[sndmn11]

went to ward rd pond this afternoon to kill some time. saw a little over a dozen bass in various spots a few fet from the shore. since all of my bass catches in the past have been "accidental" i had absolutely no luck in catching any. i did point some out to two other guys and they caught one in the few minutes i was "spotting" for them. i would say if someone knew what they were doing at a bass pond they would probably make out allright.
on another note , i walked past a gentleman with a few bass on fishing line stringers. the fish were 10 or so yards away from where he and his family were "camped" out. so i kept watching and in a few minutes he started to fool around with them(maybe check to see how they were doing?) so i called operation game thief. the officer called me back to get a description and showed up in 30-45min. so, for those of you who say that an officer never shows up when you call, i guess they do sometimes. so keep on calling when you see illegal activity.

 

[lost fisherman]

I salute you!

 

[littlemac]

good job dude, i guess some people cant read the huge four foot by six foot sign in the parking lot . i hope they cut his well you know!

 

[epic]

Right on Right on. And you did catch atleast 1. >

 

[James]

Man, sndmn11, that's the kinda stuff I like to read. Except the part about people keeping Bass. There are plenty of places where keeping is legal. Why people keep from "catch and release" waters is beyond me. ???

So, did they bust the people, and hopefully release the fish?
Also, could you post the # (operation game theif)?

Thank you for taking action!

 

[sndmn11]

thanks guys.  i thought about telling asking him if he knew that the place was catch and release only, and probably would have, had there not been at least four fishing line stringers.  i could maybe understand catching one and not realizing it was catch and release making a stringer out of fishing line, but doing it atleast four seperate times in this situation is purposeful to me.  he very easily could hae told his lady friend to drive down the street and get somethign that would suitably hold four bass. 
    i am just pleased that it did work.  it was interesting to see first hand how the process works.  i called the number, talked to a person, gave them the information, gave them my contact information if needed, and then a few minutes later a DOW officer calle dme back and asked more questions, and told me he would be there in a half hour.  my guess is that he beat that half hour, because reviewing my cell phone calls i was actually on there for maybe an hour and a half, and i think that the DOW officer was there for about half the time.  in my opinion this was a very effecient response time for the DOW officer.  when you think that there are numerous bodies of water and places where wildlife are, even in the city, and the probable vast amount of area per each officer i would say a half hour is pretty good.  i just wanted to make a point of this (and toot my own horn i guess because i did catch something) that the OGT number is there for a reason, even if you doubt that an officer will come, please still report it, it takes one minute. 
  james-the OGT number is on your conservation certificate 1800 332-4155.  the gentleman was atleast cited, and i have no idea what became of the fish.
   if anybody wants to teach a kid how to catch bass here drop me a line, i like to learn!
kyle

 

[roadkill]

many time they keep the fish for evidence, this suck especialy when they where still alive but this practice is changing slowly. you would think an officers report as wittness and some fotos would do the trick

 

[idratherbfishing]

many time they keep the fish for evidence, this suck especialy when they where still alive but this practice is changing slowly. you would think an officers report as wittness and some fotos would do the trick

They do not have to keep all the fish for evidence. they can release some and keep a "representative" sample for evidence.

I agree the idea of making a stringer out of fish line sure sounds like a person is trying to hide what they are doing. Especially if it is at a catch and release water.

Thanks for calling OGT. That will hopefully mean more fish for someone else to catch.

Dan

 

[flies4life]

Thanks for reporting we all need to thankyou!

 

[waterfowler]

Nice PI work sndmn11. It is great to see that people aren't affraid to take matters up the ladder. It was better that you called the OGT rather than approach the person yourself because it appears obvious that he knew what he was doing.

 

[atownbasser]

By the way, thanks for "spotting" me man. Couldn't have done it without you! You were 30 yards down the bank when I caught that bass! Instead of "spotting" why don't you go catch something?

 

[sndmn11]

well i tried...to be honest i didnt think that i would see any fish or have any luck, i was just killing some time on a nice day. it gets me excited just seeing fish, and the rush of sight fishing like that, for any species. there was a little pond like that by my house when i was younger and i had a blast catching perch and bluegill sight fishiing like that with my mickey mouse pole. i'll have to go get some bass lures now, i dont think that they liked my trout stuff. now that i know there are fish in there, i have a reason to go spend some money at sportsmans!

 

[kirbydog]

sndman-Way to go on reporting the illegal activity!! We all need to do that whenever we see it. Just put the phone numbers in your cell.