Is a Fish Caught on Another Angler’s Line Legal to Keep?

July 2, 2015

Question: I am hoping you can resolve a question that came up in one of our recent fishing club meetings. On a recent trip to Lake Isabella, I caught a very nice rainbow trout (18 inches long!). The way it was caught is the subject of debate within our club. I was fishing on a pontoon boat and when I landed the fish, it wasn’t on my hook. Apparently, the fish had been hooked by someone else previously, and broke off. I don’t know who or when, but when I reeled the fish in it had a couple of feet of the previous fishing line, with a hook and split shot still attached to it. The previous angler’s hook was still hooked into the fish’s mouth. Somehow the split shot and old line became tangled in my tackle. The fish was landed after a brief fight, netted and added to my bag limit. The question is: Is this considered a legally caught fish? We await your response. (Luiz D.)

Answer: No fish may be retained that did not voluntarily take the bait or lure into its mouth (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 2.00(c)). Although you accidentally snagged the broken off line from a previous angler, you may have saved that fish from an otherwise slow death. If that old line had instead gotten hung up on a rock or bush, preventing the fish from freely moving around, the fish could have died of a lack of gill movement or starvation. Since your fish had taken an angler’s bait or lure into its mouth, it was legal to keep. The intention of angling is that the fish take a hook in its mouth, and this was accomplished.

If you had instead snagged this fish by impaling or attempting to impale it in any part of its body other than the mouth by use of a hook, hooks, gaff, or other mechanical implements, this would have been illegal (CCR Title 14, section 2.00(b)). This does not include the lawful use of a gaff to land the fish.

Answer: No fish may be retained that did not voluntarily take the bait or lure into its mouth (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 2.00(c)).

Since your fish had taken an angler’s bait or lure into its mouth, it was legal to keep. The intention of angling is that the fish take a hook in its mouth, and this was accomplished.

that No,,,later turned into a Yes?  makes perfect gov't sense to me! 

Is my fish that's in my refrigerator legal?

"No.  Yes...

Maybe.  I think.

How much money do you have?..."

Come on, we all know he snagged the other line first, and then the fish took the bait on the other line.  How can they state otherwise?

-Allen

 

How about for AOTY? 

I once snagged a line coming out of a fishes ass leading to a hook embedded in its stomach.  Legal?

True story.

-Allen

I once snagged a line coming out of a fishes ass leading to a hook embedded in its stomach.  Legal?

True story.

-Allen

Assuming it reached the stomach via the mouth, voluntarily, then yes.

What?

I once saw a floating stronger in lake almanor. I cast out, caught it and reeled it in.

Legal?

Kind of boggles the mind 

I once hooked the hook that was in a yellowtail's mouth. I did most of reeling the fish in. The other guy let me have the fish.

I once caught a big cab from shore, and it had taken both of my baits on two different lines - back in the day when it was legal to run multiple rods for rockfish (not THAT long ago...).  I caught it, and it was cool to see that it had swiped both of my lines.

Double jeopardy?  I shoulda let it go... 

A member that will remain nameless for now told me a story that happened recently where he was trolling on a PB and hooked a salmon.

While reeling it in his knot above the flasher came undone. Totally bummed at his loss he started trolling again. When suddenly he spotted a flasher skimming along just below the surface of the water.

The boat gave chase running in circles for the next 30 minutes after the flasher that would briefly appear for a few seconds, disappear then reappear again. All in hopes of snagging the fishing leader still attached to the salmon with another lure.

He said that the other power boaters around them must have thought that they were drunk or insane the way they were driving all erratic for a half hour.

He was eventually lucky enough to snag the leader and retrieve the hefty fish.....True Story......legal or not?

Hell i had a live jumbo minnow on at san luis res and my buddies heard me tell it go catch me a big momma.  Minutes later i reel in a 33" female that had a 3' leader like attached to a swivel. The hook went through the swivel hole and i landed the fish and i set the shinner free for a job well done haha.