Spawning salmon traumatized by fishing technique

Spawning salmon traumatized by fishing technique

By Matt Weiser

Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, August 30, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1

Fishermen are targeting salmon returning to spawn in the American River and other Central Valley streams, despite a virtual ban on all salmon fishing this year.
Even worse, some anglers are using a technique called "flossing," intended to hook salmon in the body, fin or face. The method is considered unethical by many fishermen. It appears to slip through a loophole in regulations designed to protect salmon.
"They're traumatizing these big fish," said Alan Weingarten, a state Department of Fish and Game warden who has observed the practice on the American River.


He said flossing is also happening on the Feather, Yuba and Sacramento rivers.

Flossing is generally done for sport; most fish are returned to the river. Yet game regulators are upset that salmon are being harassed.
"We need to leave these fish alone," he said, "but I don't think Fish and Game was very fortunate in the way the regulations were crafted."

Rules adopted in May ban anglers from keeping salmon from Central Valley rivers. The unprecedented emergency rules followed predictions of the worst salmon run in history this fall.
Commercial and recreational salmon fishing at sea are also banned.
However, officials did not ban catch-and-release salmon fishing. They urged anglers in a July 2 press release to "use a very conservative approach" and "refrain from any catch-and-release fishing that specifically targets salmon."

Flossing, intended to hook salmon when they are most vulnerable, hardly heeds that message, said Bill Lowe, a Fair Oaks fly fishing guide. He said salmon now returning to spawn could be harmed even by routine fishing pressure.
"I believe they shouldn't be fished, period, especially in the dire situation we are fighting now," said Lowe. "If people are fishing to them, they are harassing them."
Salmon returning early to spawn typically wait until conditions are right by hovering in deeper water just downstream of rapids. Sometimes they wait in groups. Salmon don't eat during their spawning run, but constantly open and close their mouths while parked, to breathe and clean their gills.

Flossing is designed to take advantage of this behavior:
• The angler uses a long leader attached to the end of the main body of line, at least double the normal length at between 8 and 20 feet. It's weighted at one end, with a hook at the other.
• A colorful bead or piece of yarn is attached to the leader just above the hook. This ensures the rig meets the legal definition of a lure, and the angler can claim he is targeting steelhead (though few are in the rivers now).

• The leader is then cast across the river below a rapid where salmon are parked. As he reels the hook in, the angler banks on odds that the weighted leader will pass through a salmon's open mouth. When he feels that resistance, he sets the hook.
What happens, said Lowe, is that the line whips through the salmon's mouth and slams violently into its body – usually the face or head. Sometimes the hook tears off chunks of flesh or leaves gaping wounds. After the salmon is reeled in, removing the hook may leave a wound that can weaken fish. And though most fish are returned to the river, Lowe said, the trauma often causes the salmon to release its eggs or sperm on shore.

"If the practice continues … the harassment will cause some problems for the spawning family (of fish)," said Larry Barnes, tackle manager at Elkhorn Outdoor Sports, who has reluctantly sold flossing tackle to some anglers. "It's just people ignoring the intent of the salmon closure."
He said it is difficult to regulate because anglers can say they're not going after salmon. Also, fish are sometimes hooked by accident using even normal practices, so it's difficult to prove malicious intent.

Weingarten said he has been able to issue only one citation: On the American River last week, he cited an angler who kept a salmon after catching it with flossing gear.
It's difficult to know if flossing endangers salmon, said Rob Titus, a state fisheries biologist who monitors American River salmon.
Studies have shown that routine catch-and-release fishing in the ocean kills about 15 percent of salmon caught. A similar estimate for in-river fishing has yet to be developed.
Marija Vojkovich, marine region supervisor at Fish and Game, said the agency may consider new regulations if fishing pressure seems to be harming this fall's salmon run.

Barnes hopes it doesn't come to that.
"The average fisherman out there has a responsibility to make sure his practices promote the regeneration and repopulation of the fish," he said. "It's not just up to Fish and Game. It has to do with everybody."