Dropshot rig illegal now

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=76652&inline=1
Section 2.10 b4 of the Freshwater regs
Maximum Gaps and Gear Rigging for Rivers and Streams (does not apply to lakes and reservoirs, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Colorado River).
"It is unlawful to use any weight directly attached below a hook."

According to this, you can't use a dropshot rig in a river/stream. And how is a three-way swivel interpreted, in relation to the term "directly attached below a hook"? Because I know plunking is a popular method in some north coast rivers.

But I'm also wondering how it applies to flyfishing with a double drop rig...e.g., a midge on top and a bead-head nymph trailer (is the bead head considered a weight?). Or is it ok because each fly is on a separate piece of line?

Has anybody ever encountered this issue before? I'm just curious. The subsection b4 was probably intended to prevent snagging.

I guess I need to do some research, I sometimes use a pretty big wide gap hook when striper fishing to avoid hooking small fish, sounds like that's illegal?  same with some of the barbless sturgeon rigs I made up.

It's making allot of water offlimits to the old standby double dropper rig too,

Am I missing something?


4. It is unlawful to use any weight directly attached below a hook.
(c) Maximum Gaps for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (see Section 1.71 for definition of the Delta).
1. No person shall use any single hook with a gap greater than 1 inch or any multiple hook with a gap greater than 3/4 inch.

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=76652&inline=1
Section 2.10 b4 of the Freshwater regs
Maximum Gaps and Gear Rigging for Rivers and Streams (does not apply to lakes and reservoirs, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Colorado River).
"It is unlawful to use any weight directly attached below a hook."

According to this, you can't use a dropshot rig in a river/stream. And how is a three-way swivel interpreted, in relation to the term "directly attached below a hook"? Because I know plunking is a popular method in some north coast rivers.

But I'm also wondering how it applies to flyfishing with a double drop rig...e.g., a midge on top and a bead-head nymph trailer (is the bead head considered a weight?). Or is it ok because each fly is on a separate piece of line?

Has anybody ever encountered this issue before? I'm just curious. The subsection b4 was probably intended to prevent snagging.

Hasn't this been in the books for a while now?  I think the definition of "directly attached below a hook" is up for interpretation and might be good to e-mail the DFW about.

I know atd can tell you about it he covered this in his salmon seminar 1 or 2 years ago.

For plunking just use a fish finder rig and tie a 6" dropper off the sleeve, you could probably still use a 3 way if your leader is 18" longer than the sinker dropper. For dropshotting just use a jig for a weight if over 1/2oz but I haven't ever needed more than a 1/2 oz.

I very well may be wrong, but I think this regulation pertains to adding weight directly to a hook in order to "snag" fish...

So there is a gap restriction for the delta, but the weight restriction does not apply to the delta? Then it seems we have to look for regs that apply to the rivers outside the delta to learn if there are any other regs that override these on that specific river.