Lining wrote:
...But the signs that are stapled to the trees go in depth more and say no molded rubber and I was thinking about the rubber might be considered molded...
Trust me, a Squirmy Wormy is PA FFO legal because it is constructed “normally,” no differently than a San Juan worm. The material it is made of is inconsequential. It is “within the spirt of the regulations.”
Anybody who was fly fishing back in the 1980’s was likely to be using “sheet latex” on caddis or stonefly nymphs that is as “rubber” as it gets. Sheet latex is also legal in PA FFO areas because of the way it is wound or attached to the hook.
Take a length of Squirmy Wormy rubber or a thin strip of sheet latex and impale it on a hook like a small garden worm and we are talking about something COMPLETELY different.
The term “molded facsimile” has been in the FFO regulations for decades and was original used to cover "rubber worms" and a series of small life-size “bug lures” that were made of harder plastic with a hook molded into the center. The bug lures were small enough to be used on fly tackle and marketed to non-tying, casual fly anglers & spin fishermen. I remember seeing them in stores years ago, but I honestly don’t know if that specific type of lure is still made.
More recently with the popularity of finesse fishing there are all kinds of very small molded soft plastic insect baits like crickets, finesse worms, hellgrammites, grubs and maggots for spin fishing that have to be threaded or impaled on a bare hook like the real thing. It is most likely illegal to "lash" any of those small soft plastics to a hook as well. There are also hard topwater baits that look like grasshoppers, crickets, bees and horseflies.
Most likely, this is what defines the current expanded interpretation of “molded facsimile.”
Still not convinced, email the PFBC Bureau of Law Enforcement or message them on their Facebook page, send them a link to a Squirmy Wormy image and ask, then save their reply on your phone or print a copy in case you are ever challenged.
Don’t laugh, I’ve done the same thing with other regs that are spelled out by Harrisburg but misinterpreted by WCO’s on the ground.
You can also let us know what they say and if the consensus is wrong...;-)
Good luck!!
