Barbed hooks on board???

got this from coast side

http://www.coastsidefishingclub.com/drupal/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=161720&an=0&page=0&gonew=1#UNREAD

Hey, I'm a member of Coastside forum and that link doesn't even work if you log in after it takes you to the login.

What were you thinking?

Huh?  It works for me.

-Allen

What were you thinking?

It works for me as well -

well just sum it up?

this was the orginal post from one of the guys at coastside - and the thread went on and on.....

Few pissed off fishermen on the radio today. Wardens were citing for barbed hook during salmon fishing in the bay even though the hooks were not on the poles they were fishing with. What's the official rule having barbed hooks on you boat ( not fishing with) during salmon fishing.
I have jigs, hooks on board all the time with barbs while salmon fishing but I am not using them while fishing

here's another....

Fished Moss today. DF&G out in force.

Crimped infamous barbed FBR hooks with pliers leaving marginal burr. DF&G shows up, checks all hooks and says one is not good enough and issued us a citation. I always fish try to fish in accordance with the rules and regs.

Man did that p--- me off! They took the hook. I asked if I could take a picture of this crimped/ debarbed hook and they said no.

Why not? They said they don't want to argue. I did not want to argue either but I feel it should be OK to take a picture of evidence of this major crime. Now I have to take a day to drive to Salinas to fight this citation, which I will do. We can show a new one and show we tried to crimp the hook which is made of SS, not easy to crimp with needle nost\e pliers.

You better bring a file capable of filing SS and file down those FBR barbed hooks, not just crimp with pliers. Who carries a file to file SS?

What a crappy weekend! $2.75/ gallon gas, downrigger cable snapped losing seveal weights, etc. I did not need this harassment. Priceless!!

This is Bull.

They can only site you if you are using a barbed hook.

I know this law very well, as I have fished at lake Barrett in SD many times that is barbless only.  I have had lots of conversations with DFG over the barbless rules and they all, to a one, said it was ok to have barbed hooks with you.

The law says that you cannot fish with a barbed hook.  That means that it has to be on your line.  The law says nothing about possessing barbed hooks (which could be used legaly for other species on the same trip).

This is utter crap and these tickets need to be fought (they will win their cases), but what a waste of time.

The DFG cannot keep you from recording evidence that would exculpatory to your case.  This just stinks from so many angles.

MolBasser

It is bull. Welcome back to the wonderful world of NorCal gamefish regs     It seems that the rules aren't uniformly enforced either, if one warden is having a bad day you could find yourself getting cited.  Be very aware of what you're doing, last year joel said he had rangers watching him from the cliffs at linda mar with binocs.

Rules are rules.  They cannot bust you for fishing with a barbed hook if you are not fishing with a barbed hook.

I would raise unholy hell if a warden tried to site me for fishing with a barbed hook because he found one in my tackle box.

It just won't hold legal water, and if a warden bothers to inconvenience me, I will certainly take the case to trial to inconvenience them, and publicly prove them wrong.

MolBasser

!.  Maybe we can't carry more than one rod now? lol - might get a ticket for salmon fishing with "more than one rod."

2. Maybe it's time to carry camcorders and record boardings by DFG.  If they don't like being taped tell them they are welcome to GET THE F*#$ OFF THE BOAT!  If a cop can use an in-car cam we can use in-boat cams.

I have been checked and never had a problem but if they are pulling BS like this....

We now have to pay $34.00 for a FULL state license and that pisses me off.  They are taking in more money and we get to fish fewer and fewer days.  They make rule changes and don't bother to publish them (in writing) for eons, yet we are still required to know the unpublished rules.  Maybe the next time they make a rule change we should flood their phones with questions about new rules and piss *them* off.  Keep calling daily until it's in writing - act stupid and confused and waste *their* time.

Rule are rules but assholes can cite us for any old BS reason and then *we* have to fight it, regardless of the legitimacy of the citation.  If there is some sort of new "pattern" to DFG boarings then the only recourse is legal action - as in class-action.

I'm curious, when DFG  gives you  a citation - and when you end up paying the fees, does the money go directly to the DFG?

hmmmm.......


A DFG with a "power trip" is the worse kind (same with cops)

I've met lots of cool DFG officers.  Many more nice ones than jerks.  But, there are always bad apples.

after some reflection, here is what I would do if a DFG officer attempted to cite me for fishing with a barbed hook after finding one in my tackle but not on my line.

1.  I would explain why I know the officer is wrong and ask them not to cite me.

2.  If they cite me, I would politely take the ticket and inform them that it will be a pleasure to meet them in court and have the judge explain to them why they are wrong.

3.  I would ask the judge to have the DFG finacially compensate me for my time and trouble being falsely cited.

I have always had better luck being polite to law enforcement.  In reflection, raising holy hell is only going to make matter worse.

Bottom line, you WILL NOT be convicted of fishing with a barbed hook if you are not fishing with a barbed hook.

MolBasser

First of all the lure they took is evidence. So if they don't have it in court they don't have the evidence. So you will have a  chance to show it to the judge and if it is not there you should be able to win your case.

Second of all no amount of explaining and talking will get the judge to award you any money for a false arrest. If it is possible, you would have to file a suit against the officer and Fish and Games. In any case if you can it would most likely be a small claims court issue which is even better, because they won't like the hassle.

Also, I would look up the exact legal language and definition of a barbless hook. No matter what it says you can still argue the intent of the law is to release fish and your setup does that as good as a barbless hook.

I'm not asking millions.

Just travel cost and lost wages to fight a case that they had no chance of winning.  And attorney costs if any.

True, without the hook, they have a weaker case, but it is still a case of he said/she said and the judge is almost always going to side with law enforcement in these situations.  

MolBasser

Since they DIDN'T allow a photograph, one can argue that the hook is not in the same condition that it was while onboard.  Regardless of whether it is or isn't, create ANY doubt in the mind of a judge and you are likely to win.  I was in court for a traffic ticket and a guy argued they because he was on street Y and the officer had seen a violator turn from street X onto street Y BUT did not maintain continual visual contact that he was NOT the violater, just in a car that resembled the violator's.  He won.  DFG officials are public officials in a public setting and I don't think they have any right to tell you that you can't take a photograph.