Snagging, also known as snag fishing, snatching, snatch fishing, jagging (Australia), or foul hooking, is a fishing technique for catching fish that uses sharp grappling hooks tethered to a fishing line to externally pierce (i.e. "snag") into the flesh of nearby fish, without needing the fish to swallow any hook with its mouth like in angling. This is achieved by suddenly and vigorously pulling the line (either by handlining or with a rod) when movement is felt, causing the snag hook to "claw" into any fish unfortunate enough to be grappled by the hook points. Weighted multi-hook rigs can be used to increase chances of success, [1] and modern technologies such as underwater video camera can also be used to visually aid and time the snagging.
Some herbivorous/algaevorous fish species, such as paddlefish, are not attracted to normal angling baits or lures as they primarily filter-feed on plankton. While these fish can be caught using nets, spears or pole hooks, snagging is also used as a less strenuous and more versatile technique. [2] However, for fish species that can be enticed easily by baits or lures, snagging techniques are often discouraged or prohibited as it causes more mutilating injuries to the fish (which diminishes the fish's chance of survival even after catch and release) and is viewed as violating the principle of fair chase, [3] and has been associated with overfishing (especially with multi-hook snag rigs) and other social controversies concerning animal cruelty. [4]
After first casting a hook into the water, a snagger will wait until a fish is sighted, at which time they will reel in the hook until it is positioned above the fish. Once the fish is in line with the hook, the snagger then yanks on the line to "snag" the fish before attempting to reel it in. When fishing in a clear river, most snaggers will be able to observe their target's shadow or wake in the water to determine where their hooks need to be and when. To keep view of the hook, some snaggers use a brightly colored ribbon or cloth near the hook.
Snagging, like other methods of fishing, is controlled by the wildlife regulating agency of each state. A list of the legality for each state follows.
State | Status |
---|---|
Alabama | Prohibited, with exceptions [5] |
Alaska | Prohibited, with exceptions [6] |
Arizona | Prohibited, with exceptions [7] |
Arkansas | Prohibited, with exceptions [8] |
California | Prohibited, with exceptions [9] |
Colorado | Prohibited, with exceptions [10] |
Connecticut | Prohibited, with exceptions [11] |
Delaware | Prohibited, with exceptions [12] |
District of Columbia | Illegal [13] |
Florida | Permitted for certain species, except in certain areas [14] |
Georgia | Illegal [15] |
Hawaii | Legal, but prohibited in certain areas [16] |
Idaho | Illegal [17] |
Illinois | Legal for some species during certain seasons [18] |
Indiana | Illegal [19] |
Iowa | Prohibited, with exceptions [20] |
Kansas | Legal for paddlefish [21] |
Kentucky | Legal for some species [22] |
Louisiana | Prohibited, with exceptions [23] |
Maine | Prohibited, with exceptions [24] |
Maryland | Illegal [25] |
Massachusetts | Illegal [26] |
Michigan | Illegal [27] |
Minnesota | Illegal [28] |
Mississippi | Unknown [29] |
Missouri | Prohibited, with exceptions [30] |
Montana | Prohibited, with exceptions [31] |
Nebraska | Prohibited, with exceptions [32] |
Nevada | Prohibited, with exceptions [33] |
New Hampshire | Prohibited in freshwater [34] |
New Jersey | Prohibited, with exceptions [35] |
New Mexico | Prohibited, with exceptions [36] |
New York | Prohibited, with exceptions [37] |
North Carolina | Illegal [38] |
North Dakota | Prohibited, with exceptions [39] |
Ohio | Prohibited, with exceptions [40] |
Oklahoma | Prohibited, with exceptions [41] |
Oregon | Prohibited, with exceptions [42] |
Pennsylvania | Illegal [43] |
Rhode Island | Illegal [44] |
South Carolina | Legal, but prohibited in certain areas [45] |
South Dakota | Prohibited, with exceptions [46] |
Tennessee | Prohibited, with exceptions [47] |
Texas | Illegal [48] |
Utah | Illegal [49] |
Vermont | Illegal [50] |
Virginia | Illegal [51] |
Washington | Illegal [52] |
West Virginia | Permitted for certain species [53] |
Wisconsin | Illegal [54] |
Wyoming | Illegal [55] |
In the United Kingdom, the use of a stroke-haul or snatch, which includes any device designed to foul-hook salmon, trout or other freshwater fish, is prohibited by Section 1 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975. [56] However, this legislation rationalised a number of previous Acts of Parliament, and the use of such devices was originally banned in 1851, although at the time it only applied to the taking of salmon and trout, but was subsequently extended to include all freshwater fish. The logic behind this was that foul-hooking was not a method that was legitimate either for commercial or sporting purposes, but was used by poachers, and this was reiterated by the Bledisloe Report published in 1961. [57]
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques include hand-gathering, spearing, netting, angling, shooting and trapping, as well as more destructive and often illegal techniques such as electrocution, blasting and poisoning.
Trolling is a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines, baited with lures or bait fish, are drawn through the water. This may be behind a moving boat, or by slowly winding the line in when fishing from a static position, or even sweeping the line from side-to-side, e.g. when fishing from a jetty. Trolling is used to catch pelagic fish such as salmon, mackerel and kingfish.
Dillingham, also known as Curyung, is a city in Dillingham Census Area, Alaska, United States. Incorporated in 1963, it is an important commercial fishing port on Nushagak Bay. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,249, down from 2,329 in 2010.
