How bad anglers treat fish: snagging, suffocation, laws, and ethics.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Here I show some bad behaviour by anglers during the fall salmon run. I am not saying this is the majority of anglers; of course many follow best practices of catch-and-release. But with our growing human population, and organizations encouraging people to fish, we are losing more and more fish to bad practices and to people who simply don't care. I ask people to treat fish (whether wild or hatchery origin) with respect, and to remember that many of our rivers are 100% wild fish, so that any that die due to anglers will not reproduce and will result in fewer future fish.
I love fishing, I go fishing almost every other weekend. Fly fishing and bait fishing but this makes me sick. I would never treat these fish like this, even if I was fishing for food. You have to respect the fish because it is another life form. Throwing a live, breathing fish into a trash bag is so incredibly egregious it makes me flustered. If you are catching and releasing, be nice to the fish. Like the video says “they need to survive so there are future generations to fish”
I hate seeing this when out fishing. Unfortunately salmon season really brings out people that have no right even grabbing a fishing rod
I stopped fishing for salmon for this exact reason.
I see this all the time in Pulaski NY. there isn't enough wardens to police all the people at any given time and the people don't care because they are so excited to catch these beautiful fish and it isn't the way to do it because your only ruining it for the future of the species. Let them go and spawn and keep the ones you catch the legal way or release them. it is more fun letting them go so that you can fish all day instead of catching you limit and going home. 👍
Great video to bring awareness to these goofs that abuse this beautiful country and nature
Amazing video and content! Highly support. They should have more enforcement officers out there catching people littering and poaching. Plus they should change the regs and close rivers earlier in the season so once fish past the boundary they are safe. Most of those fishes meats aren't even good anymore as they don't eat nearly anything anymore and use up a lot of their nutrition as energy.
Any angler who is intentially snagging doesn’t have the respect for these beautiful animals that most anglers do
With inflation the cost of food is crazy this is only going to get worse
Saw this 1st hand this past weekend in upstate NY, I found a 14oz 5” tall treble hook in the River…
you shoulda got thier faces
Thank you for spreading awareness on this issue
Great work as always!!!!!!! (*I hope the mnr come out with ya next time*)
Port Hope and Bronte always the worst.
Gods work
chinook salmon are invasive in the great lakes...
No, they were purposefully introduced (like coho salmon, steehead, and brown trout) and all are now naturalized with large self-sustaining populations. Lake Ontario, in particular, is managed for chinook salmon to the detriment of native species (see www.glfc.org/pubs/FisheryMgmtDocs/Fmd17-01.pdf). And, even for invasive species, ethical people should treat the fish with respect.
@@NatureTidbits "to the detriment of native fish" that would mean invasive
@@NatureTidbits although I agree we shouldn't abuse invasives we also should acknowledge them for what they are and try to prevent their spread
@@brady-b7l Non-native species are not always invasive. We generally reserve 'invasive' for ones that have large, detrimental effects. Chinook salmon themselves are not invasive; they were purposefully introduced and have integrated into the lake ecosystem (replacing the role native Atlantic salmon used to fill, to some degree). It's their prey, alewife, that have negative effects on multiple native species, but because people want chinook to catch, and chinook feed mainly on alewife, the alewife have become a desired species solely to suppose chinook salmon.
@@brady-b7l Yes, for non-native species, preventing their spread is the best thing we can do. However, that is not the case for chinook salmon in the Great Lakes, where multiple agencies are people want them in higher and higher numbers so they can fish for them. They aren't bad in any sense (though their prey, alewife, can be) and are adapting to this new environment and ecosystem and providing ecological functions. Do I think they should be given access up streams where man-made barriers currently keep them out? Yes; dams block all fish movements and therefore nutrients upstream. Do I think they should be introduced to other lakes that are not connected? No; let those systems sort themselves out.
It seems like there aren't mechanisms to promote norms of ethical conduct and conservation. A lack of enforcement is a long standing problem in Ontario. You can fish your whole life and only see a CO a few times. Rules that are never enforced lose their meaning and high penalties does not make up for no enforcement. In some countries, getting a fishing license is more like getting a drivers license; there's a test and would-be anglers have to study up on laws, best practices, and fish ID.
