Darian,

Testy? No. Confused? Yes.

You say beading = snagging with no personal experience to back it up, only "unnamed persons". We agree to disagree on this point. I've never beaded in Ca, but I imagine my hook to snag ratio would be similar to my experiences in Ak. I do peg the bead within 1" to the hook like you assumed.

Having never beaded here, I didn't bother to check the Ca regs, but you perked my interest with your questioning of the legalities of beading. A quick on-line look at the DFG booklet yielded the following.

Definition of Angling: to take fish by hook and line with the line attached to a pole or rod held in the hand or closely attended in such a manner that fish voluntarily the bait or lure in it's mouth. (page 5)

Fishing Methods General: All fish may be taken only by angling....(page 10)

There is a lengthy description of hook sizes and the distance allowed between a weight and the hook...obviously outlawing snagging...but I couldn't find any reg about distance between a lure or bait and the hook..if I missed it, please point it out to me. I also didn't see a section on "illegal method of take". I'm not familar with "large treble hooks and lead", but do these snaggers (poachers) have a lure or bait and follow the regs on weight and hook placement? If not, please don't compare them to beading since the fish voluntarily take the bead into their mouth.

I'm sure the DFG will address the issue of beading like AK as beading here becomes more popular, but I found nothing in the current regs regulating it. I, like most fly-fisherman, follow all regs (too afraid of bad karma). Please point out any regulations you can find on the subject.

$0.04

Crusty