fish is not a "legally caught fish". On all trout and salmon waters the only legal fish are fish caught in the mouth period.

If you keep a foul hooked fish you may be subject to fine and arrest by DNR Conservation Officers. I have seen anglers get into some hefty fines and run-ins with the DNR over foul hooked fish. Keeping a foul hooked fish is in violation of the regulations on all trout and salmon waters.



What's The Difference Between Snagging And A Foul Hooked Fish?

In the purest sense there is no difference between the two, a foul hooked fish is a snagged fish.

I have seen countless situations where anglers are foul hooking fish when they are fishing high concentrations of spawning or holding fish. This is considered snagging when the only means of hooking the fish involves a sudden quick jerk of the rod repeatedly. The fish are not taking the presentation.



What To Do IF You Foul Hook A Fish.

If the fish is not controllable, simply break the line off and start fishing again. It makes no sense to play out a foul hooked fish, when you could be fighting a fair hooked fish.
If the fish is controllable, play the fish quickly, avoid handling the fish, revive and release the fish as soon as possible.

 

[meluvtrout]

Flossing (Long Lining) :
Salmon returning early to spawn typically wait until conditions are right by hovering in deeper water just downstream of rapids. Sometimes they wait in groups. Salmon don't eat during their spawning run, but constantly open and close their mouths while parked, to breathe and clean their gills
Flossing is designed to take advantage of this behavior:
• The angler uses a long leader attached to the end of the main body of line, at least double the normal length at between 8 and 20 feet. It's weighted at one end, with a hook at the other.
• A colorful bead or piece of yarn is attached to the leader just above the hook. This ensures the rig meets the legal definition of a lure, and the angler can claim he is targeting steelhead (though few are in the rivers now).
• The leader is then cast across the river below a rapid where salmon are parked. As he reels the hook in, the angler banks on odds that the weighted leader will pass through a salmon's open mouth. When he feels that resistance, he sets the hook.
What happens, said Lowe, is that the line whips through the salmon's mouth and slams violently into its body – usually the face or head. Sometimes the hook tears off chunks of flesh or leaves gaping wounds. After the salmon is reeled in, removing the hook may leave a wound that can weaken fish. And though most fish are returned to the river, Lowe said, the trauma often causes the salmon to release its eggs or sperm on shore.
"If the practice continues … the harassment will cause some problems for the spawning family (of fish)," said Larry Barnes, tackle manager at Elkhorn Outdoor Sports, who has reluctantly sold flossing tackle to some anglers. "It's just people ignoring the intent of the salmon closure."