I know in BC, wardens will bush whack there way to enforce regulations and ethics. I use to fish all over the Fraser and its tributaries for years about 10 years ago. Almost never would I see so called 'fishermen' like this. It's a damn shame because I just discovered steelhead fishing in Ontario. So far I haven't seen anything like this for steelhead; seems to be a very respectable ethical bunch; never an issue if you know the rules. For salmon, I'm reluctant to go because of what I see here, and I know damn well most of it is happening in Port Hope.
Barbaric and disrespectful behaviour should not be tolerated on our fragile fisheries, sadly it’s mostly what we see nowadays. Thank you for spreading awareness, some people may not know which is why videos like this are good. Unfortunately those dirt bags poaching and snagging generally don’t give a crap about anything.
Get a podcast out about this!!
not all fisherman treat fish this way. i have a very high respect for fish and the beautiful surroundings and all fish are returned to the water unharmed.please dont judge all fisherman by this video. if i saw this happening i would be the first to say something.
Hence the title 'bad anglers'! I often talked to the people I filmed and got back a variety of "I didn't know" to "I don't care". But there will be more and more people fishing every year - and so likely this behaviour will increase.
Where's the fish and game wardens they should be writing tickets??? Those fish look like there just about done anyway why are these guys keeping them??
Bro go get a life and mind your own business snagged fish sag fish if it's on my hook and it comes out the water it's going in a frying pan I don't care how I caught it so snagged or not it's going to provide a great delicious dinner for me and my family❤ stop being a Karen😂
This has been going on forever... it wont stop until more enforcement n fines n make it single hooks... but the fines must stick... like in the states... to many fight it n not have to pay... n continue to snag... sad... half the time you can quickly shake the hook out if you noticed you snagged it by accident...
People using table hooks just to snag should be prohibited from the streams. Where are ministries’ agents to check on this? I’ve been fishing for almost 30 years and I’ve only seen ministry officers checking anglers twice.
Okay when you got deep holes like that I mean come on guys really I’d be floating skien or sacks in there the fuck you guys doing you guys are lucky I have to sight fish in enough water to barely cover there backs and floss them
Genesee river in Rochester NY has the worst snaggers I ever seen. Aka the Genny. Great fishing till the snaggers come and ruin everything with hooks the size to catch great white sharks
I’m pretty sure salmon die after they spawn so does it really matter if they die a week early from some one catching them? Also half the time when someone snags a fish it’s on accident, because there’s so many it makes it impossible not to snag them if I’m wrong let me know.
Yes the Pacific salmon will die naturally - after they spawn. These are wild, self-sustaining populations, so if you kill a fish (on purpose or by accident), you reduce the number of fish that will reproduce - giving you less fish in the future. The other point is that we should treat the fish with respect (e.g., if you're catching for consumption, kill the fish quickly; if you're releasing, do it so they will live). You're right, there are so many in some pools it's hard not to snag; but then legally you're required to release that fish in a way that causes the least harm to it.
@NatureTidbits I agree you should treat fish with respect
Not snag fish and if your snagging fish constantly then don't fish there , there's to many fish to fish ethically, you should actually snap your line off if u snag a fish so it dose not need to exhaust itself needlessly . But one thing I must say is the population of salmon are in no danger and are growing each year , 2023 was 30,000 fish! Just in this river you filmed at . I'm not sure what the solution is but if the salmon population keeps growing we will have bigger problems
I've seen this many times, its unethical but it does happen on occasion.
Still, even with a "snag" catch. The ethical person releases the fish back to the water to let them do what nature intended. SPAWN.
The problem I have with unethical fishermen. Catching fish and just leaving them up on shore. Some do milk the fish for eggs into a bucket, and then toss the fish to die.
Many fishermen at this time of the year catch salmon for just the roe. The Roe is used in the winter months for bags with maybe 6 to 8 eggs per roe bag.
But I have seen some riverways with huge numbers of anglers almost shoulder to shoulder. Saugeen River off of Lake Huron is one place. When you check the license plates of the cars there. 90% are from Toronto. These weekend wonders don't give a rats arse about anything.
No Snagger is an "ethical person" It doesn't matter what they do after snagging a fish.
U must be a snagger.
