Northwest Fishing Reports

Maybe its me but the rules are the most contradictive thing you can read.

First off, i understand no snagging, its not my intention or how i would want want to catch a fish just to make that clear.
Im just talking.


secondly the regs read "if any fish has swallowed the hook or is hooked in the gill, eye, or tongue it should be kept if it is legal to do so"

Right above this statement it reads
" it is unlawful to possess a fish taken from freshwater that was not hooked inside the mouth or on the head, the head is defined as any portion forward of the read margin of gill plate"

What the heck does that mean? if you snag them on the head, your good to go? what sense does that make?

Anti Snagging rule by definition
Except when fishing with a buoyant lure(with no weights added to the line or lure), or trolling from a vessel or fliating device, terminal fishing gear is restricted to a lure or bait with one single -point hook. Hooks must 3/4in or less from point from point to shank , and must be attachted to or below the lire or bait. Weights may not be attached below or less than 12in above the lure or bait.

So if your line floats, you can snag them with one hook?

IS the treble hook a way to fish the rivers, or are you more likely to snag the fish?

None of this make any sense.

I talked to a fish/game officer, yesterday, he said he wouldnt give a ticket if it was hooked on the head because the fish was most likely going for the lure, but every officer is different. He also mentioned that if the fish is bleeding or injured from the situation he would expect the angler to take the fish rather than let it suffer missing a eye or bleeding to death."

That makes sense to me

let me hear what all you guys think?

yeah I was wondering about the gill, eye, tongue thing on the quilcene because I have hooked fish there in the gill plate and eye ball before and they were bleeding I was wondering if I should keep it or not since it is legal to keep coho but it is not legal to keep them anywhere but the mouth.

I agree that whole section of the regs is very unclear, and confusing for the average reader, It seems like have the regs are written in old english

Plugs that float are good with treble hooks, that's about the only way I know of to use them for salmon. Floating lure exception.

I can't really say about a floating line but it does specifically say buoyant lure, so I would say no on the line.

.

legal to do so means if it says it has to be in the mouth then head gillplate or eye is not legal. if fishing a gillplate forward fishery then you have to keep it unless it has a extra fin in a native release fishery. they just don't want you releasing legal fish that are going to die from the wound. still confusing but i hope this helps.

So how do you know which fisheries are good with that, i havent heard of any?

Well from a boat, any fishery that has Salmon or Steelhead. From the bank anywhere you can cast a plug and reel it fast enough to make it dive.

seems kinda sketchy IMO not the ideal way you want to do that but to each his own i spose.

I can't really think of anything that's sketchy about plug fishing, its a tried a true way of fishing for Salmon and Steelhead. Caught many fish with a plug.

to me the rules there make perfect sense.

lets say your fishing the skok everyone knows has to be legal in the mouth. so if you hook a fish anywhere other than the mouth then it is not legal to keep the fish. Simple if you ask me.

I believe this is for rivers where rules apply for gill plate forward.if you hook a fish in the eye and it is legal to do so then it is yours. Which it yes I agree this part doesn't make sense and is a waste of Ink IMO why state the obvious. eye tongue gills all legal to keep if the fish caught is legal to be kept.

what I do find interesting is the hook size rule. and how many times it is not followed on the rivers mostly by folks caring the walmart special heavy game down rigger poles. haha biggest hook I seen on the puke is a 4/0 same with the green

I have another question since we are on this subject, I have ran into people that think it is okay to keep, oh lets say 4 silvers out in quilcene mouth/bay, then go upstream and catch another 4 silvers and then go to the skok and catch 2 more kings, I always thought that it is the maximum number of fish retention at the planned river you intend to fish at or something so like you could go to the skok and catch your 2 kings and then go to the quilcene and get 2 more silver but then you are done unless you are fishing at a 6 fish river next. help.

Brat Bonker wrote:I have another question since we are on this subject, I have ran into people that think it is okay to keep, oh lets say 4 silvers out in quilcene mouth/bay, then go upstream and catch another 4 silvers and then go to the skok and catch 2 more kings, I always thought that it is the maximum number of fish retention at the planned river you intend to fish at or something so like you could go to the skok and catch your 2 kings and then go to the quilcene and get 2 more silver but then you are done unless you are fishing at a 6 fish river next. help.

Now that is a great question!

My out take on it is in the regs. at least I have not found it yet. Where as the trout limit is specified as 5 a day total...

I have not seen anything along those lines in the regs for salmon. I may of missed it as it is a lot to read. and a boring read at that.

as I wanted to hit the puke after the skok some days but I did not want the hassle of explaining where I got kings from. even though my catch card would reflect the river i got them but with most LEO's it is guilty before innocence.

