Northwest Fishing Reports

Look, i know alot of peeps on here are new to fishin, new to this area etc. but ive seen more reports of illegal salmon being caught and killed than any other forum site, please read the regulations before you fish, especially before you fish new water.

i keep a copy on the top of my thrown (toilet) to read while doin the thing, i have down loaded a copy on tho my droid phone, and usually keep some in the boat and car, and also i am signed up to recieve updates at wdfw.com

people are gonna do what they do ( as far as poaching) but if you honestly make a mistake and get caught, its gonna hurt, alot, the feds reposess trucks, boats, fridges, coolers, and all gear they think is related to your illegal catch

and its just immoral, i have poacher hotline on speed dial and i do report when i seepoaching going on, so call me a snitch or watever but play by the rules, fishing is a privelege and these fish are not going to be around long enough for my grandchildren to catch unless we all play by the rules, the illegal poached fish you take might be the only male or female to make it to a certain section on a river or creek

had to vent, thanks for listening

I agree 100%

Well said. Just follow the rules and PLEASE read the regs before going to new water. Don't assume. Things can (definitely have this year) change in season too.
Helping people get up to speed is helpful too though if they post and there might be a violation. So I am all for giving friendly reminders first time thru if someone is unwittingly doing the wrong thing. If it happens consistently or if I see someone continue after they know they are doing wrong, then a call may be warranted.

I have been out of it for a long time after being an avid fisherman a couple decades back so may run into 'getting caught up' on occassion. But if I find out I'm not doing something the right/regs way, I'll correct right then.

Thank you. Someone else that is saying what Ive been saying. The rules are the rules. I have a copy on my droid also. Also the pdf on my desk top on my laptop.

I agree and I am also tired of reading the book. I have them everywhere in my house wife hates it.

Although I will not tell on someone do I care Yes but am I going to stay around and risk getting shot over a fish nope! People take this sport way to serious I love it but I am not going to argue with someone on a river over who cast over who Just un tangle and press on, and as long as they leave my kids alone everything will be ok. I hear so many comments about kids when they come out to the river pier and fish we were all kids once and our parents or family members tooks us out to fish.

But I do have a question since all these crazy hook laws are here. what hooks can be used for bass trout pretty much everything but salmon I know those are barbless.

A guy on the Pier and I had a difference in opinion for bottom fishing I could not find where it says barbless hooks have to be used for bottom fishing? mooching for salmon yes barbless trolling salmon yes barbless anything salmon related barbless.

But I want to do some bass fishing and trout hunting this weekend so are trebles ok for trout? and are barbed hooks ok for bass or is it just more fun with barbless ?

lukesfishin wrote:Look, i know alot of peeps on here are new to fishin, new to this area etc. but ive seen more reports of illegal salmon being caught and killed than any other forum site, please read the regulations before you fish, especially before you fish new water.

Although I agree that illegal fishing is not cool, at all, I would have to DISAGREE strongly with the statement that you have "seen more reports of illegal salmon being caught and killed than any other forum site", I feel like you made this comment with no foundation. I doubt you could find ONE forum post where someone is talking about illegally harvesting a fish.

PS, reading on the toilet is a leading cause of hemorrhoids, just FYI.

The barbless rules for Puget Sound are pretty simple. If your fishing in Puget Sound, areas 5 - 13, regardless of species, barbless hooks are required. The only exception is if you are jigging for herring, smelt, anchovies, etc. I wouldn't try the excuse that you were jigging for herring with a 2/0 hook though, it won't fly. That would leave areas 1 - 4 open for barbed hooks when targeting non-salmon species. Check page 102 of the regs under tackle/gear rules. As for freshwater if you see the words "selective gear rules", single point barbless hooks are required. There are a few other instances where barbless hooks are called out, you just need to check the waters you plan on fishing for special rules.

While I'm at it, I'm going to suggest that anyone that can, download a PDF of the current regs. Once you have done that, you can use the search function in your PDF reader to quickly find what you are looking for.

