Its obvious that most of you have never had the dubious pleasure of trying to fish for salmon in Washington state. Reading the rules in the nearly half inch thick 8 1/2 by 11 regulation book does not tell you what is legal when fishing for salmon... even though there are salmon regulations published in the book. The rules for salmon are set after meetings with federal governments (notice the plural), US federal advisory boards, multiple states, and a number of treaty tribes. All of that of after spring stock assesments and after the state publishes their tome of infamy. Actual salmon fishing regulations are published in newspapers, the WDFW web site, and the telephone hot line. In dicey years of low returns the regulations are so fluid that it is advisable to call the hot line before leaving home, and then hope they don't change things while fishing. Its not as easy as you think and there are thousands of fishers that have given up in disgust. Fishing activists have been working for decades to get the system simplified, and while things have improved, it sure wasn't fixed when I finally gave up.

Granted these guys were probably poaching with full knowledge of what they were doing. We don't know though. There have been cases of over zealous persecution by the fish cops, and its easy to understand their frustration. Poaching salmon is a continuing aggravation to them. Partly because there are still lots of restaurants that will buy fish at the back door and partly because a lot of judges are loath to hand out meaningful punishment for mere wildlife violations.

Larry