ORIGINAL: hot tuna

slayer :
not sure about what your sayin.. less fish less ppl fishing ?
i do believe, and just my observations , legal snagging , brought more people to the river.. It required zero skill.. If it were legal today (without getting a ticket, sometimes ) i think there would be more ppl then there is..
As for wanting it returned ?? without being a resident can only give my observations from outside . Before the ban almost every establishment had a petition wanting it NOT to be banned.
Now I think it's more mixed feelings.

Peace & Tuna

Note that what you said was the establishments (businesses) all had petitions.
The local citizens hated it.
An hour plus to get from one end of town to the other (easier to drive around the village and come in from the other direction).
The crowds would certainly be bigger if snagging was legal again but not what they were unless the number of fish was also at the former level.

There is still lots of snagging going on,but now it's called lifting and if you want to see some old fashioned snagging go to the trestle,they're even using some Michigan Crickets as I found one in a Coho yesterday on the LFZ.
I'm here till tomorrow and the fish are not hitting,I think the water is too warm and by the time they get to the upper river they shut down.I have to really fish hard to get a few hookups,but that's fishing and it still beats work.

salmo.. great report and once again seemed like a prime day you had.. Sucks on the Coho, they are fun city when they attack go crazy.. Your day will come..

sorry this topic is so totally de-railed :
One last thought.. I agree the towns people may have a dislike for crazy season being somewhat inconvenienced and left with carnage.. But to most it had to have been some form of income..
Also agree the reduction from 5+ mil to 2 something would never today sustain a legal snag fest again..
But I don’t think the return numbers of fish today is a big factor in angler reduction.. Again, I could be dead wrong but to most the salmon fishing is pretty good.. Obviously many things contribute to reduction of anglers , today I think economy but 5 years ago , "Legal" snagging being the most reason (imo) ..
That being said I have absolutely NO wish to see it ever return and wish the fishery was treated with better respect then it is today..

Ponder this :
In the early 80's steelhead numbers and size (again my observations) were better then they have been in past previous years.. (yes they are rebounding lately) .. But angler numbers fishing for steelhead have increased dramatically in the last 15 years.. Lower numbers of fish = higher numbers of anglers ?

Have a GREAT day of fishing to all..
Peace & Tuna

Yup .. going back to memory lane.. how bout the high school kids loading up the pickup at beaver dam brook .. hitting the lots in the morning so the hung over fishermen had something to bring home to their wives.. look what I caught honey

Funny--but true

I agree with both of you!

Here is a thought...For the past few years Ive been tying my salmon flies on Mustads Improved Long shank Circle Hook #92553. I haven't foul hooked a fish since. The hook gets caught in the corner of the mouth, or not at all.

I catch my fair share, and every fish I get is fair even though I release most of them.

It wouldn't hurt my feelings to see more circle hooks being used as it also allows for releasing fish with less damage to the fish.

ORIGINAL: salmotrutta

Yeah- I had a great day. Action was hot till about 11. I cannot fathom how many Salmons broke me off. I've never had one break 12# flouroflex before yesterday. I had a few Kings in the mid 30's on. They would get sick of being hooked & zoom off faster than the reel could put out. The biggest sent that shot to my face like it was shot out of a pellet gun. I had Coho's on too, but couldn't seal it up. There were guys above me in fast water & rather than go through the hassle I broke them off.
Today I went to 2A & Compactor pool. Saw fish rolling here & there but no hookups other than one grab. No one else around. Went to the Ballpark & people were leaving. Saw a hookup & a few Silver Coho's on stringers but I saw no fish moving & didn't get any love. Headed home about noon.
I didn't see a soul snagging. Everyone was drifting fair & that's real good.
Stopped to see Dawn- she's selling out her tackle & has deals. She told me there are allot of people in town getting fines for snagging/keeping fouled fishes. She says she won't have it on her property & has Mike out back to help people learn to catch Salmon fairly & legally. They do bite being the premise.
The lodge I stayed in was really nice. The people are very cool & I recommend it to everyone.
I couldn't be happier, except  still haven't caught a Coho.

