NorthWest Kayak Anglers
Regional Discussions => Washington Kayak Fishing => Topic started by: islandson671 on August 06, 2010, 10:33:28 PM
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3 of us fished the Skokomish river today. I had 2 on one broken leader and one spit hook. There are tons of kings they weren't really biting but saw a lot snagged and kept. It was elbow to elbow. We started fishing around 6:00am, gotta late start. We started at the gravel pit lots of fish there mostly snagged. Went down river about 300 yds around noon. I changed my leader from 17 lb fluorocarbons to 12 lb and had a fish on my 1st cast it was in the mouth after about 5 minutes of fighting it spit the hook. 3 more casts and I had another fish on but I forgot to check my leader it snapped halfway. I might make another run at on Thursday. 8-12-10
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Snagging salmon is legal?
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No it's not, and they've been handing out a lot of tickets on the skokomish this year.
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Its not legal but I saw a bunch of people doing it..
The gamies must have had the day off
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So, you hook a salmon and bring it in only to find it is hooked through the back and is bleeding from a serious gash. Legally what are you required to do?
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You have to let it go..the skoks has a strict rule of being hooked in the mouth only
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Any benefit to kayak fishing the skok? Holes only accessible by boat? Or worth trolling or jogging in salt in front of river mouth? Or holes that would trap people with tide changes unless you can hop in a yak?
Thinking of heading there Wednesday.
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So, you hook a salmon and bring it in only to find it is hooked through the back and is bleeding from a serious gash. Legally what are you required to do?
Release it with doing the least amount of further damage. Barbless or pinched down hooks can be yanked back out with pliers or forceps and a quick turn of the wrist. If it looks like you have hooked a fish in the dorsal fin or top of the tail (a fish from an endangered or diminished run, like a native Chinook from some system where the runs are way down), its better to just point your rod at the fish and snap the fish off the instant you know it is foul hooked that way. Its really tough to get a dorsal or tail-hooked fish in (can't turn 'em), and puts too much stress on them. A fish foul-hooked closer to its head can be turned and led in a lot easier than one foul-hooked near the tail or on the dorsal fin.
The salmon, steelhead, and searun cutts seem to survive damage to their bodies pretty well, such as seal bites and talon rakings, and go on to spawn. They are all tough fish. The salmon and steelhead go thru physiological changes after entering fresh water, where their scales seem to tighten down and get covered with a good slime. Helps them to escape predators when swimming upstream.
If they are bleeding very badly from the gills, its much more serious and likely to be fatal. With just a little bit of bleeding from the gills, they still have a chance, though.
I have found that if the law says you must release a fish for some reason, its better just to release it and not try to game the system..