What you've got in that pic is a "snag hole bundle", meaning that stick pile built up,
and started snagging the lines of drift fishermen. Drifting a corky/yarn rig is a very
common steelhead fishing method, and from the looks of that snag it's been collecting
gear for quite some time. Not excusing the glob of busted off gear, however in truth there's
simply no way for a fisherman to recover that lost gear, especially when most of it is lost
in the winter steelhead fishery and the water is barely above freezing.
Also, such nasty snags are not all that common, and with the amount of gear
in that mess I have no doubt more than one person has tried to retrieve it
just for the gear.
It is a sad situation, no doubt, but there just aren't many options to avoid it
if people are going to fish there. Great job ripping it out, and my guess is there
are sure to be many fishermen silently thanking the guy who took that gear-killin'
mess out!