I don't think so. You are stretching things a bit. You can hook a fish through the eye or the gill from the inside of the mouth, which is of course what WDFW has in mind.

At any rate, the determining factor is intent, both on the part of the fisher and the fish. Both are pretty much impossible to determine. The fisher is the only one that really knows what his intentions were.

Regards.

Mike
Woodinville