I will go back and re- read after I get back from the Puke, I need a couple more fish haha

Brat bonker- those people are going way over their daily limit so it is not legal to fish and get a limit in the salt then head upriver to do same and/or go to difft river unless the other river has a higher daily limit.

As dicinu mentions, this stuff IMO is pretty clear. Just read the regs for your particular fishing area/section of water/river.

If it says must be hooked gillplate forward then a fish snagged/hooked under the jaw or in the eye or whatever is legal to keep because it is gillplate forward (PS- that's assuming all other regs are being followed).

However, many of the heavy floss and snag fisheries have more specific rules stating the fish needs to be hooked IN the mouth (not on or near).
In that case it would be illegal to keep a fish snagged/hooked under the jaw, flossed with hook entry outside-in, etc regardless of whether the fish is going to bleed out. The hookset/point of entry would need to be IN the mouth to be legal.

All just my opinion but reading the regs will really help. If it states in the mouth, it has to be inside mouth with the point of entry. If it says gillplate forward then snagging in the head as far as I know would be OK. Good luck.

Bodofish wrote:I can't really think of anything that's sketchy about plug fishing, its a tried a true way of fishing for Salmon and Steelhead. Caught many fish with a plug.

I know but the intention isnt snagging them right?

Plug i spose im unfamiliar, i know cut/plug for salmon in the sound, but i guess im not sure what you mean.

dicinu wrote:to me the rules there make perfect sense.

lets say your fishing the skok everyone knows has to be legal in the mouth. so if you hook a fish anywhere other than the mouth then it is not legal to keep the fish. Simple if you ask me.

I believe this is for rivers where rules apply for gill plate forward.if you hook a fish in the eye and it is legal to do so then it is yours. Which it yes I agree this part doesn't make sense and is a waste of Ink IMO why state the obvious. eye tongue gills all legal to keep if the fish caught is legal to be kept.

what I do find interesting is the hook size rule. and how many times it is not followed on the rivers mostly by folks caring the walmart special heavy game down rigger poles. haha biggest hook I seen on the puke is a 4/0 same with the green

Where the heck in the regs does it state what rivers allow that? i have the regs and i cant figure out where it clarifies what fisheries allow that?

I just want to know for my own knowledge? Like the green and duwamish for example is that a mouth only or is that gillplate forward?

Ezlivn89 wrote:

Bodofish wrote:I can't really think of anything that's sketchy about plug fishing, its a tried a true way of fishing for Salmon and Steelhead. Caught many fish with a plug.

I know but the intention isnt snagging them right?

Plug i spose im unfamiliar, i know cut/plug for salmon in the sound, but i guess im not sure what you mean.

Like a hot shot or wiggle wart or a fat fish are all plugs like bactrolling plugs but your are retrieving them like spinners.

Brat Bonker wrote:

Ezlivn89 wrote:

Bodofish wrote:I can't really think of anything that's sketchy about plug fishing, its a tried a true way of fishing for Salmon and Steelhead. Caught many fish with a plug.

I know but the intention isnt snagging them right?

Plug i spose im unfamiliar, i know cut/plug for salmon in the sound, but i guess im not sure what you mean.

Like a hot shot or wiggle wart or a fat fish are all plugs like bactrolling plugs but your are retrieving them like spinners.

Ya i misunderstood what you were saying, i thought you were saying the idea was to snag them, but essentially your trying to get them to bite your lure, is what your saying right?

Ezlivn89 wrote:

dicinu wrote:to me the rules there make perfect sense.

lets say your fishing the skok everyone knows has to be legal in the mouth. so if you hook a fish anywhere other than the mouth then it is not legal to keep the fish. Simple if you ask me.

I believe this is for rivers where rules apply for gill plate forward.if you hook a fish in the eye and it is legal to do so then it is yours. Which it yes I agree this part doesn't make sense and is a waste of Ink IMO why state the obvious. eye tongue gills all legal to keep if the fish caught is legal to be kept.

what I do find interesting is the hook size rule. and how many times it is not followed on the rivers mostly by folks caring the walmart special heavy game down rigger poles. haha biggest hook I seen on the puke is a 4/0 same with the green

Where the heck in the regs does it state what rivers allow that? i have the regs and i cant figure out where it clarifies what fisheries allow that?

I just want to know for my own knowledge? Like the green and duwamish for example is that a mouth only or is that gillplate forward?

The Green/Duwamish still remains a "Gill-Plate Forward" Fishery. The only time the fish must be hooked inside the mouth, is when it explicitly states "Only fish hooked inside the mouth may be retained". Go to page .16 of the regs, and read the last paragraph under "TACKLE".

Thank you losaturn