Snagged
In California, any salmon hooked outside of the mouth is considered snagged and must be released.
In BC the law (enforcement) is fuzzy
Depending on how you read the regs, it is technically illegal in B.C. also, as well as California. I never caught a sockeye, after several trips of trying, until one evening I stood beside a Fisheries Biologist who explained to me that the fish were not biting, and that nearly all of them were being snagged in the mouth or just outside. He had worked with the fish cops all day, and wanted to catch a couple of sockeye before heading home. He showed me how to do it and I’ve gotten pretty good at it. It does take some skill, despite what opponents say.
In that tale lies the rub: technicalaly illegal perhaps, depending on interpretation, but OBVIOUSLY allowed by the regulation enforcing powers. When you see photos of combat fishing in Alaska or in B.C. almost always it is people flossing sockeye salmon. It is totally standard practice in Alaska, though they tend to short line it in smaller rivers, and I’ve never heard anyone disparage it there like a minority of elitists do in B.C. In B.C. as I drifted past a long gravel bar in my yak, I counted 144 fishermen lined up side by side eight feet or less apart for several hundred yards, all flossing. When a big school comes through, at least every 4th or 5th fisherman has a fish on.
And yes, tangles are commonplace, but not as much as you’d think. The vast majority of people are polite. They cast, drift and retrieve in a synchronized rhythm rather than over the line of the next guy. Tangles are usually minor and quickly disengaged, and most people get out of the way when you have a fish on. I prefer to kayak to an isolated place but at the peak of the run when thousands of people are fishing, the most isolated fishable spot will have many boats and fishermen. Still, I’ve had fabulous runs to myself alone a few times.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see over several years of fishing that nearly every fish I’ve seen anyone hook somewhere other than the mouth area has been released as foul hooked. When the fish are thick in the river, you will foul hook some with a fly rod and fly.
And when the water visibility clears, sockeye bite aggresively on small flies.
similar
I moved from Ca but it was pretty similar for shore fishing. We used beads and /or yarn and the fish picked it up. Not flossing as the fish were hooked in the mouth.