The Truth About Salmon Snagging: What Anglers and the DNR Want You to Know 

By: Blake Brackett               Snagging salmon is illegal. 

I talked to some people and a DNR officer; I got good information from everyone I talked to. Most of the fishermen I talked to said the best way to get salmon would be to use some salmon eggs on a float or to use a thunder stick. No one I talked to agreed with people snagging salmon. Over the weekend, I talked to a DNR officer; he gave me a lot of info I didn't know when it comes to salmon fishing. "If you are a native american and the river is a native area, the native american is allowed to snag salmon, but as a non native american you are never allowed to snag salmon. Salmon tend to start running up rivers in the spring and continue into the fall."

 The fall is when there are the most salmon in the rivers, and they are easier to catch when the salmon are on their beds and mating; the salmon will protect their beds from anything that comes over their beds. When the salmon start to run in the spring, setting up on a pier like Gradhavenn or Whitehall, most people on the piers like to use small baitfish or store-bought cooked shrimp. Most of the people on the pier have most of their luck on the small baitfish and spoons; cooked shrimp is also a good alternative. But snagging the salmon when they are in the river can affect the numbers coming out of the river. For example, if the fish you keep have eggs, all the eggs go to waste, and the fish output is bad because most of the salmon that run up the rivers die before they can make it back to the Great Lakes.