What Would You Do?

[Alberta Bigbore]

Originally Posted by mariko's rod

perhaps poachersfriend would suit you better?

lol!!!

[ReconWilly]

The system in place is there to help curb vigilanty style justice and other scenarios from ending in escalated confrontations or even violence, if you complain about the lack of enforcement but are not willing to do your part when its your turn to do so, how is anything EVER going to change? Its about the resource, and if your concerned thats all that should matter, save the ''poor me'' scenarios, i'm not above the law and neither is anyone else.

[Lefty-Canuck]

Each circumstance calls for a different reaction in my eyes....

Last year I spoke with the lady and her kids....she was thankful and packed up. She left with a copy of the regs....

I confronted some poachers keeping undersized fish who were catching them and tossing them in long grass to pick up later....called RAP.

I talked to some guys who had 3 "live" undersize pike in a bucket and were eager to show me.....I kindly told them they needed to be 63cms long and that I know the fish were too short and I also know they have a chance to live if released immediately.....which is what they did, said thanks and they also left with a copy of the regs....

This was all at the same place within 150 yards of each other....

LC

[chubbdarter]

Originally Posted by Tcw

Driving home, crossing the new Highwood Bridge outside of High River tonight, I notice a car parked in plain sight, and then saw a fellow standing on a gravel bar fishing.
Highwood is closed.
I did not stop to tell em.
I did not call F&W, and now thinking I should have.
But would this be too minor for them or would they be intrested in the new fishing spot to come, just to give them one more spot to check on.
Would you have stoped, or called it in?

Tcw....I know your a kind soul at heart, from the help you provided at the event.
But somethings to consider.

You dont have godly powers to determine a criminal. Calling the plate in to a Officer may reveal they are repeat criminals. Being a kind and informative good will ambassader is fine but i suspect most times it ends in the criminal saying under his breath......WHAT A IDIOT.

What if you do approach and discover they have 20 trout in a bag? Do you call? They now know who you are. For those that say so what, your the same type that would walk down skid row with hundies pasted to your forehead and be singing " it will never happen to me"

If its a innocent mistake let a officer decide their fate, if its a repeat offender only the Officer cant determine that.

[horsetrader]

Originally Posted by chubbdarter

Tcw....I know your a kind soul at heart, from the help you provided at the event.
But somethings to consider.

You dont have godly powers to determine a criminal. Calling the plate in to a Officer may reveal they are repeat criminals. Being a kind and informative good will ambassader is fine but i suspect most times it ends in the criminal saying under his breath......WHAT A IDIOT.

What if you do approach and discover they have 20 trout in a bag? Do you call? They now know who you are. For those that say so what, your the same type that would walk down skid row with hundies pasted to your forehead and be singing " it will never happen to me"

If its a innocent mistake let a officer decide their fate, if its a repeat offender only the Officer cant determine that.

What if you do appraoch them

Sound good to me

[huntsfurfish]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

Some people just want to wet a line. This includes people who haven't fished ever or for decades, tourists, single mom's with kids etc.

As we've seen on this forum with some of our most veteran members, reg's are often mis-interpreted, mis-read, missed, or ignored.

Be a good citizen, not a militant *****. Sometimes F&W do need a call. Use your judgement.

Very well said!!!

Years ago, and not that many, a person was courteous and helpful, they/I would at least mention that you were doing something "wrong". How you reacted determined the need for any further action.

[KoldFusion]

I would stop and check out his gear. If he is sporting all brand new stuff I would ask if he was new to the sport.

If he said he was, I would not only tell him the river is closed but WHY it is closed. Toss him a Fishing Regs Book (I keep spares), write down the URL for this forum on a piece of paper. And field any questions he may ask.

I know that is not the proper thing to do. But some people do not have any mentors to learn from. They just have a hole in their life and are trying to fill it with a healthy activity. While there is no excuse for ignorance if the guy was new I don't think he would want to be a part of this sport if his first outing resulted in a hefty fine. People that are new to Sport Fishing need to learn the cause and effect of their actions.

Now... If his gear was beat, he looked seasoned, and was a obvious poacher I would take a picture of him fishing, get his plate numbers, description, and report him post haste.

When it comes to matter of policing, people should not get involved other than to observe and report. But I find most new fishermen not only are more than eager to talk to people about fishing, but are also willing to learn. With all the information they flood themselves with on how to fish, quite often they can over look the major details.

I seen three people buy WIN cards, gear, and licenses at Canadian tire a week or so ago in NE Calgary. The person at the customer service desk did not hand out one reg book to these new anglers. And from what I could overhear from those guys they had never fished in their life. I seen them in the parking lot, gave them a spare guide, and showed them how to read it. They had planned to fish near Princes's Island park in Calgary. So it was a good thing I was eavesdropping.

It was a win-win. I got to talk about fishing, I saved these guys from fines, and they learned about spawning and watershed closures, how to de-barb a hook and why.

I seen them fishing near Southland park the other day. Assh*#s are catching --and releasing-- more fish then me.

Poachers suck. But everyone can use a mentor to show them the ropes. If it wasn't for my step father teaching me when I was young, that guy on the river could have been me.

[ryanheartssteelhead]

CALL. All the information is available.

[Redfrog]

I don't think BGSH gets down that way, so I'd just toss the guy and all his gear in the river and phone BGSH and let him know.

[nekred]

Just call... like I used to say it is not up for me to judge people just to arrange a meeting with the authority...

[Chris84]

Originally Posted by chubbdarter

Tcw....I know your a kind soul at heart, from the help you provided at the event.
But somethings to consider.

You dont have godly powers to determine a criminal. Calling the plate in to a Officer may reveal they are repeat criminals. Being a kind and informative good will ambassader is fine but i suspect most times it ends in the criminal saying under his breath......WHAT A IDIOT.

What if you do approach and discover they have 20 trout in a bag? Do you call? They now know who you are. For those that say so what, your the same type that would walk down skid row with hundies pasted to your forehead and be singing " it will never happen to me"

If its a innocent mistake let a officer decide their fate, if its a repeat offender only the Officer cant determine that.

Agreed. Its the Officer that needs to make the judgement. To each their own, there have been some good perspectives posted on this thread so far.

I would call it in and let the Officer do their job and know that I have done my part, I don't need to be a hero and confront them (not saying this is necessarily wrong, I just wouldn't do it).

[nekred]

or fire a warning shot!....

[marlin1]

I called out to some guys fishing on a closed section of the Bow years ago to inform them it was closed . Was told to F off . Made the call and they ended up writing 6 or 7 tickets that day and we walked away with 100$ .