Yup, we have an old rod that has been re-purposed as a descender and it is available while fishing, but thanks for mentioning it as I only realized in the last couple of months that not only must we have a descender, it has to be hooked up to a rod and ready to go.
DFO rules when jigging for lingcod/rockfish & a salmon hits instead
- Thread starter Grant_J
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Yup, we have an old rod that has been re-purposed as a descender and it is available while fishing, but thanks for mentioning it as I only realized in the last couple of months that not only must we have a descender, it has to be hooked up to a rod and ready to go.
Back to your original questions:
1) You don't need to fish barbless if you target bottom fish. If you accidentally hook a salmon, that is fine as long as you can convince the CO that you are indeed targeting bottom fish. To help your case you should maybe show some bottom fish dead in your fish box and not a box full of salmon. One salmon among several bottom fish would surely be acceptable and believable. CO will be reasonable if you can show this.
2) Salmon closed, every salmon needs to be released, regardless of condition.
1) You don't need to fish barbless if you target bottom fish. If you accidentally hook a salmon, that is fine as long as you can convince the CO that you are indeed targeting bottom fish. To help your case you should maybe show some bottom fish dead in your fish box and not a box full of salmon. One salmon among several bottom fish would surely be acceptable and believable. CO will be reasonable if you can show this.
2) Salmon closed, every salmon needs to be released, regardless of condition.
ship happens
Well-Known Member
I made a descending device from a spreader bar a few years ago. Similar to this. It works
Derby
Crew Member
The descending device is mandatory equipment for any boat that is fishing...if you are check and u cannot produce it in a timely fashion as to show it is ready to be used you can be charged... As someone who is on the water fishing lots its ready dis appointing how many people still dont use them or carry them... As for usingb the MAc deep you would be charged using it for bottom fish for not pinching the barbs as it is ment to target salmon as well...
coastalmarinesafety
Active Member
Officer discretion, there is always that. I wonder, in some cases, if it may come down to some sort of test on whether a reasonable person using a herring like jig or something else mimicking something salmon are well known to feed on, ought to expect that they are in fact not just fishing for so called bottom fish, but also for salmon (which this time of year can be found almost anywhere on the coast)….in which case like others say, it’s just best to pinch the barbs or switch those factory barbed trebles they come with for a single barbless. You really don’t know how it would go until you are with the inspecting officer or defending any ticket in court. Personally, on all my jigs, the barbs are pinched. Easier to quickly release fish we don’t or can’t retain. When I stop to think about it, the “I’m only targeting lings/rockfish” mentality doesn’t really hold up in our coastal waters when using herring like jigs. I am “fishing for” pretty much every type of catchable fish with a mac deep or zinger or other jigs like that. From what others have said on this thread, it seems that where the conditions or regs aren’t fully detailed to the level we discuss them on this forum, that is where personal ethics come to fill in the gaps. Anyway, long winded way of saying barbless causes less damage than barbed when having to release, and if you happen to catch a retainable salmon and you want to keep it and you used a barbless hook, you don’t really have to think twice about it.
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Fixit
Well-Known Member
A lot of personal opinions listed above. which frankly have nothing to do with the regulations. It comes down to intent. An officer usually asks "what are you guys fishing for today?" - because if you are using a Mac deep to jig for salmon then the hooks must be barbless. If your using that same Mac deep to target bottom fish, it can be barbed hooks. If your lying about your intent and DFO smells BS then you should get a ticket.
As far as your chinook, if its non retention it has to be released. doesn't matter if its bleeding badly or even dead. it has to be put back. I had to throw back a fish last year that swam into my prop. instantly dead, face cleaved in half. but a non retention zone. crabs ate that one im sure.
now if your personal ethics say that you want to use a single pointed barbless hook for bottom fish then you do you.
thinking back a few years there was a guide out of Vancouver harbour that was ticketed for using barbed hooks while trolling with anchovies. He said that the guests wanted some pacific cod for fish and chips. (the cod were thick at that time of the year) He got a ticket and disputed it and won because he was "fishing for cod."
As far as your chinook, if its non retention it has to be released. doesn't matter if its bleeding badly or even dead. it has to be put back. I had to throw back a fish last year that swam into my prop. instantly dead, face cleaved in half. but a non retention zone. crabs ate that one im sure.
now if your personal ethics say that you want to use a single pointed barbless hook for bottom fish then you do you.
thinking back a few years there was a guide out of Vancouver harbour that was ticketed for using barbed hooks while trolling with anchovies. He said that the guests wanted some pacific cod for fish and chips. (the cod were thick at that time of the year) He got a ticket and disputed it and won because he was "fishing for cod."
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I have the descender with weight attached beside my helm station which would take one or two seconds to grab. It would take a second or two to attach it to a rod and a second or two more if I had to detach a flasher from the rod first. That rod is at hand because the rockfish is on it. I have always assumed that this meets the "available for use standard". If this does not meet the standard, could someone point me to the act, regulation, or definition section of the legislation or regs that spells it out? If it is not there, it should be and if it is not there, DFO needs to get better at drafting legislation and Regs.
Removing the hook from the rockfish can take some time, depending on how it was hooked. Our pliers are always a quick reach away, because we release a lot of fish. Having the pliers and gaff available quickly is every bit as important as having the descender available for a quick return.
What is also being missed here with rockfish retention and release is the time necessary for sport fishermen to identify whether you can keep it or not, given that the appearance of rockfish species can vary by species, by sex and possibly age and there are a lot of rockfish species, some of which look similar.
It did not take any time at all when the restriction was by numbers only; ie you can only retain one rockfish or three rockfish. But then DFO also started restricting the retention of rockfish by specific species and then increasing the number of species you cannot retain and there is the rub. We have a couple of large plastic covered cards with lots of color pictures of many local rockfish species on the boat to help with species identification. .
I thought if a person foul hooked a salmon, even non retention time, you keep it in saltwater but throw it back in freshwater?
from DFO:
- It is illegal to wilfully foul hook a salmon. If you accidentally foul hook a salmon in the ocean, you can keep it. If you foul hook a salmon, wilfully or accidentally, in any lake or stream, including the tidal parts of coastal streams, you must release it immediately
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