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[RalphH]

this seems to be the most definitive response from Kelly Smith, BC Regulations Officer, Fish and Wildlife BC



in essence, yes a tandem single barbless hook rig can be used in waters in BC restricted to a single barbless hook.

[DanL]

this seems to be the most definitive response from Kelly Smith, BC Regulations Officer, Fish and Wildlife BC

So the response says "there is no restriction on having two hooks can be attached (each having no more than one point) directly to an artificial lure"

However there's nothing that says a lure is defined as having the hooks directly attached. ie things like the Taz devil, wedding bands, and spin-n-glo the line passes through the body, and line is directly attached to the hook and I think we all would agree those are unquestionably lures.

So to follow the logic through, even if you were to reduce a wedding band to a single tiny bead, then shouldn't tandems should still be allowed?

Also where tandem or stinger hooks are allowed, there is nothing that limits it to only two. As far as I can tell the only mention of the term 'tandem' in the freshwater synopsis is under the artificial fly definition which says "two or more hooks tied in tandem".

What applies for lures isn't clear. A bucktail or similar fly used in general regulation waters is irrelevant in that regulation applies only where the artificial fly regulation is in force so can likely be regarded as a lure.

Again, to follow the logic through, where tandem hooks are allowed (ie everywhere not designated as artificial fly), one can string up as many hooks as you want behind a lure or fly??

of course these reg definitions are for province wide, and not meant to apply to a specific fishery like river fishing for salmon, so potentially exploitable loopholes is not surprising. To be fair, I've never seen anyone salmon fish in our local flows using more than one hook, but as a pure hypothetical, how would the conversation between enforcement and someone drifting a rig with a bead and an unreasonable amount of tandem hooks go. Given these responses you've posted, what infraction, if any, could the fisherperson be ticketed for? Perhaps a snagging violation?

[RalphH]

Sorry Dan, I can't answer your concerns. I just did my best to back up my first response to this discussion.

I posted the name of the Regulations Officer who is still in the government directory so you can try to contact her.

[DanL]

Didn't mean to criticize your posts, if it came across that way, as they are definitely appreciated and I have never seen these responses before. To be fair, those at DFO/province are doing their best to try and answer these questions, and the responses are pretty consistent with the synopses even if there could still some uncertainty when one really gets into the weeds of it.

I posted the name of the Regulations Officer who is still in the government directory so you can try to contact her.

Fortunately it doesn't seem this particular situation is being commonly abused, so there's nothing really actionable at this time. So far it's just been an interesting hypothetical thought experiment but if some enterprising anglers decide to push the boundaries, then this contact would be a good starting point to try and get a bit more clarity.