FS Digest

I went out the afternoon for the last day of this godforsaken year to my favorite nearby tailwater. Streamer fishing is often good at this time of year, but I only got a few bumps and no hookups on a white sculpzilla in the best producing section. I switch to my Euronymphing rod after a while, which was about the time a guy appears in the other best spot across the river and upstream a little bit. I see him setting up his spinning gear, and I'm embarrassed to admit that when I hook my first fish I look over to see if he notices; I want the gear guy to see a fly guy catch something, and so that he knows that I know what I'm doing. Silly, I know...

Anyhow, that's not the point! Euronymphing is really producing so I'm not looking at him for a little while, but when I do I realize he's fishing a bobber and bait. I can't tell what kind but whatever it is it's small and red, and I see him refreshing his hook every few casts. And he is murdering that section, which I can tell he's familiar with; Fish after fish after fish. I'm not counting but after about an hour of fishing I'm pretty sure he is over his limit. I imagine hiking back to my car, driving over the bridge that's downstream, and asking him if he knows that bait ended on this river on October 31st and it's artificial lures and flies only. I'm also imagining how it might go well (he didn't know and is happy to learn), or it might go badly (he gets angry and tells me to piss off). In the end, I dial the hotline and report him.

I'm at my limit by that time. I clean my fish, and since I don't want to wait around to see if anybody comes, hike back to the car. After I get my waders off, gear in the car, etc, and am ready to take off, I see the state trooper rolling by. I follow him over the bridge and see him pull up to the guy who is now at his own car. There really isn't anywhere for me to stop and it would be just us three if I did, so I turn around and don't get to see what happened. If he got caught fishing bait and over the limit, I think the fines are pretty steep.

What has been niggling my conscience is this: I think I was just afraid of the confrontation, and so I called the cops to confront him for me. A little voice is telling me that next time I need to buck up and risk having someone be a jerk. I can always call fish and wildlife afterwards. Who knows, he could have been cool about it and just didn't realize.

My best fishing buddy thinks I did the right thing, and that guys like that aren't just ruining it by overfishing the stocked fish, but probably taking and keeping the wild trout and steelhead on top of it.

What do you think, people?

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by tastybugs

FS Digest

Good on ya. Screw people that throw out the rules! Fishing is for everybody including the next generation. We need to take care of nature and not care about the people who don’t!

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by Top_Interest_9278

FS Digest

You did the right thing.

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by senpairabbit

FS Digest

i always prefer the person to person thing over the calling the cops. Bad things can escalate sometimes with police involved. I would just tell him , "hey i had a friend get fined for fishing with live bait out here , just wanted to give you a heads up! "

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by CoxStain

FS Digest

I like your friendly approach, but things can also escalate without the warden or police involved. It's their job to handle these situations, not OP's, and they have training for them. Person-to-person is great in the event that someone legitimately didn't know they were breaking the law and they react respectfully and rationally, but poachers are going to poach and they probably aren't going to react rationally when Joe Shmo calls them out for it. That being said, I definitely agree that there isn't a situation that can't be made worse by involving the police.

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by Jayshwa

FS Digest

I was fishing the San Juan once and watched a guy blatantly doing the shuffle. Churning up the bottom and then fishing in the cloud of debris. Illegal there. As I went past him I said, politely, that what he was doing was illegal and the wardens watched for that sort of thing. In reply I got an expletive-laden rant and told to mind my own business. I kept walking.

Less than a minute later I heard voices. Looked back to see the warden with his book out writing the guy up. I may have laughed.

People like that ruin it for everyone. If they can’t follow the laws they are no sportsman. You did the right thing.

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by cmonster556

FS Digest

The only issue is maybe he was a dopey forgetful old man but everyone needs to know the regs for where they are fishing old man or not so that's not a great excuse. Good call

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by lostchameleon

FS Digest

Ehh... I see merits to both sides. I don’t know how your area is, but some places I fish are difficult to keep track of the rules - rules change throughout season based on quotas, boundaries aren’t well defined... etc. Not saying it’s an excuse, but for a guy who only fishes a few times per year, it would be easy to make an honest mistake. It especially happens to the older guys who don’t know how to keep up with information. A lot probably don’t even own a computer and go off the pamphlet they got when they bought their license. Hell, I know one person who got a citation because the government closed a specific species mid-season, published the info on their website, but didn’t update their official app that most of us use to stay up to date on the rules.

On the other hand, a lot of people out there think they can do whatever they want, don’t care about conserving the resource, and are just selfish. Unfortunately those guys often are unstable personalities with big tempers.

I’d probably have given him the benefit of doubt. Strike up a friendly conversation “Hey, how’s it going today? Any luck? Just a heads up... bait closed last month and I’ve heard the wardens have been out recently. Don’t want to see you get ticketed.” If the guy seemed remorseful, I’d just let it go and chock it up to an honest mistake. If he seemed confrontational, I’d just leave the situation and call the wardens on my way out.

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by sailphish

FS Digest

I never understood this argument; people will tie a box of flies for the hatch or make sure they have the right bait for the season, hundreds worth in gear, up at first light, coupled with lots of knowledge of fish and the area (hopefully) — ALL THIS and then tell you the regs are too hard to follow, just doesn’t add up to me, sounds more like they actually don’t give a crap about them enough.

Edit - your story about the app checking isn’t cool. they should have one single place the regs get posted and that’s it. If it’s not there then it’s not a rule.

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by louischeckmate

FS Digest

It’s totally a judgement call. If you aren’t sure, it’s better to err on the side of caution. There are crazy people out there and a bad interaction isn’t any fun for a normal person. Why ruin your day.

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by havebeerwillpaddle

FS Digest

You did the right thing, these people are paid to do these things by YOUR money, might as well put em to some good use! Also screw people that can’t read and follow the fishing regs.

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by louischeckmate

FS Digest

He will remember the interaction with the authorities much better than he would have remembered some rando correcting him on the water.

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by Harry_Gorilla

FS Digest

In CT, the TIP hotline will give you 10% of all fines given if they are issued tickets. the case # when you call is how you claim it.

I watched DEEP hand a Striped Bass poacher in Waterford an $8000 ticket one day and then they seized/towed away his boat!

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by Dry-Flies

FS Digest

People know when they're breaking the rules mostly. Yelling at the guy likely woulda pushed him to think you're the jerk and he the victim. You did the right thing.

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by rockstang

FS Digest

I understand wishing to avoid confrontation. I think best is to let people know if you’re comfortable with that. If not, it is absolutely ok for you to report. It is the responsibility of every fisher to know the regulations. They’re there for a reason. You did the right thing. Don’t stress another moment about it

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by hpsctchbananahmck