 
Salmo - good report. Unless you are willing to "walk the dog" at least for a short distance, there is little chance you will land a fresh Coho. Your not back home on your Central Pa trout stream.
 
Regardless, sounds like you had fun. On the plus side - no lost teeth or eyeball from that lead shot...

I could have followed but I figured soon enough I'd get a fish to follow me back into the shallows & give up. The fish up from me were going right to the shallows behind me when hooked- mine on the other hand...& yeah- there were Coho's. I think 2 of the fish I had on were Hybreds because of the head shape & sheer size. Dang- the fishes are deep & wise this year. I bet some of the Coho's were pushing 18.
I gotta say I probably gave close to 30 Salmons a new lip ring. Every one broke me off, but my rod survived.
Was above the Joss hole I guess. Nice guys all around me. Two dudes that worked @ the DSR stopped by & chatted. They were very helpful & gave me a few pointers. As you guys know, I've been doing this for a while, but the learning never ends.
I also have to thank metalslayer publicly. I had no idea where to fish the DSR & he advised me & kept his eye on levels & weather for the last couple weeks. Owe you some flies & Beers. Too bad we couldn't have shared the day. Maybe you coulda landed me one to bring home...
One more thing- I never thought much about mounting any fish, but after seeing the sheer beauty of the Salmon fresh from the Lake I would spend the $ to mount a Coho & Big King. I Love the sopts on the Kings. I got to tail a few for guys upstream from me. At least I got to touch some. Haha.

I got broke off using 12 and 15 pound tippet....Finally went to 20 lb and it held .....Caught one nice king but I wasn't dragging it back to the lot so I let it go...

I tried to show them who was boss. Got their head to the side right away, but it didn't last long. I may have had my drag set to tight, or maybe I was just in awe of the power.

I don't know if the line was sheared by the salmon's teeth, old tippet, or a bad drag setting......But trying to land a fresh king on 15lb tippet takes some finesse.....

emall
How does one slander the DSR.
Answer lie about the employees helping snaggers and claiming you have a video of it.
Post it here or on the other site where you've told the same lie.
Over there you claimed the people here defended the snaggers. Can anyone point to any reponses that were pro the snaggers he claimed to video?

Posted just to keep it heated for PA's sake.

It sounded a bit unbelievable to me LMAO!

I hate to sound like an old phart but--
  Even back in the nasty snagging days there were lifters, so the impression that they may make up for the snagging numbers isn't entirely right. Back then, during this time ( third week or so of Sept.), there were cleaning stations all over the place with guys holding their 3 fish limit lined up. You could drive past a station and see the same long line for hours. There were a tremendous amount of fish being removed daily from the system. Now with catch and release being very popular and no 3 fish limit the removal rate has dropped tremendously.  Reinstating the snagging just for economics would ruin the fishery at and above its occurance and remove a huge part of the river for real sportsmen. The environmentally sustainable fish numbers we have today (even though the heavy runs are somewhat diminished) would make that unsustainable and probably destroy the fishery.

lakers i noticed were very prominent from early 90's to late 90's. i would go up for steel and end up hooking most lakers as we referred to as boots in the current or "fakers". 1997 in november had a day in the fly stretch right above bridge on rocks side. in 1 hour i hooked about 10 fish in which 8 were lakers. people thought i was crazy when i left claiming i had hooked so many fish... i stated i come for steelhead not lakers. some were even near mid teens range. i ended up leaving anyway and making a late afternoon hike down to the clay hole where i landed a 12 lb. brown that i decided to keep and put on the wall. (1 of the 5 trout i've kept in my 22 seasons) well worth the effort and trouble i got in for getting to the parking lot 30 minutes past closing... the funny thing is;is that i haven't seen a laker since that year and that was the year i probably saw the most. it used to be common from nov.-jan. to hook many lakers... i actually hope they never come back in the river system though...