Is there a reg against having (not using) bait on you in a "Selective gear rules" area? I can't find it in the reg and did a site search and couldn't find any discussions about it.

I am just curious because just about every time I fish the Hoh (Selective gear portion), I see a boat with bait continer in plain view. If your float starts from a selective rule and ends in a bait area can you have bait with you?

Far as I can tell from reading the regs you can't fish with bait or scent in a selective area, but nowhere does it say you can't be in posession of bait or scent. Hell, if you bonked and cleaned a hatchery hen and were carrying the skeins home you could be arrested if it was illegal to carry bait, so probably they wouldn't bother you unless they caught you with some on your hook.

I have been stopped by an officer on the Hoh before in the selective area, who asked to see what I was using close up. My go to zipper lure for selective areas looks so much like skein eggs that I think he was glassing me and thought I was cheating - I wasn't, and he did comment that the stuff I was using sure did look like bait. He didn't ask me if I was carrying bait, or search me or anything other than look at my license, so I guess it wouldn't have been a problem if I was carrying bait but not using it, although I didn't ask him at the time.

When in doubt, call WDFW and ask to speak to an officer about it.

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.

It makes sense but I was just wondering if it is like duck hunting and lead shots. You can't use lead and you better not have ANY with you. But in duck hunting case it is in the reg and I couldn't find any thing about the bait in the regs.

Thanks guys

Yes you can have bait in your boat but only if you are going from say point A to point B and point B is open to bait. But you must have your bait stored away. Most of the time it depends on a case by case scenario. My best advice is to not have any in your boat at all. Then you dont look guilty of using bait. As we see lots of people using bait in the selective gear reg areas.

Pat G.......

As we see lots of people using bait in the selective gear reg areas
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Are you a fish cop? Always handy to know if we fisherman have communication access to a BB Cop.