FS Digest wrote:
I typically fish in a different neighborhood for each species, so I get around. I have one for gar, one for carp (my gar hood is militantly opposed to non-residents fishing there because that lake is full of footballs, but they let me fish because I take their trash), one for bass, catfish, etc. I run into other fishermen all the time, and aside from a small kid wanting to keep their first fish that's too small, I haven't seen much of anything illegal beyond putting tilapia back, which I admittedly do occasionally.
The first trout stocking happened the day before Thanksgiving, so I've been chasing them almost exclusively at the public park lake. I've been 5 or 6 times since, for only an hour or 2 each time, but EVERY time, I've seen SOMETHING illegal. It's a highly pressured pond, not bigger than 2 acres, and it's pretty standard for there to be 3-5 other guys fishing, mostly for catfish. People fish with 3 or 4 rods (2 rod limit), take more than the limit, and today I saw 2 guys using a casting net. On top of all that, I've spent at least 15 minutes cleaning up trash/discarded line 20 feet from trashcans all but one time, and that's because I was last to leave in the evening and the first there in morning, as I felt like soaking a line before work.
Would you make the call? Given how many disregard regulations and how freely they discuss their violations, I tend to doubt whether or not many of these guys are even licensed.
Several of them are clearly feeding their families, which is where I pause.
What say you?
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by mypostingname13
I typically fish in a different neighborhood for e... (
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Think about it for a minute. You are only there for a hour or two at a time and this is what you see in that period. How many violations do you guess are happening that you do not see? Multiply what you see by any number you pick and imagine what will happen to that fishery in very short order. Do your part to protect your fishing and call fish and game.