Matt wrote:

lukesfishin wrote:Look, i know alot of peeps < >about illegally harvesting a fish.

PS, reading on the toilet is a leading cause of hemorrhoids, just FYI.

Thanks Matt! Always a pleasure from one Matt to another!

Matt wrote:

lukesfishin wrote:Look, i know alot of peeps on here are new to fishin, new to this area etc. but ive seen more reports of illegal salmon being caught and killed than any other forum site, please read the regulations before you fish, especially before you fish new water.

Although I agree that illegal fishing is not cool, at all, I would have to DISAGREE strongly with the statement that you have "seen more reports of illegal salmon being caught and killed than any other forum site", I feel like you made this comment with no foundation. I doubt you could find ONE forum post where someone is talking about illegally harvesting a fish.

PS, reading on the toilet is a leading cause of hemorrhoids, just FYI.

i think matt hit 'er rrright on the HEAD this time.......'ol Luke spent too much time read'n regs on the throne and has warped their mind ...or something....DOG

Matt wrote:

lukesfishin wrote:Look, i know alot of peeps on here are new to fishin, new to this area etc. but ive seen more reports of illegal salmon being caught and killed than any other forum site, please read the regulations before you fish, especially before you fish new water.

Although I agree that illegal fishing is not cool, at all, I would have to DISAGREE strongly with the statement that you have "seen more reports of illegal salmon being caught and killed than any other forum site", I feel like you made this comment with no foundation. I doubt you could find ONE forum post where someone is talking about illegally harvesting a fish.

PS, reading on the toilet is a leading cause of hemorrhoids, just FYI.

ditto. our site policy is to delete reports that reference illegal fishing, and members are pretty quick to point it out, much quicker than other forums site that don't even have a way to make a comment on a fishing report. we always have encouraged members to let us know when an illegal activity gets posted so we can review/delete it.

do you have some specific reports/posts that indicate illegal activities, or are you just making a statement of your opinion? Please post the link here so I can follow up on them.

Totally agree with Matt, there are other sites with reports accuse someone snagging fish at every other outings.

Mike Carey wrote:

Matt wrote:

lukesfishin wrote:Look, i know alot of peeps on here are new to fishin, new to this area etc. but ive seen more reports of illegal salmon being caught and killed than any other forum site, please read the regulations before you fish, especially before you fish new water.

Although I agree that illegal fishing is not cool, at all, I would have to DISAGREE strongly with the statement that you have "seen more reports of illegal salmon being caught and killed than any other forum site", I feel like you made this comment with no foundation. I doubt you could find ONE forum post where someone is talking about illegally harvesting a fish.

PS, reading on the toilet is a leading cause of hemorrhoids, just FYI.

ditto. our site policy is to delete reports that reference illegal fishing, and members are pretty quick to point it out, much quicker than other forums site that don't even have a way to make a comment on a fishing report. we always have encouraged members to let us know when an illegal activity gets posted so we can review/delete it.

do you have some specific reports/posts that indicate illegal activities, or are you just making a statement of your opinion? Please post the link here so I can follow up on them.

I think he may be talking about the pilchuck report as it's closed for salmon.

I have noticed a bunch of reports/posts on this site with illegal activity myself ALONG with other sites, BUT like Mike said they are quickly taken off the site.:thumleft: I don't understand the beef about it?:scratch: It is clear to see that this site is well monitored and taken care of. If people are reporting their illegal activities it is either because they are just plain stupid OR they simply just didn't read the regs closely enough. My guess is that the majority of people just didn't know any better. Lets be honest here, Washington has the most god aweful hard to read regs that are out there. Also, everybody is human and makes mistakes, so oh well move on and not worry about it.

It will always be this way so all you can do is educate people and hope they listen.

OK, thanks for the heads up, the Pilchuck report has been deleted. I'll talk with Aaron about adding a "Report Abuse" type button to make it easier for members to let us know about illegal reports. We really do rely on the members to notify us about this stuff as there is no way we know the regs for every body of water in the state, but odds are (like this case) other anglers know their waters. I just wish the members that had commented about the report had contacted me as well. Obviously it's one thing to have a policy, now we need to improve the system for reporting this stuff.

