Fish board kicks off four-day session

WASILLA — The Alaska Board of Fisheries kicks off four days of meetings Tuesday in Anchorage to handle statewide finfish and other miscellaneous items, including a couple proposals that could prompt changes for Valley anglers.

The meeting runs through Friday at the Hilton Hotel in Anchorage.

Along with some commercial fishing and subsistence proposals, the board will take up banning the use of felt-soled boots for all waters and two measures that look to modify the definition of an artificial fly and the use of attractor beads.

Two measures (proposals 204 and 205 sponsored by the Alaska Department Fish and Game) seek to modify the definition of a fly to include a single bare hook and clarify that a bead not attached to a hook is an attractor — not a lure or fly — and may be used where artificial flies and lures are allowed.

In proposal 204, the state argues that current sport fishing regulations are unclear for the use of bare hooks in waters where only artificial flies are allowed. Single hooks come in a variety of colors and are used to catch a range of fish.

“The legality of fishing with bare hooks in waters where gear is limited to artificial flies is not specified in regulation and leads to streamside interpretation of how much fly tying is needed to make a hook a fly,” read the staff comments accompanying the proposal.

“A bare hook is not a fly,” Three Rivers Fly and Tackle owner Mike Hudson said Monday. “In some of the fly fishing only areas… a bare hook is just going to lower the visibility and lead to more snagging.”

Proposal 205 seeks to clarify that a bead used as an attractor also may be used in waters where gear is limited to artificial lures or artificial flies.

Bead fishing is popular in the late summer and fall, especially for trout and Dolly Varden char, which feed on the eggs of spawning salmon. Beads come in a range of colors and color densities.

Current regulations say a bead not attached to a hook is an attractor and not a fly. A bead, when used as an attractor either with a fly or with a bare hook, must be fixed within two inches of a hook, fly, or lure, or be free sliding on the line or leader.

They are considered flies if attached to a hook or as part of an artificial lure.

“These multiple uses have created some confusion in waters where only artificial flies may be used since anglers may legally use a bead with a fly,” Fish and Game says in the proposal comments. “The current regulatory language has been misunderstood to mean that when a bead is fished and is not attached to an artificial fly, it is an artificial lure. This new language will add clarity to the regulation and provide better guidance to both the angling public and law enforcement.”

Hudson said the bead measure appeared to be an attempt to “take some of the mud out of the water” regarding the regulations.

Proposal 202 aims to prohibit the use of felt-soled boots, which are commonly attached to waders, in all waters of the state and extend the ban to subsistence and personal use fisheries.

A freshwater sport-fishing ban — passed by the Board of Fisheries in 2010 — took effect statewide in 2012 “as a way to reduce the potential for introduction and spread of invasive organisms, including plants, into Alaska waters,” according to the state. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, invasive organisms spread by contaminated waders and other gear can threaten resident fish stocks and important fish habitat.

In his proposal comments, sponsor Luke Nelson said too much confusion remains around the felt-soled boots with just the freshwater ban, adding that banning the footwear altogether will eliminate any questions about enforcement.

But in the Fish and Game comments that accompany the proposals, the staff said it opposed the ban in saltwater fisheries, adding that the shoes have not been identified as a source for introducing invasive species into saltwater environments.

Contact reporter Steven Merritt at 352-2269 or steven.merritt@frontiersman.com