5 AAC 75.020 - Sport fishing gear
(a) Unless otherwise provided in 5 AAC 47 - 5
AAC 75, sport fishing may only be conducted by the use of a closely attended
single line having attached to it not more than
(1) one plug;
(2) one spoon;
(3) one spinner or series of
spinners;
(4) two artificial flies;
or
(5) two hooks.
(b) An attractor, including a
bead, when used with an artificial fly, lure, or bare hook, must be either
fixed within two inches of the bare hook, fly, or lure, or be free sliding on
the line or leader. For the purposes of this subsection, a bead not attached to
the hook is an attractor, not an artificial fly.
(c) A person who gaffs a fish must retain
that fish as part of that person's bag and possession limit. A person may not
gaff a fish for which the fishing season is closed, that is not of legal size,
or that is to be released.
(d) A
power-assisted fishing reel may only be used to sport fish if the
(1) power-assisted fishing reel is mounted on
a fishing rod by means of a reel seat;
(2) power-assisted fishing reel assembly,
motor, gearbox, fishing line, reel-mounted battery, or other reel-mounted
attachments weigh no more than 15 pounds in total when detached from the
fishing rod.
(e) In this
section,
(1) "fishing rod" means a tapered,
flexible rod typically used for sport fishing, equipped with a hand grip and a
line guide system that guides the line from the reel to the tip of the rod, and
upon which is mounted a fishing reel used to deploy and retrieve the sport
fishing line;
(2) "gaff" means to
puncture any part of a fish with a hook, other than a hook attached to an
angler's fishing line;
(3)
"power-assisted fishing reel" means a reel used to deploy and retrieve the
sport fishing line that is operated or assisted by any electronic, hydraulic,
or other mechanical power source other than by hand-cranking a handle attached
to the reel;
(4) "reel seat" means
an attachment mechanism that holds the fishing reel to the rod using locking,
threaded rings, sliding bands, or other attachment devices and is designed to
allow the reel to be readily detached from the fishing rod.
(f) Beginning January 1, 2020, a
person sport fishing from a vessel when releasing a rockfish shall immediately
use a deep water release mechanism to return the fish to the depth it was
hooked or to a depth of at least 100 feet. A vessel must have at least one
functional deep water release mechanism on board and readily available for use
when sport fishing activities are taking place. Upon request, a person sport
fishing from a vessel and the operator of the vessel must present a deep water
release mechanism to a local representafive of the department, peace officer of
the state, or federal law enforcement officer charged with enforcing fish and
game laws. A In this subsection, "deep water release mechanism" means a device
designed to return a rockfish to near the bottom where it was hooked, or to a
specified depth, and to assist the fish in recompression and to improve the
fish's chance of survival.
Notes
Authority:AS 16.05.251
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