Interesting Report from Capitola Boat & Bait

snagging should NEVER be compared to spearfishing

I read all the posts here and was just about to write what PK wrote.

There's no "point blank" easy shot when it comes to free-diving for a big game fish.  The only "easy" to spear fish I can think of off-hand are perch - and that's not easy itself...

WOah there!  I didn't mean to tick off any spear fisherman by my comment, after all they have SPEARS!

Seriously,  I meant NO offense by that comment to the sport of diving and spearing.  Specially since I probably couldn't hope to even do it in my lifetime.  But I was only trying to say that I specifically enjoy the mystery of fishing, and thats what I like to do.  No inference's to either spearing or snagging was my intention.

I didn't even note who'd mentioned something of a point-blank shot, Alain, and I'm not up-in-arms about it.  I just wanted to point out that the comparison of spear-fishing to snagging fish was way off, and it's due to the purity of spearfishing as well as the challenges, both physical and mental.

No harm, Bro.   

Spear fishing aside, I talked w/someone who believes the "snagging" isn't OK for any fish that returns to/ or can travel between fresh and saltwater. Salmon, stripers, sturgen, etc. There's some Latin word, but
I don't go there... I guess it's fair to say that we won't find any WSB in the Delta.

Blake

I guess it's fair to say that we won't find any WSB in the Delta.

If they keep pumping water out it might happen.

Snagging river-run salmon in AK is not the same as snagging a resident population of rare Mo Bay white seabass. Not that anybody said they were the same; I'm just pointing out there is a huge difference.

They weren't river run salmon.

I'm not saying I approve of the snagging.  What I am saying is that I don't believe the practice results in tearing up a ton of fish, which implied to me that the practice resulted in a lot of wasted fish.

Is snag-and-release any more destructive than catch-and-release?

How does one know they were snagging?  There are methods of fishing in which a weighted trebled is used to snag bait and then the rig is left in the water with the snagged bait doing its thing.

-Allen

Mickfish... Nice call. That whole Delta situation is a disaster!

Blake

snagging should NEVER be compared to spearfishing

I read all the posts here and was just about to write what PK wrote.

There's no "point blank" easy shot when it comes to free-diving for a big game fish.  The only "easy" to spear fish I can think of off-hand are perch - and that's not easy itself...

Is snagging easy?

Sorry if my arguments make me look pro snagging ... I'm sort of leaning to the side of "it's a personal choice".  I'm probably going to regret typing that last sentence.  Would love someone to convince me otherwise.  I do know I've seen this argument play out numerous times and the biggest anti-snagging proponents always seem to come with a holier-than-though sense of being.

-Allen

the biggest anti-snagging proponents always seem to come with a holier-than-though sense of being.

I'll take that bait...   

Snagging, taken from the most basic and, I think most would say, unethical example to a more "pure" style of fishing:

Unethical snagging - SEEING the fish in an environment where they are unable to move in time to avoid a lobbed, weighted hook that is quickly ripped into their body in an attempt to kill them.

A little more pure form of snagging, I would think - KNOWING there are fish there, tossing a substantial hook, slightly baited to attract them (?), waiting for some signs of curiosity (taps...), and swinging into the fish - you've enticed it to your tackle.  (and isn't this, "sturgeon fishing"?    - JK, but I think you get my point.)

There are degrees in all arguments, but the full spectrum of those degress (judgment of ethical standard in this case) will not always fall into all of our spectrums of acceptance (if any! - example 1...).

I was taken on a snagging mission around 20 years ago up on the Klamath and not told until we got there that it was of that nature.  It was a joke - it wasn't fishing, of course, because it was illegal, and I did not participate.  But I must say it struck me, and sticks with me, that I felt the act of ambushing the fish with big hardware when they were in a deep hole of the river was cowardice at best.

the guys in Captiola find the fish chasing bait, and cast out in front of them, then retrieve and *snag*

It does take skill, knowledge, and persistence.  And, I guess, it's legal.  So it's not a situation of captive, immobile fish or anything, and it's not giant oversize gaff type treble hooks.  these fish are moving targets. There is skill involved and it's their personal choice.  I n know and respct theese gusy as great fishermen, but don't think I would engage in the practice myself, and would probably suck at it if i did try..

Before anyone gets their panties in a bundle, just make sure you read the whole thread. Nobody has attacked spearos, nobody has cast aspersions, and all posts so far have been civil, in keeping with the class of people on the board here.

What we have here is some musing out loud about different methods of taking fish, and what we feel comfortable with.

And nobody will tell you what to do, okay?

Before anyone gets their panties in a bundle, just make sure you read the whole thread. Nobody has attacked spearos, nobody has cast aspersions, and all posts so far have been civil, in keeping with the class of people on the board here.

What we have here is some musing out loud about different methods of taking fish, and what we feel comfortable with.

And nobody will tell you what to do, okay?

Good point, Paul. 

And thanks for the explaining the scene, Allen.

No one seems to have had their panties in a bundle so I'm not really sure what the purpose of the comment was but thanks chiming in it really helped to striaghten out the situation. 

The reason I was asking about about why spearos would be mentioned alongside snaggers is that I sometimes read posts on another board where there seems to be a little bit of animosity from some spearos towards H&L fisherman, I think it's mostly directed towards PB's though, and I never really understood it.  Then when I read this thread I realized that maybe it's something that goes both ways.  Of course the only way to try to begin to understand it is to ask questions so that's what I did....but believe me I'm soooooo glad nobody will tell me what to do.   

Some people seem to really be against snagging, as mentioned below it seems to be a legal (on some species?) technique and does apparently require some skill.  So in those cases where it's legal, the hardware isn't oversized, and the fish are able to freely move what's the issue?  Is it the "technique" itself that people are against or the mentality behind it?