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniques such as handlining also exist. Modern angling rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a cranking device for storing, retrieving and releasing out the line, although Tenkara fishing and traditional cane pole fishing are two rod-angling methods that do not use any reel. The fish hook itself can be additionally weighted with a denser tackle called a sinker, and is typically dressed with an appetizing bait to attract and entice the fish into swallowing the hook, but sometimes an inedible fake/imitation bait with multiple attached hooks is used instead of a single hook with edible bait. Some type of bite indicator, such as a float, a bell or a quiver tip, is often used to relay underwater status of the hook to the surface and alert the angler of a fish's presence.
Paddlefish are a family of ray-finned fish belonging to order Acipenseriformes, and one of two living groups of the order alongside sturgeons (Acipenseridae). They are distinguished from other fish by their titular elonglated rostra, which are thought to enhance electroreception to detect prey. Paddlefish have been referred to as "primitive fish" because the Acipenseriformes are among the earliest diverging lineages of ray-finned fish, having diverged from all other living groups over 300 million years ago. Paddlefish are almost exclusively North American and Chinese, both extant and in the fossil record.
The American paddlefish is a species of ray-finned fish. It is the last living species of paddlefish (Polyodontidae). This family is most closely related to the sturgeons; together they make up the order Acipenseriformes, which are one of the most primitive living groups of ray-finned fish. Fossil records of other paddlefish species date back 125 million years to the Early Cretaceous, with records of Polyodon extending back 65 million years to the early Paleocene. The American paddlefish is a smooth-skinned freshwater fish with an almost entirely cartilaginous skeleton and a paddle-shaped rostrum (snout), which extends nearly one-third its body length. It has been referred to as a freshwater shark because of its heterocercal tail or caudal fin resembling that of sharks, though it is not closely related. The American paddlefish is a highly derived fish because it has evolved specialised adaptations such as filter feeding. Its rostrum and cranium are covered with tens of thousands of sensory receptors for locating swarms of zooplankton, its primary food source. The only other species of paddlefish that survived to modern times was the Chinese paddlefish, last sighted in 2003 in the Yangtze River in China and considered to have gone extinct no later than 2010.
Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place. Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both in freshwater waterbodies and the oceans. About 500 million people worldwide are economically dependent on fisheries. 171 million tonnes of fish were produced in 2016, but overfishing is an increasing problem — causing declines in some populations.
Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posed photography as proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooked and returned live to the water. Using barbless hooks, it is often possible to release the fish without removing it from the water.
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing for survival and livelihood.
Caviar is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or spread. Traditionally, the term caviar refers only to roe from wild sturgeon in the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The term caviar can also describe the roe of other species of sturgeon or other fish such as paddlefish, salmon, steelhead, trout, lumpfish, whitefish, or carp.
The Chilkoot River is a river in Southeast Alaska, United States, that extends about 20 miles (32 km) from its source and covers a watershed area of 100 square miles (260 km2). The source of the river is in the Takshanuk Mountains to the west and the Freebee glacier and unnamed mountains to the east. From its source, the upper reach of the river extends approximately 16 miles (26 km) to the point where it enters Chilkoot Lake. From the downstream end of the lake, the lower reach of the river flows for about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) until it enters the Chilkoot Inlet, a branch at the northern end of the Lynn Canal.
Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish species pursued by recreational fishermen, and can be freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, or released after capture. Some game fish are also targeted commercially, particularly less bony species such as salmon and tuna.
Flossers are anglers who use the method of bottom bouncing or lining to catch fish, mainly the salmonid species. The technique is commonly practiced in British Columbia during the summer months, when sockeye and chinook salmon run upstream the Fraser River to spawn.
Chumming is the blue water fishing practice of throwing meat-based groundbait called "chum" into the water in order to lure various marine animals to a designated fishing ground, so the target animals are more easily caught by hooking or spearing. Chums typically consist of fresh chunks of fish meat with bone and blood, the scent of which attracts predatory fish, particularly sharks, billfishes, tunas and groupers. In the past, the chum contents have also been made from "offal", the otherwise rejected or unwanted parts of slaughtered animals such as internal organs.
The silver carp is a species of freshwater cyprinid fish, a variety of Asian carp native to China and eastern Siberia, from the Amur River drainage in the north to the Xi Jiang River drainage in the south. Although a threatened species in its natural habitat, it has long been cultivated in China. By weight, more silver carp are produced worldwide in aquaculture than any other species of fish except for the grass carp. Silver carp are usually farmed in polyculture with other Asian carp, or sometimes with catla or other fish species.
Rough fish is a term used by some United States state agencies and anglers to describe fish that are less desirable to sport anglers within a defined region. The term usually refers to larger game fish species that are not commonly eaten, are too rare to be commonly encountered, or are not favorably sought by anglers for sporting purposes. Many of these species are actually very important in the commercial fishing industry, where they make up the bulk of commercial food fish catches in inland freshwater bodies.
Fishing techniques are methods for catching fish. The term may also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs and edible marine invertebrates.
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) is the state agency responsible for the conservation and management of Alabama's natural resources including state parks, state lands, wildlife and aquatic resources. ADCNR also issues hunting and fishing licenses for the state. The department promotes wise stewardship and enjoyment of the state's natural resources through five divisions: Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. Supporting those divisions are seven support sections: Accounting, Diversity and Recruiting, Engineering, Information and Education, Information Technology, Legal, and Personnel and Payroll.
Carp is a common name for various species of freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae that are native to Eurasia and sought after by some recreational fishermen. Certain carp species have been introduced, with mixed results, to various other locations around the world, and even declared invasive in certain regions.
A fishing license (US), fishing licence (UK), or fishing permit is an administrative or legal mechanism employed by state and local governments to regulate fishing activities within their administrative areas. Licensing is one type of fisheries management commonly used in Western countries, and may be required for either commercial or recreational fishing.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)