That said, overall and considering the numbers of reports that are posted I will stand by my opinion that the site is not full of these kind of reports.

mallard83 wrote:I have noticed a bunch of reports/posts on this site with illegal activity myself ALONG with other sites, BUT like Mike said they are quickly taken off the site.:thumleft: I don't understand the beef about it?:scratch: It is clear to see that this site is well monitored and taken care of. If people are reporting their illegal activities it is either because they are just plain stupid OR they simply just didn't read the regs closely enough. My guess is that the majority of people just didn't know any better. Lets be honest here, Washington has the most god aweful hard to read regs that are out there. Also, everybody is human and makes mistakes, so oh well move on and not worry about it.

It will always be this way so all you can do is educate people and hope they listen.

Yea, I agree with the regs, I look up the regs to each river I go to everytime before I go and there is still confusion. Especially when they change within two miles of river three times. Like you can't use bait here, you can here, if you go upstream anyfurther you're trespassing and will get shot by indians. It's annoying, but it's all in a good faith effort to manage our river stocks. I'm not a fisheries biologist so who am I to say that it's too much?

But the entire thing is not fishermen friendly. But still the law is the law and I don't break it.

OK, thanks for the heads up, the Pilchuck report has been deleted. I'll talk with Aaron about adding a "Report Abuse" type button to make it easier for members to let us know about illegal reports. We really do rely on the members to notify us about this stuff as there is no way we know the regs for every body of water in the state, but odds are (like this case) other anglers know their waters. I just wish the members that had commented about the report had contacted me as well. Obviously it's one thing to have a policy, now we need to improve the system for reporting this stuff.

That said, overall and considering the numbers of reports that are posted I will stand by my opinion that the site is not full of these kind of reports.

The site is not full of foul reports, illegal reports at all! The pilchuck one was the first that I'd seen. The only other illegal reports I've seen are folks using powerbait or other bait while fishing for trout and catching and releasing more than their limit. And most folks let 'em know in the comment section that the law for C&R changed and they learned from it and don't do it anymore. It's important to follow the rules and even more important to look to know what they are, but some folks haven't been impressed with that importance growing up like I did fishing since I was five years old, probably younger. Some folks just got into the hobby, found this website and weren't taught the stuff that we were. This site has given us a venue to promote healthier fisheries by letting folks know of how disregarding rules can impact the health of the fish. Every time we get the opportunity to correct a wrong in an educational and informative environment like this we do ourselves a service. The more people that fish, the more licenses are bought, which means more money goes to WDFW and more people become aware of our natural bounty and parks systems and have a reason to be environmentally conscious. I wouldn't get angry, I'd just be grateful of the opportunity to correct illegal behavior.

thanks natetreat, I couldn't have said it any better!

HaHaHaHa You cant accuse me of fishing illegal. I seldom catch.LOL.The nerve of some folks .

I think that more often than not illegal activities/reports that are posted to the reports section are either a typo or error in the use of the drop down menu when creating the report. My guess for the Pilchuck report is that the user probably entered the wrong system, he could have been fishing the Snohomish at the mouth of the P, or fishin' some other place close in the alphabet and clicked the wrong button in the drop down. I have done it before up in Whatcom county fishing for Cutthroat in lake Samm accidentally posting it under the Whatcom Lake section, and getting scolded for it.

I've seen several reports where people show off their out of season salmon. Two that I remember are the chinook from the Skookumchuck a couple days ago, and a chinook from the Green a couple months ago. I doubt these guys meant to do anything illegal, but it is frustrating. These guys need to be corrected for their own good and the good of the fish runs.

I guess the report from the skagit posted on september 24 should be deleted then too. It was my favorite poaching report because the fisherman called out all the litterbugs , preached the word of taking kids fishing , released a chrome chinook nate , then poached a boot hatchery chinook.