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is a problem it the North Sauty bridge,numerous reports have been filed with not much follow up from the game wardens.Snagging crappie and throwing nets seem to be the issue.Two men have been caught with fish using these means but they were back days later.Are people $$$ fish?
I've seen the same issue with guys keeping undersize sauger at Guntersville. Not enough law enforcement out there to cover the problem areas.
This has been a problem. Have seen crappie being taken in a cast net also. Allot of discussions on here about how to help sustain a fishery. But this kind of activity is very detrimental. Photos on the guilty parties may not be a bad thing to get law enforcement to take notice. Problem is we have so few Game Wardens to go around. Stiffer penalties for being caught would help also. Confiscation on property used in the crime may make poaching not so attractive to them. Its a sad day for Sportsmen when things like this are allowed to continue.
I was fishing Lay Lake in the Hwy 280 bridge area yesterday and there were (3) game wardens riding in one boat. When they initially checked me there were only two in the boat. They came back and picked up a 3rd because he wanted to "ride" with them. I know there is a lack of officers, but someone could have take out three with one grenade yesterday afternoon. They should be spread out more and covering key locations.
I met and was checked by a warden at Mink creek a couple months back, and he was specifically looking for netting activity and told me he had caught a few people there and had heard they were back doing the same. this was a week after I saw an Asian pair netting but not having any success. He knows they are there and he is doing his best to sneak up on them. phones can be used to video the activity and then call the warden.......
RiverBoss. I know the Asian pair you are talking about. I have seen them before. I saw another Pair of Asians ( father and son) netting at Belefonte.
i know a couple of the game wardens in my area, one i went to school with. Both are great guys, but sometimes one of them will be hidden somewhere looking at fishermen will the other goes and makes his present know by checking license and fish. When he is finished everyone assumes that he is gone and out of the area. His partner is then able to see these guys and gals keep short fish too many ect. I do a lot of pier fishing and when i see people doing things they shouldn't be doing i tell them "hey it isn't worth it" and hope they make the right choice.
Guys all you can do is call it in and take pics and video if you can. If they do it long enough they'll get caught. I have see them do to and not just crappie . I seen the game warden get some last year at Neely Henry dam so they are doing the best they can.
i think game wardens have gotten lazy. they also got their overtime cut off a few years ago. i dont know if they got it back but i was told back then you could get away with anything if you didnt do it 8-5 monday thru friday. this might have changed. i havent been checked in a while.Quote:
Originally Posted by 6165 Drbombay
Here is the number for game violations.. 800-272-4263 in this area. If i had had this number i would have ratted out some guys in a boat keeping very small sauger. They had their fishing net hangin over the side of the boat and throwing them in it so that if the Man came around the corner of the locks they could dump them before being checked.If the Warden sees them turning any fish loose like that they can still ticket them.Sad since Sauger have all but dissapeared the last 8 years . As to the snagging I had a talk with the female warden that hangs around the lower gville bridges and dams and she knows there are 3 sets of netters and snaggers and if you see anyone doing that call the number asap. She did bust a couple of shall we say foreigners last fall for snagging under the browns creek bridge.On another story line, i was standing on the bank down at the Gville dam last year in the late winter and there were 3 "other " guys fishing up above me and the game warden walks all the way down past them to me and checks me with out giving those guys a second glance and they kept on fishing. After he checked me i just had to ask him why he didnt check them and he told me that he figured they did not have a liscense but that it wouldnt do any good to ticket them as they would not have a real address on them and they could never find them if they didnt pay the fine.That sort of chapped me and i told him it wasnt fair to those of us that pay his wages by purchasing liscenses and that I bet if he took them in and put them in jail someone would come looking for them and that he could at least make them dump out the undersized crappie I know they had in thier possession..I was told that would be considered harassment to take them in go figure and he didnt bother looking at the fish on his way out..........I didnt get his name but he was a rather short stocky younger looking guy.
alaxava,
Hard to get checked when your in a kayak and in 18 inches of water, LOL!
