Smallmouth Wastefully killed.

[isaiah20]

Sorry guys I need a bit of time to vent.

I unexpectedly stumbled upon a small school of maybe 15-20 smallmouths yesterday. They were all about 4-6 inches. I was super psyched because I have not seen any smallmouth that small for a long time. The population is not very good on my home stream anymore. The sight of these fish gave me a glimmer of hope.

I was walking the banks as I usually do looking for carp with my Cabelas Prime 5 wt. (They are all pretty small) Walked about 3 miles running into a number of fisherman. All of which are fishing with 2 or 3 rods. Only 1 is legal in Minnesota. I walked by the little "sanctuary", only to see all of them belly up in a bucket. I asked if they caught anything and the response was "A lot, but they are all small."

I got so angry that someone would keep these that I walked back to the car and went home. This truly saddens me.

 

[sabbatoy]

If they were doing something illegal, call the fish cops..

 

[itchmesir]

Should've called TIP. Would've solved the illegal activities and you likely would've gotten some extra padding in your pocket as they pay for solid intel.

 

[james w 3 3]

Here in CA we have "Cal Tip" available as an app on your cell phone.
There are way too few DFW officers, and they appreciate our being their eyes and ears. Now, if we could persuade the folks at top to make the penalties much more painful . . .

 

[silver creek]

Just say, "Wow, I haven't caught a thing. Do you fellas mind holding those fish up? I'd like to show my wife that there really are fish in this stream."

Then go a take a photo of all the license plates in the parking area send all photos to the DNR warden.

 

[Fkrow]

Our state DEP game wardens advise not to get into a discussion confrontation ,,, admire the fish bucket take a cell phone photo. In addition, photo of their license plate.

Send to agency,, the idiots will soon get a visit ,, with fines and loss of fishing license.

Regards,
FK

 

[darkshadow]

Here in CA we have "Cal Tip" available as an app on your cell phone.
There are way too few DFW officers, and they appreciate our being their eyes and ears. Now, if we could persuade the folks at top to make the penalties much more painful . . .

Have called CalTip various times and unfortunately a warden was not available each time I called.

Can't say I didn't try, though.

(Then again, in the 25+ years I've been fishing, I've only been asked for my license 4 times. And 2 were at a private 'pay to fish' lake in San Diego, where I assume the average poacher won't be visiting.)

It sucks when people are ignorant to regulations and laws. And of course, if you try to educate them, you become the ahole.

 

[spameggsandrice]

As angler's I feel that it is our obligation to make sure we help make sure that everyone follows the rules and if they are not we should take appropriate action. This reminds me of the video of a guy killing a muskie and throwing it in the water. It was all caught on video. He was fined and everything.

 

[mikew1959]

If you do nothing how do you expect anything to change?
You are almost as guilty as them in my opinion which I'm sure won't be popular.
If you are so concerned about it shouldn't you have done something to stop it or report it?

 

[powerstroke2016]

As angler's I feel that it is our obligation to make sure we help make sure that everyone follows the rules and if they are not we should take appropriate action. This reminds me of the video of a guy killing a muskie and throwing it in the water. It was all caught on video. He was fined and everything.

Agree 100%! There aren't enough Wardens to see what is going on & unfortunately there are people out there that will do stuff like that because they know it's unlikely there will be any recource for doing it.

 

[mikew1959]

I just notice there are 348 views...nobody is touching this.

Guess I bit hook,line & sinker.
:wavetowel