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3. Fighting for fish

Sunday I went up to South Sandy Creek in Pulaski, NY. I was appauled by the spectacle there. Hundreds of fisherman packed into one small pool below the bridge, everyone dragging huge cohos, and people fighting. 2 people began fighting over a hole because one guy accused the other of snagging fish out of there. It was obvious he was snagging fish, but the other guy was doing the same. Why would you make a fool of yourself chasing a fish screaming "Its mine you @$$hole"? I went down stream about a mile and did not see more than 2 people all day and I still got into fish. The situation on Salmon streams is incredibly ridiculous. I don't see how anyone can enjoy "hunting" for fish.

I remember being in that exact spot about 8 years ago and witnessing a similar spectacle. No one was fist-fighting, but the memory of a high-school kid skipping school to "fish" is still etched in my mind: Every time he snagged one, he'd start screaming, "Holy SH*T! Holy F*CKING SH*T!!!" Let's just say the experience wasn't tranquil. I wasn't a very experienced fisherman at the time and wasn't smart enough to find another spot to fish. Instead, I just got in my car and left, and I haven't fished the salmon run since. It's too bad the law doesn't make provision in those situations for killing someone.

-Shawn

This is why it is such a blessing that the attempts to establish a King and Coho fishery in the PA Lake Erie tribs back in the 70's were abandoned.

The fishery has enough crowding problems without this annual blossoming of the low-lifes that plague some of the Lake Ontario streams during the salmon runs.


Jamie: I got a little behind and will be sending your package out later this week (club stuff)..

Lee

I guess it depends how you define "hunting" for fish. Lots of people use that term to refer to searching up and down the river for sign of an especially large trout, then watching it to figure out what it's doing and carefully stalking in to try to catch it. That kind of "hunting" for fish is one of the highest forms of our sport.

Of course, I agree with you completely about the salmon circus. Off the beaten path is the only way to do it.

Sorry for the bad terminology. I actually meant to say "fighting" for fish, but my head was in other places. It is a huge shame people feel that that is the way to fish...but i guess different people have different ideas you cannot change.

Yeah. They're the same people whose idea of hunting is to go around drunk in a pickup truck with a spotlight at night blasting away at deer with automatic weapons, or as they call it, "their 2nd amendment rights."