Full article:
Spawning salmon traumatized by fishing technique

Published: Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Fishermen are targeting salmon returning to spawn in the American River and other Central Valley streams, despite a virtual ban on all salmon fishing this year.
Even worse, some anglers are using a technique called "flossing," intended to hook salmon in the body, fin or face. The method is considered unethical by many fishermen. It appears to slip through a loophole in regulations designed to protect salmon.
"They're traumatizing these big fish," said Alan Weingarten, a state Department of Fish and Game warden who has observed the practice on the American River.
He said flossing is also happening on the Feather, Yuba and Sacramento rivers.
Flossing is generally done for sport; most fish are returned to the river. Yet game regulators are upset that salmon are being harassed.
"We need to leave these fish alone," he said, "but I don't think Fish and Game was very fortunate in the way the regulations were crafted."
Rules adopted in May ban anglers from keeping salmon from Central Valley rivers. The unprecedented emergency rules followed predictions of the worst salmon run in history this fall.
Commercial and recreational salmon fishing at sea are also banned.
However, officials did not ban catch-and-release salmon fishing. They urged anglers in a July 2 press release to "use a very conservative approach" and "refrain from any catch-and-release fishing that specifically targets salmon."
Flossing, intended to hook salmon when they are most vulnerable, hardly heeds that message, said Bill Lowe, a Fair Oaks fly fishing guide. He said salmon now returning to spawn could be harmed even by routine fishing pressure.
"I believe they shouldn't be fished, period, especially in the dire situation we are fighting now," said Lowe. "If people are fishing to them, they are harassing them."
Salmon returning early to spawn typically wait until conditions are right by hovering in deeper water just downstream of rapids. Sometimes they wait in groups. Salmon don't eat during their spawning run, but constantly open and close their mouths while parked, to breathe and clean their gills.
Flossing is designed to take advantage of this behavior:
• The angler uses a long leader attached to the end of the main body of line, at least double the normal length at between 8 and 20 feet. It's weighted at one end, with a hook at the other.
• A colorful bead or piece of yarn is attached to the leader just above the hook. This ensures the rig meets the legal definition of a lure, and the angler can claim he is targeting steelhead (though few are in the rivers now).
• The leader is then cast across the river below a rapid where salmon are parked. As he reels the hook in, the angler banks on odds that the weighted leader will pass through a salmon's open mouth. When he feels that resistance, he sets the hook.
What happens, said Lowe, is that the line whips through the salmon's mouth and slams violently into its body – usually the face or head. Sometimes the hook tears off chunks of flesh or leaves gaping wounds. After the salmon is reeled in, removing the hook may leave a wound that can weaken fish. And though most fish are returned to the river, Lowe said, the trauma often causes the salmon to release its eggs or sperm on shore.
"If the practice continues … the harassment will cause some problems for the spawning family (of fish)," said Larry Barnes, tackle manager at Elkhorn Outdoor Sports, who has reluctantly sold flossing tackle to some anglers. "It's just people ignoring the intent of the salmon closure."
He said it is difficult to regulate because anglers can say they're not going after salmon. Also, fish are sometimes hooked by accident using even normal practices, so it's difficult to prove malicious intent.
Weingarten said he has been able to issue only one citation: On the American River last week, he cited an angler who kept a salmon after catching it with flossing gear.
It's difficult to know if flossing endangers salmon, said Rob Titus, a state fisheries biologist who monitors American River salmon.
Studies have shown that routine catch-and-release fishing in the ocean kills about 15 percent of salmon caught. A similar estimate for in-river fishing has yet to be developed.
Marija Vojkovich, marine region supervisor at Fish and Game, said the agency may consider new regulations if fishing pressure seems to be harming this fall's salmon run.
Barnes hopes it doesn't come to that.
"The average fisherman out there has a responsibility to make sure his practices promote the regeneration and repopulation of the fish," he said. "It's not just up to Fish and Game. It has to do with everybody."

 

[Thuggin4Life]

Going to area's like whittaker creek at night and filling up your pickup bed by netting fish.

 

[chris61182]

Fishing with soft plastics in no bait areas.

Fishing with soft plastics in no bait areas.

This is a great idea meluvtrout!


Another one I think that gets overlooked is that soft plastics are bait and illegal to use in waters restricted to artificial fly and lures only.

Definitions:

Bait : Any item used to attract fish which is not an artificial fly or a lure. Molded soft plastic or rubber imitation worms, eggs, or other imitation baits are considered bait. Scent is not considered bait.

Lure : An artificial device, complete with hooks, intended to attract and entice fish; excluding molded soft plastic or rubber imitation baits and artificial flies. Corkies, spin-n-glos, go-glos, birdy drifters, lead-headed jobs, etc., are considered lures. Molded soft plastic or rubber imitation worms, eggs, or other imitation baits are considered bait.

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

Yes, Gill netting, Drag netting, and Sane netting are all forms of illegal, non-native interest, harvest methods. Along with hand harvesting fish. I did see this a lot last year too... "Hand snagging", or "second hand snagging", and "trailer fouling." Second hand snagging is simply grabbing a trailing 10 foot leader and wrapping the long end around a stick or the hand, and then dragging the fish up that way. Trailer fouling is when people cast spinners, spoons, or snag rigs. Usually anything with a treble. But they are trying to cast out and snag up the long, trailing leader that the last guy left in the fish. All are illegal, and these last two are the most un-ethical methods I have witnessed.

