Last night I went to the Puyallup river approximately 500 feet downstream from the 66th street bridge. As I was walking in I saw the 61 guys fishing illegally within the 400-foot closed waters of the Clarks creek mouth, and yes, I did count them. There were a couple guys fishing right in the mouth of the creek and I mentioned that this was illegal to which I was told how to pleasure myself very rudely. At that point, I made the decision if these guys want to get a fine, let them.
As I proceeded down to the area where I was going to fish there was a group of guys I noticed because of the music they were playing very loudly. I decided at that point I would go even further downstream. Once I got to my area, no one within 150 feet of me, I was able to cast about 4 times when I noticed a line about ten feet in front of me. Looking upstream I verified the guy who was reeling in this line was at least 150 feet upstream of me. As the weight and leader past me I noticed how long the leader was, and the barbed hook, and sure enough a few minutes later when he snagged his first salmon that I saw it was obvious he had no control of the fish once he ran out of main line.
Then the evening fishing took an even worse turn…. This group of guys kept getting closer and closer to me, literally within ten feet of me, tangling my line with theirs, blaring the rap music they enjoy, and snagging fish after fish. I left after being on the river less than 45 minutes.
My point in sharing this is that hopefully some of these guys will read this and realize that they are not only criminals, they are being very rude, unethical, and giving true fisherman a bad name. My second point in sharing this is that I hope WDFW will patrol this are much more heavily. I am fine with the wardens giving warnings if it is merited, but if guys are blatantly flipping off the law, write them up and show no mercy.
Will I go back to the Puyallup river, yes, but I will take my phone with me next time. This will allow me to take photos, share them with the wardens, and post them on-line in every place possible.
Smile for the camera!!
Hope every true fisherman has a great season and tight lines!