As long as your not using it (bait) I can't see how they could ticket you for carrying it, if they could then couldn't they ticket you for carrying extra rods even though you (hopefully) only use 1 at a time, or how about fishing the salt where barbed hooks are required, I don't pinch any barbs till I actually use the hook, they can't ticket me for all the barbed hooks in my box.
Innocent till proven guilty, if you don't have bait on the hook, I don't think there is anything they could do.