Mark Stothard's Infamous Salmon Snagging Tape

[Pete Collin]

A chronicle of the bad old days.

 

[quikfish]

A chronicle of the bad old days.
 

That is hard to watch. Poor salmon.


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[whaler1]

mark was an awesome individual.  Had an incredible sense of humor.  

as bad as it was back then, its not that much better now.  Weapon of choice now is a fly rod.  Oak isnt worth visiting till after Thanksgiving for me.

[quikfish]

mark was an awesome individual.  Had an incredible sense of humor.  
as bad as it was back then, its not that much better now.  Weapon of choice now is a fly rod.  Oak isnt worth visiting till after Thanksgiving for me.

For sure. I’m the same way, I usually wait until November to start fishing Burt and Oak. Much quieter.


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[whaler1]

before the internet, before the article calling it top ten in the world, before guides reserving spots for their clients, before I was getting geared up along the road above the Road Hole  and stepped in a big fresh pile of human poop, it was awseome.  That was the day I switched my fall interest to bow hunting.

[lost a lure]

Looks like the early 90's in LA.

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[Missdemeanor]

It's not quite as blatant as those clowns but it does keep happening...
I was fishing a hole one morning all by myself ...there was about a dozen BTs in it.. Including a big big one ( mid teens). I caught three is 5 drifts when some guy came down on the other side from me... He asked (in a thick southern accent) if I minded that he fished there.. No biggie ..have at it...
He pulls out a fly rod with 4 split shot on it and immediately targets this big Brown.the The guy raked him across the back and hooked the fish in the dorsal... As he fought it, I yelled over for him to break the fish off and that I watched him purposely snag it... He told me that he bought an out of state license and he is going to get his money's worth of this big Brown.I told him If I had to obey the law so did he. After a few F words from our stream friend, I had enough.
I watch him battle this brown and pulled a yellow stringer out of his pocket. I yell over that if that fish goes on that stringer, that I was going to come over and throw his A$$ into the water... Well guy tried to call my bluff...kind of... As he saw me marching across the creek in a spirited pace rolling up my sleeves, he broke off the big brownie and high tailed it to his POS truck with West Virginia plates...
And that was the last time I stream fished... So it's not just the guys back in the 90s with the tuna sticks and spider wire... They have graduated to Orvis fly reels and LL Bean Waders...
Like any crime.. If you see somthing, say somthing...

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[whaler1]

Damn Muphere’s


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[Missdemeanor]

Yea Billy it was just down the road from our friends place. I'm sure he heard me MF-in the guy all the way to his truck...

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[Pete Collin]

I used to chase them in the tributaries heavily.  Kind of phased out of it over the years.  Combination of getting married, tired of running up miles on my truck, getting into woodworking, loss of fishing buddies through death, them moving away, or otherwise getting married and starting families.  but there is one moment I remember that was the beginning of the end.  There was a good run of browns in the Oak, but it was extremely crowded to the point where you couldn't find anywhere to stand.  I found one less-than-ideal drift that had vines hanging down in front of it, preventing you from casting or manipulating your rod.  I hacked at and pulled down the vines, thus creating a spot for myself.  I even caught a few nice ones.  But at the end of that day, looking around at the melee of guys, happily stomping through the productive runs as they played their foul-hooked fish, I realized that I was the only guy there who wasn't having a good time.  Clearly I was the one who didn't belong.

[Lucky13]

LL Bean didn't sell fly fishing equipment back then.  And you were much more likely to encounter a big martin automatic on an ugly stick or a fenwick than Orvis tackle, and the pro lifters with money all lusted after their Fin Nors.  Lifting has been around since the Rochester and Buffalo pirates started back when the runs first came into Naples.  But between the state telling people the fish would not hit, because the biology says they cannot "feed" or digest food, and the industry supporting a fishery based on hauling a trunkfull of fish back to wherever they muphered from so they can smoke and can them and eat a couple of pounds a week every week of the year, we got this sHyteshow, and now we're dealing with those kids that got educated back then to hate Encon and think it is all right to harvest anything any way they want, so a lot of it continues.   Oh, and then there are the "guides" who brought flossing back from Alaska, and taught it to their clients. I didn't go out on the LO tribs where snagging was legal until after the November 15 close of snagging, but I ran into plenty of the guys with pirate hats and flyrods using the 17 lb mono , the 1/0 hooks and the Slugload of double ought buck, with a pea size piece of sponge, on plenty of non-snagging tribs back then, too. 

 

I stopped going to the Oak, because I got a big ache missing Mark when I was there.  Way too early to lose a guy like that, we could definitely use his sense of humor in these troubled times.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Lucky13

[Missdemeanor]

"LL Bean didn't sell fly fishing equipment back then.  And you were much more likely to encounter a big martin automatic on an ugly stick or a fenwick than Orvis tackle,"

Yea lucky....when I was talking about that tackle....i was speaking about in recent years... The guy in my encounter ( it was about 6 years ago) was geared up to the max... A poser if you will... Similar to a guy who shows up to a gun range with all the latest and greatest guns, holsters , 511 gear... And the guy shoots like garbage.. We call them Tacticool...


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[Lucky13]

My bad, I realized that when I reread your post.  And it is my impression that West Virginia may produce the lowest life poachers in the Continental United States.  Look at what they did to Sandy Creek a few years back.   I almost never go fly fishing in the flyfishing zones in Altmar because so many of the "anglers" in there have too much shot, too long leaders, and are lining and lifting so many of their fish.  It is fun to watch when Encon comes out of Beaverdam Brook in their drift boat and checks rigs, but I haven't heard of that happening in some time.