Had an interesting experience today and was wondering if any of you guys might have seen this before. I was catfishing on the sac river at the fremont weir state wildlife area (ok, ok...I know all of you are big into catfishing ). Anyway, I noticed a dead salmon about 6 feet out from shore. It was floating on its back. It was large...probably 2-2.5 feet. It was in an eddy and wasn't really moving other than bobbing up and down. I tried to retrieve it to get a good look at it but couldn't. Anyway, I keep fishing (2 nice catfish to hand) and when I'm done reel in my rig. I get snagged...but on something that "moves" (not moves like a fish, moves like I've snagged a loose piece of vegetation or a tree limb). So I haul my line out of the water and it's snagged on a piece of high test line. After a minute I discovered the line was attached to the dead salmon, with the other end extending out into the river. I immediately thought it was a trot line and didn't want to get caught with it (nor a dead salmon!!!) so I immediately let it go and went home and called dfg caltip about it. They basically blew me off and said they'd increase enforcement in the area. They didn't even want to go remove the fish and/or line. It makes me really angry...
you most likey just snagged a line someone broke off when they snagged the salmon...did they snag it on purpose? who knows....this time a year you snag them all the time by accident...
Well, they basically said that if there was nobody there, there was no point in investigating. Heck, they may be right. But if someone did put out a set line (which i'm pretty sure it was) I would think that would be a different case and would warrant further action.
I don't know, maybe it wasn't [a set line]. Guess it's possible someone could have either accidentally caught it and cut the line, or may have snagged it, etc...but I really don't think so. The line attached to it was so long...makes me think that wasn't the case.
That's the situation today with limited resources: unless they can make an arrest or have a witness that actually saw the person(s) setting the line or harvesting a catch, they are unlikely to dispatch an officer or Warden. If you do witness a sure violation, call them and say you will stay/wait, they will dispatch to the scene. So, if you are a witness, please do call them.
A good number of the salmon that get snagged are hooked in the mouth...The line will run along the nose and mouth of the salmon and they wont bother to move till the hook pokes them hard enough on the mouth...Term we use is "lined"...This might of happen or someone could have been behaving badly...I dont think we will ever know...