While guiding last Monday I encountered two individuals with spinning rigs with trebel hooks,I politeley told them that it is illegal.They in turn politeley told me that it was not because the regs state the use of barbless artificial lures is okay and says nothing about single hook or treble hook.So I went home and read the regs myself and they are right,in fact all of the fly fish only waters that we know of like Hat creek;Upper Sac river;Pitt river;Yuba ect all read the same.I am going to make a few calls today and try to clarify the wording and when I get an answer I will post it on this site.On another note while fishing the Trinity the last few days I noticed the Steelhead jumping much like the rainbows jumping at Putah and I will ask some people in the know about why the the weird behavior and I'll post the info ASAP.
Out on the creek yesterday just below the bridge I saw at least 3 people (looked like one group) fishing with lures. One targeted a large spawning fish, caught it, and then asked me if he could keep it and eat it! Of course I told him that it was catch and release but wasn't sure what to tell him about the lures. So any clarification would be helpful! BTW the fishing wasn't too good - - surprisingly slow.
I too was surprised a few months ago when i closely read the regs. and indeed in all cases it clearly states artificual lures with barbless hooks, I even clarified it with warden a few months ago when i was checked for a license at putah, he pulled out the regs. read em and said that yes you may use spinners, spoons etc. with barbless hooks, he said and i quote "as long as there is no scent involved you may use it" Now i will say that i rarely pickup a spinning rod anymore but to deny someone fishing just because they dont use a flyrod is not right. I'm still seeing a few guys using bait and they no its wrong becuase of there reaction when they see me coming, this really pisses me off. But i do think that treble hooks should be illegal this time of year to prevent most of the snagging that takes place.
Unfortuantly that is how the regs are stated, all across north america. There are lakes in BC with the exact same wording, only some include single shaft clauses. My big thing is c and r. Wild fish should be preserved. I have gone fishing with ppl who through lures and stuff this time of yr, but i make sure they know rule.
I thought for sure that the regs state single hook. After a treble hook gets done with a fish there isn't much left of itto release back to whence it came. Cheers,Mike
I am not sure of this, but I THINK there are (or used to be) signs along the stream that said you could use only artificial flies with barbless hooks during "flyfishing" season. Thus, the signs said one thing and the fishing regulations said another. Again, I may be wrong about this since I haven't looked at or seen any of these signs in ages.
last Saturday in April. Only artificial lures with
barbless hooks may be used.
Limit: 0
Continued
So it doesnt say single shaft. This is almost as strict of a reg as i can find, some say single shaft, but that is it. I would think that most ppl would fish single shaft though, though nowhere does it say fly only.
Nohackle wrote:I am not sure of this, but I THINK there are (or used to be) signs along the stream that said you could use only artificial flies with barbless hooks during "flyfishing" season. Thus, the signs said one thing and the fishing regulations said another. Again, I may be wrong about this since I haven't looked at or seen any of these signs in ages.
I'm going to agree with you on that one. The verbage for the regs has probably just been changed from years past. Could be a political or financial issue perhaps.
Back in the early and mid 90's there was a lot of rumors floating around that flyfish folks up at Putah were getting cited for using glo-bugs. The reason was that the regs required an artificial "fly" with single barbless hooks. Glo-bugs were not considered to be a "fly" by the local warden at the time. Granted the warden was a bit of a prick in his own right.
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Those sighns that say artificauil flys with barbless hooks look like the same ones that were put up about 15 years ago when i used to bait fish as a kid, lol. I'll agree with ya Walt fished about 6 hours yesterday without i single hit, talked to a few others with very similar luck, saw a guy in a small pontoon boat get a nice one in the slow water below the resort, now that will be three trips in a row without a single hit. But i'm heading out in a few to give it a try again, i may spend some time on the lower creek today if i have the same luck, i caught a few planters down there last summer, you could tell they had been in there a while though didnt act or look quit like ur usuall planter. The wind has been up also this isnt helping matters any. After a day off fishin and no catchin i got to sit in stopped traffic on hwy 80 for almost 4 hours due to a wreck, that was a reall joy.