Snapperking the same thing happens if you are involved in an traffic accident with one of them. The rules just don't seem to apply to some people.
Seems like the younger generation wardens are a lot softer than the old school wardens. Back 15-20 years ago it didn't matter who you were are how much money you had, if the law was broken you were going to pay. I believe some of the older wardens would give their own momma a ticket.
If the game wardens would set up it the boat ramps and check the bridges there would be no problem .If this were Wheeler or a wildlife area the bad guys would have hell to pay if caught.The Feds would take their trucks ,boat and tackle.
And that is what needs to happen. If they are snagging or netting or have been caught for the same offense over and over again. Confiscating their gear and vehicles would stop this from happening for sure.
I know crappie are being sold...Talking to fishermen over the last 3 years from the 69 bridge to 79 bridge have bragged about it and it's the same ole fisherman who are on the same area just about every time I show up.I might not hit these spots for weeks ,but you can count on the same ones being there.95 percent are good people but the others are in it for selfish reasons.I have had one man not long ago who did not have a pot to piss in try it,needed gas money to get home.Why go fishing when you have no money to get back home?he even tried to sell me his minnows.
They sell catfish so idk why not. Bass guys make a living on it killing biggest fish at weigh ins 50% floating dead. I mean seriously you think about it they cant catch that many. Hard to hate on a guy thats broke needing food or money. There's plenty of game wardens! They mess with me every time out! I'm always legal but just my luck. Don't have much use for 80% of game wardens. Had ms license last year with guide bought them over phone. And Alabama game warden gave me ticket for not having license on me in ms waters cause he didn't have service to check my confirmation number. Got ticket 200 yards on other side of property line once to keep from climbing big ridge walked hollow out to truck. They just go by the book no common sense IMO or nothing better to do. There's 8 game wardens in my county
I know guys who make a living in bad times by catching catfish and selling them $2 lb filleted on the side of Rd. That's work!!
Guides haul people around catching double triple limits so who can say who's wrong just a man made rule when it comes down to it. I do obey the law but you see what I'm saying I'm sure. If a guy will work that hard he's hard up.
You catch any feesh ???Quote:
Originally Posted by PW1
Thank you for asking. Was really out there shaking down the new Terrova. Have had it on for almost a month but couldn't get out because of work/travel. Caught (1) 11.5" crappie, (2) 2-3 lb drum, (1) little cat and had what i'm guessing were stripe by the way they bent the poles back under the boat before coming unbuckled. Talking to the guys fishing around me, most were going to have to go home and Google crappie to see what one looked like. Was a nice day to be out though, a little windy but overall beats staying home and doing the honey-do's.
Let me ask this. Is it legal to cast a net and catch the shad and then fish with the shad? I have did this a few times because I assumed it was legal, I thought that was the purpose of nets being sold around here. I have never kept a game fish I caught in a net. My next question is this. If I am catching bait with a net and I have fish in my livewell and a warden comes up, would he try and accuse me of having netted those fish. I have only netted bait maybe 2 or 3 times in the last 15 years. On another note about the snagging, I caught a crappie at North Sauty on a jig a few weeks ago that had a snag hook and weight hanging out of it's side.
You can we where the hook bad been in the crappies mouth. Besides the fact that like mentioned earlier there is probably another Game Warden watching what's been going on from hiding .
Catch all the trash fish you want with nets and snagging that's alright,keeping game fish is not.Casting bait nets are a great for live bait nothing wrong with that.I caught monster crappie and bass using 2 inch shad.I have seen many crappie and small brims and bass being tossed back to grow and one day spawn.
It is legal to throw a cast net or us a dip net for non game fish . Most wardens know what you doing way before you see them.and the only way we can stop the poachers is to report them . if it's an every now and then occasion it's hard for them to be caught unless you have good evidence .but them that has been spoken of in some of the previous post are all the timers everyone has seen them.:hatchet:
Went there last sunday, shad were so thick in the creeks, I was chopping them up with my trolling motor. Didn't get a bite.Quote:
Originally Posted by PW1