 

[Dichrofisher]

At Lake Creek last year I did the second hand thing unintentionally at first as I wasn't looking for it, when I was drifting my gear. My intent wasn't to keep the fish but to release it from the long line it was attached to. I was wondering if it was something that I would get a ticket for. So is it bad and illegal to do this if your intent is good? My feeling was what if the fish got caught up along it's journey, I was trying to do it a favor. I think I would take the ticket in that one situation. Or is it actually doing more harm to the fish.....

 

[Fishtopher]

All right guys. Clarification. All of the above information applies to freshwater Game Fish only! Which would be: Salmon, Shad, Steelhead, Sturgeon, Trout, Whitefish, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Hybrid Bass, Striped Bass, Bluegill, Catfish, Crappie, Sunfish, Yellow Perch, Walleye and Mullet.


If you want to snag fish, here ya go: Suckers, Northern Pikeminnow, Carp, Chub, Sculpin, and other Nongame Freshwater fish, as well as Lingcod, Rockfish, Cabezon, Greenling, Flounder, Sole, Perch and other non-game Marine Fish and offshore Pelagic species.

Sorry Ali, for the comments on your non-comment thread.

 

[fisherwilly]

chumming?

chumming?

I have read a few posts about chumming for carp. Only chumming for pelagic off-shore species is allowed.

 

[tnffishman]

snagging=bad

 

[Snager]

I go snaging all the time especialy at the Bonnevill dam its only legal if your native American.

 

[FishFinger]

I'm sure you do, and again thanks for sharing

 

[mgdguy]

I go snaging all the time especialy at the Bonnevill dam its only legal if your native American.

Will it ever END?

 

[Fishtopher]

I go snaging all the time especialy at the Bonnevill dam its only legal if your native American.

What an "asset" we have here. An information super highway. That leads to the decimation of our natural resources.

A little off topic but....Whats going on?? Did someone open the door to another demension filled with trolls and goombahs? Not of course referring to anyone on this thread. Just checkin'.

 

[mgdguy]

What an "asset" we have here. An information super highway. That leads to the decimation of our natural resources.

A little off topic but....Whats going on?? Did someone open the door to another demension filled with trolls and goombahs? Not of course referring to anyone on this thread. Just checkin'.

I was just wondering the EXACT same thing. Was about to start another thread about it in the forum chat area.

I guess the mods just have to deal with them one at a time.... :think:

 

[fishinmachine]

Spear gun, S.C.U.B.A. fishing.

 

[meluvtrout]

Coho season is around the corner... TTT...

 

[Raincatcher]

Staying on track...

Staying on track...

I was just wondering the EXACT same thing. Was about to start another thread about it in the forum chat area.

I guess the mods just have to deal with them one at a time.... :think:

Just to clarify: Whether we,as members or mods,agree with a statement or not,this country still has freedom of speech. We are not going to take action unless the discussion gets out of hand. Besides,you really should have expected something like that statement. You have to take the good with the bad and even some of the good needs to be taken with a bit of salt. It's kind of like trying to herd a can of worms after you open it.

Be safe.
Barb

 

[808state]

what are the regulations on spearing in the river? i saw these two retards spear fishing steel head at Mciver and i wasn't sure.. seems illegal to me but they were doing it with a bunch of people around so i thought it was okay-ish?

 

[mgdguy]

what are the regulations on spearing in the river? i saw these two retards spear fishing steel head at Mciver and i wasn't sure.. seems illegal to me but they were doing it with a bunch of people around so i thought it was okay-ish?

Ummm, yea, that would be not only illegal but immoral on this forum...

 

[meluvtrout]

what are the regulations on spearing in the river? i saw these two retards spear fishing steel head at Mciver and i wasn't sure.. seems illegal to me but they were doing it with a bunch of people around so i thought it was okay-ish?

Next time you see them just call the 1-800 number behind your fishing license.