Grant_J
Member
I've got a couple of questions for the more seasoned fishers - yesterday my daughter and I were in the Gulf Islands jigging for rockfish/lingcod when a big Chinook hit her Mac Fish lure. It really swallowed the lure which had a 3 pronged barbed hook, so it took longer than I would have liked to get it out and it was really a bloody mess. I was shocked that the salmon took it, but looking online today I guess it's not that rare an occurrence to be jigging and get a salmon? Anyways, my questions are:
1) what would happen if a DFO boat came by while I'm trying to fish a 3 prong barbed hook out of a salmon? It's not like that is what we were targeting. I have rods for salmon fishing, and rods for jigging, and we were using the jigging rods, so would DFO be rational about the situation or would they come down on us? Last thing I want is some huge fine or getting gear confiscated.
2) if the fish is unlikely to survive, what are the rules? This Chinook was hatchery and was 70cm, so it was technically big enough to be kept, but we were in a sub region that is currently closed to hatchery Chinook (while another sub region a few km away is open) Do we put it back in the water if only to avoid pulling a salmon out of an area that is closed to salmon fishing but open for lingcod? (these rules are a mess!)
1) what would happen if a DFO boat came by while I'm trying to fish a 3 prong barbed hook out of a salmon? It's not like that is what we were targeting. I have rods for salmon fishing, and rods for jigging, and we were using the jigging rods, so would DFO be rational about the situation or would they come down on us? Last thing I want is some huge fine or getting gear confiscated.
2) if the fish is unlikely to survive, what are the rules? This Chinook was hatchery and was 70cm, so it was technically big enough to be kept, but we were in a sub region that is currently closed to hatchery Chinook (while another sub region a few km away is open) Do we put it back in the water if only to avoid pulling a salmon out of an area that is closed to salmon fishing but open for lingcod? (these rules are a mess!)