Rather be a weekend warrior than fish with the jobless welfare cases during the week 🤡
Needs to be more game wardens.. especially during the busy fall and spring migration Times. It'd be nice to see 2 to 5 wardens per stream regularly patrolling the rivers throughout the day to stop this crap. People should and need to learn how to legally and ethically fish. This means DONT SNAG. fish do and will bite... salmon may not bite like trout do but still just give it a chance already. The snaggers are almost exclusively the guys that are out fishing for salmon. Weekend warriors or guys from the city who have little experience and/or knowledge about how to catch salmon effectively. Don't just show up with a dumpy 7'6" heavy saltwater rod with a giant #1 hook with your lead 18 inches up and floss. Maybe actually try and attempt to catch a fish willing to bite. The reward is much greater and its fair to actually trick a fish into biting rather than just jamming a hook into a cloud of salmon. That's robbery. I hate seeing it and I always call these people out. Normally they don't have much to say or they get aggressive and complain like I'm the bad guy... I fish Ontario streams regularly late salmon run and through the winter into the spring for steelhead and browns and thankfully after the salmon are done... this tends to weed out the salmon warriors that come to snag these fish and just about everyone from this point on are "actual skilled anf knowledgeable fisherman," like myself... people who snag, floss, rake..., whatever you want to call it should be banned for a year if caught. None of this $50 to $200 fine crap... yea I like the $$fines but there needs to be time stamped on this as a punishment also... not just the money.. they go right back to their illegal habits...a lot of old timers I see still snag since it "used To be legal..." well it isn't anymore guys and for the youngsters and middle aged men and women out there snagging. Get some real skill and actually try to catch a fish...the reward is much greater. Maybe you'll learn a thing or to by watching a real and successful fisherman catching fish the proper way... do your research. It is that difficult. People think these fish don't eat.... well how did they get as big as they are? BY EATING... yea maybe salmon aren't feeding during migration like they would be in the lake feeding on alewives and other baitfish...but they still have instinctual feeding tendencies.. TRY IT PEOPLE. OR GET OFF THE WATER.. your ruin it for everyone else and give us a bad rap. Get a life
And I’m sorry but I can see if you’re in dire need and homeless and snagging 2 fish and cookin 1 up right then and there! I can let that slide but these guys just to do intentionally it’s inexcusable
a lo0t of peaple have no idea how to properly release s fish
Anglers?
And how many are local native residents? Or are American residents?? Might wanna look into that!! I’ve seen many people from Russia , China, Laos, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia one fish here n California and snagging chinook and keeping over their bay limit then they leave a d coke back in the evening again doing the same thing.. that’s when I video and video take license plate pic and of their car and forward that info to a good friend of mine 😂
A Holes!
Biutiful fiscing
They need to figure this out it’s so egregious it’s terrible
What most of you mouth breathers fail to realize, is that these salmon are in the last month of their life, half of the salmon that swim up rivers to spawn never make it and die along the way, and while there are some unscrupulous anglers most are respectful of the fish and the waters they fish, the only salmon that doesn't die after spawning is the Atlantic salmon also many are hatchery raised fish,raised specifically for the sport fishing industry
It's simply not true that 'half' the salmon die before spawning. Yes, most anglers are respectful, but there are a lot of anglers, and so even the low proportion that are not legally fishing still mean there's a lot of that that happens. Even legal anglers are known to treat fish poorly (on purpose or not) contributing to mortality. Most chinook are wild in Lake Ontario (and in the other great lakes) and some streams like the ones in this video are entirely wild. I don't mind discussions, but starting off with insults is not the way to share opinions.
thanks for your hard work. you deserve a medal. I'm surprised there aren't conservation officers everywhere during spawn.
they should make it catch and release only once they move in the river.
The province simply doesn't have enough conservation officers, and they prioritize hunting issues over fishing.
makes sense, although its a shame.@@NatureTidbits
combat fishing! bunch of dudes with fly rods flossing and some guys with pool cues and weighted trebles just blatantly snagging
So sad, if only these people had the ability to empathise for something other than themselves
If only you had something better to do than care for a fishes well being
It’s an absolute shame to see what lengths some will go to and still call themselves an angler…
Unfortunately the barbaric videos will soon fill our social feeds like every year.
Keep calling them out, keep recording and share with the MNR.
Hopefully one day we can come close to eliminating this behaviour on our tributaries!
they need to close down the rivers when these fish migrate , there is no other way to stop it , We can't blame the MNR its the government to pays them (short Staffed ).