Corpusfishing.com

[Tyler]

I have been stopped the last three times I have been to Compuerta in several different boats.

[new fish]

I have a lot of respect for law enforcement officers. However, I think that sometimes they do not see us as people that can make mistakes.

I bought a used boat at Ronnies Marine and ran around for a little over two weeks before getting stopped at Bird Island by the GW. I had expired tags on the boat because it was used and still had the old tags stuck to the side. He asked if I just purchased the boat and I told yes. I reached under the console and grabbed the paper tag that Ronnies told me to keep on me for 30 days. The GW informed me that this paper tag was only good for 15 days- I was only 2 days over the 15 day limit. He wote me a ticket that cost $160 and gave my 9 yr old son, who was watching everything, a sticker for his life jacket.

He even asked who I worked for and after he learned this information he told me that he has helped out with fundraisers to help my organization with Dove hunts and all.

I went to Ronnies and "verbally sued" them for $160 and they paid up since they still did not have my tags ready.

[FS552]

It isn't the Game Warden's job to sift through the exuses to determine if one is telling the truth or not. As others have said he was just doing his job.
I'm pretty sure any GW would gladly answer any rules and regulations questions, just dont wait until you're at the receiveing end of a ticket and play the "I didn't know" or "I forgot" card".
There's a how to tag a redfish section in regulations book for those that don't know how along with other valuble information, after all it is our responsibility to read and know the regs if we choose to go fishing.
Take it as an expensive learing curve, maybe the JP will cut you some slack...I doubt it though, he has a job to do also.

[landlocked beachbum]

Luck of the draw man. If I was breaking the regs I would EXPECT to be ticketed and surprised if I wasn't, even if it's an honest mistake. I was fishing on the Current River years back and a very friendly warden pulled along side and shot the breeze with me for a few minutes. Then he nonchalantly asked if I knew that my boat registration was out of date!!! I honestly didn't know and honestly didn't remember getting a renewal notice in the mail, and I honestly paid the $110 fine, but I didn't then and do not now hold a grudge against him for enforcing the regs and doing what he's paid to do.

If this same type of thing happened more often on the piers down there it would sure be a better fishing experience!
_________________
Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[THE_BLUFF_RAT]

i agree, if i make a mistake and break the rules, i dont hold grudges for a game warden doin his job. this has nothing to do with GW's but a couple of years ago, i was driving down yorktown from staples to waldron. i was inbetween flour bluff dr. and waldron..***still on yorktown*** and i got pulled over. he asked me for my drivers license and insurance very nicely....i asked him why he pulled me over and he says.."FAILURE TO USE YOUR TURN SIGNAL"........ ...... ...


just because he was a man in a position of authority, doesnt mean he is always right. i knew i never turned anywere, so i argued with him and threatened to take him to court, etc. he ended up letting me go with a "warning"

morale of the story:
-dont assume the law is always right. they are people just like you and me, and if they have a bad day, or have to work a holiday, and their frustrations starts to effect innocent people, and they make bad judgment calls....wrong man for the job.
_________________
"When times are tough,
and the flocks are small,
take your time,
and kill them all"

[ehuntingdaddy]

I've been checked religously when fishing in my kayak and when duck hunting in the Loyola/Riviera Beach areas. Its too the point of being downright annoying. Not once have I been found in violation of anything, but over and over again they check and check. Those guys in that area will get their boat stuck in the mud just to have the opportunity to check you, they're fanatics!

Whatever they need to do to meet quotas and visability standards, game wardens are kinda like sting rays to me, you know they're out there, and chances are they're gonna sting you sooner or later. I just hope I don't get dumped out of my kayak...that would result in letters to superiors...

Tag your fish, probably need to do it before you even take it out of the water-by the book baby, thats how they work down here, don't think for a second you're gonna get an ounce of leeway-its that way for everyone.

[mrwhitefolx]

The game warden, while he does have some personal level of power to decide what tickets to write and which not to write, only gets paid for enforcing the law. He saw you breaking the law and wrote you a citation for it. Yes he could have looked the other way, but apparently you just drew the short straw on that day. As for getting checked so often, unless they are picking on you and me both, it's probably just timing. I can count on one hand the number of times I have been out in my boat during daylight hours and not been checked either on the water or back at the ramp. All you can really do is be friendly and respectful and then hope they are nice if you forgot/didn't know something.

[Oil Field Trash II]

I guess I'm in the minority here.. (imagine that), but I have to think back of all the times I didn't "tag immediately upon killing animal XXXX)

I'd bet my house that almost everyone who hunts on this board is guilty of that to some extent.

the law says "immediately". How many of you have shot a deer, admired it for a few minutes, gutted it, threw it in the truck or 4 wheeler, then tagged it?

how many of you have shot a deer, watched it drop, and sit in the blind until the hunt was over? What's the difference between that scenario and this scenario?

Maybe I'm wrong... maybe everyone on this board except for me has set a new land speed record running up to the dead deer immediately after shooting it with tag in hand (with cut out dates).

I can 100% understand getting a ticket at the boat ramp with an untagged fish, but getting a ticket on the water.(maybe because you were in the fish and caught up in the moment..).... I think maybe a short speech on "THE LAW" would do just as good as getting a ticket.

before all you armchair game wardens start critisizing the guy for what penal code 1.46.112 of the state legislative game code dictates, (I know there are many legal experts here) put yourself in his shoes for a minute

[Seabass]

Apples and oranges.

I've paid dues when they came.


Seabass

[Mark]

I fish the North and South Jetty in Port A, all the time and I have NEVER shown my fishing licen

[landlocked beachbum]

I for one am not criticizing anyone. Just saying that if I screw up and get a ticket from a warden, it's not his fault but mine, no matter who may think it trivial.
_________________
Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[BALZTOWAL]

THE GWS ARE TOLD TO APPROACH VIOLATIONS WITH ZERO TOLERANCE. IT MIGHT BE BECAUSE THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH OF THEM OR THEY AGENCY RECOVERS SOME OF THE MONEY FROM THE FINE, COST ETC.

[2salty4U]

landlocked beachbum wrote:
"Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done."

My grandfather used to say "Son, the thing about common sense is that it ain't that common."

Current River, huh? I read an older book about the place last year and fell in love with the descriptions of the springs.

[snakecan2]

rules are rules.. some GW are just not very happy people.. but dealing with everthing that they deal with is not friendliest job out there..
sometimes they are out there boarding boats and making themselve visible to other that might be doing something they shouldn't

as for getting boarded.. i think i got boarded 5 times one weekend.. 2x by same crew.. didnt help that my girlfriend at the time was flirting with all the new coast guard crew.. GW didnt mind either.. as for looking suspicious neon yellow or green skimpy bathing suit does look very suspicious and must be investigated..
_________________
Fish and Hunt Baby.... so tight lines and clear scopes.

[landlocked beachbum]