I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a guy at a marine beach. He had recently kept a fish caught off the beach that he had hooked forward of the gillplate, but not in the mouth. When leaving the beach, he was contacted by an inforcement officer who was not on duty and was told that it was lucky for him, the angler, that he, the warden, was not on duty, else he would have written him a ticket. The angler brought up that he thought the regulation now stated "forward of the gillplate." The officer reminded him that that regulation applied to fresh water.

The guy I was talking to works next to Fish and Wildlife and so he brought this up to some of the workers there. He said one of them went searching through the regulations and came to the conclusion that there is NO REGULATION stating that, in MARINE WATERS, a fish must be hooked in the mouth in order to be legally kept. The Fish and Wildlife worker was somewhat perplexed and referred this question to a Department lawyer, who came to the same conclusion. The guy I was talking to said that he obtained a signed statement to that effect from the lawyer.

I have fished the marine waters for 20 years and this never was an issue to me, I just assumed you had to hook a fish in the mouth to keep it. It was never even an issue in the deep waters, but we all complain of snaggers at places like Hoodsport. I think it would be remarkable if the regulations indeed do not even mention where a fish must be hooked in order to be legal. And if the regulations do not give fair notice of what is illegal, then it is not illegal, despite anyone's ethical opinions.

Can anyone cite a marine water regulation defining where a fish must be hooked in order to be legally kept? I'll admit I didn't go running to my regulations to check this out. You'd think something like this would be obvious, in plain language, and not take a thorough reading by a lawyer to come to the correct conclusion!