Okay, so it’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of the popular salmon fishing “method” of lining or beading, in which long (10 to 15 feet long) leaders are employed and a small plastic is slid down the leader as a “lure.”
The rig is drifted along the bottom, with just enough lead to keep it moving along with the current. The basic concept here is to drift the leader through the jaws of a salmon and “floss” or snare them.
Lining is legal (legalized snagging) but my big problem with it is that the fish don’t actually bite the bead. They “eat” a liner’s bead the same way you “eat” a bug while riding a motorcycle…in other words, it’s a forced feeding type of situation. To me, that is a direct contradiction of the very essence, the definition, of fishing. In fact, if you look up the official definition of “Angling” in the California Department of Fish & Game’s freshwater fishing regulations booklet, it says that a fish has “to willingly take the lure or bait.”
In addition to the fact that snaring salmon without them having a say in the matter is, to me, unsporting, the long leaders also pose a threat to the river. In high traffic areas, the amount of lost leader line in the river is staggering. All types of critters get snared in this discarded line — otters, birds, fish, and even props.
Take a close look at this little beauty I picked up in my kicker prop. Check out all the beads!
I’m just saying…
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