The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

This guy is actually advertising a "system" for lining fish. Saw it in the California Fly Fisher, page 15.
http://www...angling.com/control/main

I tell ya the world is coming to an end.

I think this is a little different, the guy is not intending to yank hooks into non feeding fishes faces. the attempt is to minimalize mortality by using fewer hooks and only circles. it makes a ton of sense, though I cant claim its not "lining", and I dont think I'll bother trying it. I thought when I first saw the post someone was selling a floating egg with a treble hook and a 10ft leader with direction aim downstream and drag across the bottom..

Granted it's not the traditional Sacramento snag'n bead set-up, but he is foul hooking fish.

No, This is far from foul hooking, this is actually a very effective and better (read: more humane) way to catch fish that, to my knowledge, began in Alaska for the egg drop.

What WAS happening, is that the trout that were sitting behind the redds munching on eggs, and would gobble up the fisherman’s faux eggs, often hooking down deep into the gills which caused a very high mortality rate. With this method, the fish will go after the egg-bead (or fly) then floss themselves (because they were going for the fly to begin with), and the hook will be on the outside of the lip, which would be all-around better for every animal involved.

This is vastly different than foul-hooking a fish… not to say foul hooking doesn’t happen, but no more often then normal.

The caveat that I would mention, is to have the hook an inch or two away from the fly, so not to hook the face, just the outer lip. It is also much easier to release the fish.

I’ve used this method on the L-Sac with eggs (beads) with pretty good (read: humane) results.

You're right Pound. It could be more humane, but in California it's not legal to keep a fish that's been hooked from the outside in...not that most of us keep anything anyway.

As with many things from my youth that I'm not proud of, I've used the technique myself (egg two inches away from hook) and it is effective for catching fish.

I am not sure what the rule [if there is one] is in California. in Alaska, the hook {eye} can not be more than four inches from the "egg" or you are de facto snagging. I have to agree that the method is not significantly different from the typical Lower Sac or Trinity bead with a hook down two inches below the bead.

I don't have a lot of experience with that rig, but it seems to preferentially hook the outside of the fish's mouth. I've never had one in the fish's eye, or deep in the gills.

Be interesting to see what Sgt Diaz thinks of the rig.

Ya, legally not being able to keep the trout doesn’t effect me. I can’t remember the last time I kept a fish.

However, I do understand why the inside vs. outside hook law is in place. But I’m still trying to figure out what might be wrong or immoral with the “Alaskan Bead” method. (not sure what the actual name is) I mean I am bummed out when I end up bringing in a foul hooked fish, but the few times I’ve used the beads, and the hook is neatly place on the outer part of the lip, I am fine with that… especially when I am going to release anyway.

But I’m still trying to figure out what might be wrong or immoral with the “Alaskan Bead” method.

Some would say it's not "fly fishy", but I'm with you. You might say no harm, no FOUL...get it Foul. HA! I kill myself sometimes.

of course beads arnt fly fishy!! they arent dry flies
even though I have foul hooked fish on dries?? cant figure that one out. has anyone tried this method, or beads with circle hooks, it seems like and effective technique...even if its cheating.
are beads worth a shot, at this point I'll try almost anything to actually catch one of these mythic steelhead, I'm contemplating spinning tackle even.

I fished a traditional "glo-bug" up in AK one day, one of my first times experiencing the 'egg bite' when I first started guiding there years ago...

I think I landed 6 fish at this one little hole, and 4 of them were bleeding because they were throat hooked. Not sure how they fared, but I imagine not too well.
Shortly thereafter, I switched to the bead method... this particular river had a 2" rule. Never again did I get a bleeder on that stream. And I fished it a lot.
Sure they'd be missing lip parts, and I did see a few one-eyed fish, but better off missing lip than blood! (almost every single one-eyed fish I've seen showed no signs of poor health or skinny conditions - they still thrived)


Is beading snagging ? Nope...the fish ATE THE OFFERING. He wanted to engulf it into his mouth. Mission accomplished.
I, personally, use just under 2" most of the time, as the little 6" fish will usually take a 3-4" spread somewhere else besides the mouth....

'Snagging' is jerking a hook into a fish's body when said fish is just minding his own business....not eating your offering or spawning.

This new thing showed the model fish eating a bugger and the hook is 10" away.
If it's an 8" fish, you just tailhooked a fish. Go ahead and drag him in backwards....not good.
Who's to say exactly where the hook will be when the set happens?? 1-2" is gonna be in the lip. 8-10" will end up in fins, etc...

my .05

sd,

Sheesh - inflation has even hit the value of opinions - a nickels worth instead of two cents? That's inflated more than the price of guided fishing....

I agree with your assessment, and have even had another [independent] guide tell me the exact same thing, when I asked him about fishing beads.

I do agree that the 2 inch rule is pretty important to keep the unintended fish injuries down as much as possible.

That's my two cents worth, plain.

Shoot, it looks like I've been undervalueing my comments - giving them out for free too often. I guess I have to up my prices.