In some of the rules for clubs they say "no snatching for salmon", is this purposely foul hooking them?

Yes.

Some "anglers" fish over a place they've just foul hooked a fish, without changing tackle/setup/method, claiming the first was accidental. That is not acceptable either.

The methods of angling with rod and line is not and was not ever supposed to be an efficient method of extracting fish from a river, it is a sport and we must regulate our own conduct. If angling became easy then to be sporting we must restrict our methods.

Blobs to blobs!

Some of the worst examples of snatching salmon were those involving heavy lead minnows. There was only a pretence at making them look as though they were intended to rotate properly. They were lobbed out, over a lone fish or into a pod of two or three, and ripped back at a high rate of knots.
On the lower Border Esk, I believe another name for snatching was ' fishing the Longtown fly'. Longtown being one of the nearer towns.
Snatching can also be practised using a team of heavy flies. The lads north of the Border will no doubt have heard about this sort of behaviour being associated with the North or South Esk. The name, Morphy's Dike springs to mind. No doubt someone will confirm or correct that, please. TC
PS To reduce the snatching effort, the compulsory return of foul-hooked migratory fish was introduced, or endorsed, by the NRA with effect from 1st September, 1989, as stated in the Fishery byelaws for North West Region, which includes Cumbria. I would guess most, if not all, clubs also protect trout with a similar regulation. TC

I bought a magazine once when on holiday in BC, Canada. I was reading an article within about tactics for extracting one of the salmon species (chums I think but I may be wrong), when they are present in the river in huge numbers close together.

It seems this involved the drawing of a weighted lure across the head of the shoal such that the tightened line between angler and lure would at some point be pulled into a salmon's mouth......and when the lure reached the salmon - bingo!

If that's not snatching, then I'm Sid James!

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Hi' Matt, that sounds like an alternative to pulling lures for stockies!! Cast to where you think there is a pod of stockies, and pull the lure into their mouths.
Only joking. Mind you, over 'there' they used to advocate fishing with roe for steelheads, at least a couple of articles that I read, admittedly a long while back, recommended that bait.
Before 'they' get at me, I know they have cleaned up their act in some parts, hence 'egg' and 'blob' lures. We are just as bad over here, with our pellet imitations. I can hear the purists grinding there teeth. TerryC

I think the Canada /USA method you are talking about is called ''Flossing'' which is tryingto foul hook a salmon in the mouth.I wonder how many times they miss.
The most famous type of snatching is by Poachers(I refuse to call them Fishermen) on the upper Tweed.they use a ''FLY'' called a ''Walkerburn Angel'' which is a treble hook with some ''normally lots'' of lead wrapped round the shank ,with some assorted feathers tied in at the head. usually fished with a fast sinking line.


Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

A practice not uncommon on other Scottish rivers, for example on the Endrick, where flies, weighted with lead or copper wire, would often be fished on sinking lines at night in the main holding pools, with almost no chance of hooking the resident salmon or sea trout in the mouth. More blatant still was the practice of ripping huge heavily weighted treble hooks, cast on spinning rods, through shoals of fish lying in the tidal pools of the River Leven.

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I am afraid this is all to common on many rivers.
Snatching, jigging, lifting whatever you call it is rife on many rivers especially near the back end. And surprisingly it is not always down to the "common man" to indulge. Many famous names are not adverse to "lifting"a fish. A former fishing mag editor & another well know name in the angling world have succumbed to the temptation. Some are very good at it & at if you did not know what to look for you would never know what they were up to unless you got to look at their "end tackle" but that can easily be snipped off if approached. Why do they do it, I really do not know perhaps they have to be seen to be successful but the only thing they are doing is kidding themselves.
The Tweed is or at least was rife with this practice & not by the visiting angler so much as "The Locals". The river watchers & bailiffs turned a blind eye to it . I remember fishing the local association water on the Tweed many years ago & to a man they were all trying to snatch a fish. The Leven were I fished a while back was particularly rife & at one time they said that the only way a Salmon would get bye Renton was in a suitcase. Luckily things are not to bad at the moment but given the opportunity still does occur. A favourite ploy on this river was at the Westclox (Polaroid) footbridge where the local worthies would place on the river bottom sides of old cookers or washing machines & the Salmon would delay their migration on encountering these only to be foul hooked by trebles dangled from the bridge. A leaded treble hook was also employed with a bit of white wool or cloth tied a few inches up the line. Was cast over a shoal of fish which had been delayed by plastic bottles strung across the river which were bounced up & down & the treble driven into usually the Salmons flank, the white marker showing roughly were the hook was The poor fish was unceremoniously hauled out the river at the lines used were how shall we say stout. Many other ways which I will not go into, would not want to pass on many secrets. I have to be honest here & admit I did it once. We had been fishing the Kinnaber stretch of the North Esk just below Morphie Dyke & the river was stuffed with fish but other than an odd take we had nothing. My partner a weegie who was a good fisherman when he wanted to be was nor adverse of taking an odd fish on occasion.
He "lifted" one in front of me & as I said before if you watched him you would swear he had caught it legit. My curiosity aroused he showed me & within minutes I had caught one curiously in the mouth but the bare treble betrayed it's presence. Ok when we were boys we used to poach others waters but with bubble float spinning & worm, mainly the well heeled but that was fair game to us boys then but I have never done that again but it opened my eyes to the practice & I am now a keen observer & see it on many occasions & not on association waters but on prime beats. Oh I have on occasionally accidentally fouled hooked a fish but on purpose,never. Trout anglers are not much better & many a time I have lifted the boards on Menteith & Fitty to find the traces of worms bait hooks, maggots & the tell tale signs of Trout Pellets which on Menteith are handy for slipping over the side as ground bait. Some are especially adept at these practices & I remember a day on the Fife Lindores a while back when after the boatman had seen every one out & he himself had gone they to a man festooned their flies with maggots & in a few cases anchored up & groung baited. We left in disgust & a letter to the then owner fell on deaf ears. So not just Salmon anglers but happens everywhere.
Tight Lines

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To attempt to stop the practice of 'snatching' many clubs or associations ban any method that involves the positioning of a heavy lead below a treble hook. I've seen some horrible contraptions that basically comprised a 4oz lead below a 3/0 treble.

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Highlander, it does not happen everywhere.

But the first time I ever saw it carried out on a large scale was on a river I'll bet a few anglers will easily guess. A van arrive at the end of the day to take away the "catch" of salmon from the appropriately named "Larder Pool", the whole process was blatant and open to view by the public like myself. Even though 20+ fish per day at the "height" of the "season" was quite common, no Police or bailiff intervened. I have heard that the river is better managed these days.