In a heavy salmon run, poachers snag big fines
By Andy McGlashen • September 13, 2011
Salmon-hungry scofflaws are flocking to riverbanks in northwest Michigan.
As MRN reported last month, this year’s salmon run has been a whopper. “It’s two to three weeks early, and it’s a very heavy run,” said Lt. David Shaw, a Department of Natural Resources conservation officer whose district includes major salmon rivers like the Betsie, Manistee and Pere Marquette.
The migration of unscrupulous anglers lured by the big, tasty fish has also been above-average, keeping Shaw and his fellow officers busy.
“With the frenzy of a heavy run, we have a lot of illegal activity,” he said. “In this district, we’re having major activity in Mason, Lake, Manistee and Benzie counties.”
That includes “some real blatant snagging,” Shaw said. Snagging, or catching fish that don’t voluntarily take the hook in the mouth, is illegal in Michigan. Many of the poachers use bare, weighted treble hooks to snag the fish, which often congregate and are easily visible in clear streams.
Shaw said he issued a citation last week to a poacher carrying the carcasses of three large king salmon from his pickup truck to the Betsie River, having put fillets from the fish in a cooler.
“It’s pretty widespread,” Shaw said, “and it comes at a time when we have six vacancies in this district.”
Tight budgets have left at least two counties–Mason and Benzie–with only one conservation officer, he added.
Shaw noted that illegally caught salmon can get pretty pricey, with a fine of no less than $250 for the first offense, plus $10 per pound of illegal fish and up to 90 days in jail. Repeat offenders will pay at least $500 and will lose their fishing license for at least two years (though MRN has a hard time believing that losing a fishing license is a big concern for a poacher).
If you see someone snagging salmon on a Michigan river, you should contact the DNR’s Report All Poaching service.
And seriously, if you’re that crazy about salmon fillets, just go to Meijer. They’re like seven or eight bucks, with very little chance of jail time.
9 Responses (Add Your Comment)
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Want to see a SNAGER ZOO? The Homestead Dam to the first bend on the Betsie River! People go just to watch the show. Snagging at its best. Loads of fish dragged along the ground like deer being dragged from the woods. Eggs spewing from the illegally snagged fish, leaving a trails of “could be salmon” up and down the trail along the river. It is blatant and none of the “rippers and lifters” even try to hid what they are doing. Might just as well make it legal if the law is not enforced consistently….
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The article suggests calling the DNR if anyone is observed snagging! Why?… the DNR knows where, when, and who is doing the snagging in Northwest rivers. Even from private land. Local DNR officers know the local and consistent violators by name! Problem is…too many violators and too few CO’s… Enforcement can’t be accomplished without enforcers! CO’s do their best with limited resources….
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Tom, your so called fly fishing for salmon in the river is actually referred to as “flossing”. this is when the salmon open their mouth to get oxygen into their gills and your line intersects the salmons mouth… this is followed by a bump which you may feel as the salmon tries to avoid your line followed by your reaction to set the hook –Flossing– your just like all the rest of the snaggers at frankfort… “its a blatant shame you didnt realize you were snagging the whole time”.
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@Blake: lol! I’ve heard it called “chuck N duck”. It’s very rare that they bite after a point and it’s almost all snagging in the rivers. Some people are less dignified about it, aka rednecks. It’s pretty nasty that they use treble hooks and scar/mame the fish. Might as well use a shotgun. Plus most of them litter in the woods. A nasty group of inbreds…
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Mary Ann Hightshue October 2, 2011at 11:42 am
My question is, aren’t the salmon going upstream to die anyway?
So what is the difference in being able to “snag” salmon or “just plain fishing” using a lure? I know that about around 30 years ago our family would spend a week in Ludington State Park. We had to put our names in a sort of lottery. Then if you were picked, then you had a two hour time frame to snag salmon. However, you were allowed to catch 5 salmon period. What on earth was wrong with that? Whether you snag or fish “normally”, they still die. If no one catches them, they die too! But at least when they ARE caught, they are food on someone’s table. With our poor economy, wouldn’t it make sense to remove the ban on snagging? That way people have another option to catch salmon. This is my opinion, but I sure hope whoever outlawed snagging will give this some thought. Also, I think because snagging is outlawed in Michigan, your state is losing out on money that would be brought in by TOURISM. Thank you for your consideration and time you have taken to read my response. -
All very interesting perspectives on snagging. With Michigan’s current economic state, DNR will be looking that much harder for snagging and any other charge they can find to generate money for the state. Way of the world (Or at least Michigan, as of now).
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Mathis McDonald October 18, 2011at 8:22 pm
Mary Ann, your reasoning is the exact problem our state is having with the declining salmon population. Fish head up reason for one reason and one reason only- to spawn. Fortunately, them spawning brings fish back to those rivers year after year, unfortunately allowing people to keep snagging and further reducing the population.
Salmon have to get up river to reproduce before people snag them. That’s whole problem. Fish can’t reproduce because of the snagging. Ever seen a fish that had just spawned? You don’t want to eat one. Ecological benefits will outweigh any economic benefits your snagging is going to ‘bring’ to the state.
I speak on behalf of the fisherman when I say please read up before posting such an ignorant comment that puts mother nature to shame.
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Kristin Jones-Koch March 12, 2012at 7:25 pm
Flossing is not a sport, if my father was still around (a true MI sportsman) he would strongly disapprove of flossing which is not in any way fly fishing
Fished last weekend near Frankfort. Don’t think I saw a single fair-hooked fish other than the ones my party landed. Course, we were actually trying to catch them using flies — you know, fishing. They will eat flies. Most people don’t even try.
It’s blatant and a shame.