Thread: Wateree Rock Fish today

I took my sister fishing, she'd never been Striper fishing so I hoped we'd at least get a line sider or a cat.
The Striper measured 24.5" girth 16.5" a solid 8.3lbs fish, the Cat was 5.3 lbs. Both the biggest fish she'd ever caught.
Water temp 51.1 fishing the bottom at 34' FOW
I'd never seen a DNR on Wateree and thought about not getting her a license for the day, glad I did there were 3 at the ramp and were impressed by her catch.
Good day on the lake

Great way to spend the day with your sister. She will be bragging about this for a while. Glad you did not get snagged by DNR. The very time you think you won't get checked is when you will.

I saw a boat kinda between colonel crk. and honey hole today just wondering iffin it was you. I went down to check on my house. the water looked to muddy to fish in at my dock.
congrats to your sister on a fine catch.

That's another nice Rockfish. Good job putting your Sis on some nice Lake Wateree fish!

Uncle Remus that wasn't us, I ran up and down between White Oak and the upper end of the Honey hole. Didn't see many boats out.
DNR said they had guys out checking duck hunters.
They were impressed with the Striper said it was the biggest they'd seen out of Wateree in years

Congrats on those nice fish your sister caught. I know you made her day AND her Christmas by giving her that opportunity.

Congrats to her on the two nice fish I have seen more DNR on the lakes since duck season opened. Have been checked more this fall than I ever have been.

One of the DNR said they are out thick in the Summer, they thanked me for not dumping my bait since it was from NC. Very polite guys, nice to talk to. They checked all my gear.

This just came to me. Do I have the same right to deny the DNR access to my boat without cause as I do my car or house? I try my best to follow all fish and game laws since it helps me in the long run and it's the right thing to do. On two different occasions I've had a DNR officer board my boat and start going thru bait tank and cooler. Both times on a random check. I was doing nothing to be stopped at the time. I understand their thought process but I'm pretty sure that's invasion of privacy. The more I think about it the more WRONG that seems. Mind you I have never had a problem allowing them to check. Kind of surprised it hasn't led to a bad situation for a DNR officer who picked the wrong boat to jump on unannounced.

Reeldawg, You are probably right that they would need probable cause to search,however I seldom would want to stand around waiting for a warrant to search the boat after fishing all day.
I think the reason they carry guns is that chance they run across that boat with the wrong things on board.
It boils down to a few bad apples doing the wrong thing that makes the need for them to check everybody. I really don't think they target anyone, they check everybody so no one is targeted. ( which might negate the need for probable cause?) They guy the other day said the hear people complain they got stopped a couple times that day, he says they have multiple boats out on the lake and don't know who got checked by another boat.
Overall no big deal these guys are fisherman, doing their job the best they can. They protect the very fish we are trying to catch.

Stepping off my soap box