Game Wardens out hot and heavy.

[fishinvol]

Liveliner - 3/20/2007 9:06 PM

What kind of boat was the guy who got the ticket fishing from? I saw a fellow keeping dink crappie today in a G3 over in C-Frost.

I am very glad the officers are out in force handing out tickets. Especially below Chickamauga Dam... An extremely large number of undersized Smallmouth Bass get a stringer rope ran through their throat right there on those rocks.

I generally through back crappie less than 10 1/2". I like thqat margin for safety. If you measure your crappie, be sure that the mouth is closed. If you measure them with an open jaw you may be keeping undersized fish. There is about 1/2" difference.

You are right about the people below the dam Liveliner! It is terrible sometimes. I have seen several tickets written this year alone back there for that reason though.

 

[Triton4Bass]

Yea its good the see them doing their jobs, last year on Nick we ran into them and they weren't really rude, but kind of arrogant i guess. He had my boat hooked with his little pole and kept bumping into my rods that were laying off the boat a little bit. I dont really have any high dollar rods, but heck none of them are cheap. Just b/c they are game wardens doesn't mean they dont have to be courteous to people. So I told him what I thought and hopefully he took it in to consideration. I know all of them arent like that, but it kind of made me mad. Just my 2 cents on the wardens. emoBang

 

[Guest]

The only wardens that I have came across were on Weiss and over at the Rocky Mountain PFA. It's honestly to the point that they all know me, and know that I am going to have my license on me. I guess that's a good and a bad thing.

Once, I thought that I was going to get checked up on Ft. Mountain, in the State Park. I pulled my wallet out, reached in for the paper, and the warden says, "I wasn't coming over here to check you.............". Made my scratch my head, and I kept on fishing.

More times than not, in my experience, they are very considerate people. There are, however, a few among them that will cause their reputation to fall off.

 

[Jmax]

Guys, the ones around here that I have come in contact with have all been good guys. I have been checked twice since moving here and now they just wave. Can't say I really even know them by name but it does my heart good to see them doing what they do. I saw them get a guy a couple months ago that was fishing off the bank under the 58 bridge. I hope to see the coast guard set up a speed trap like they did last year at the bridge on 58 when it gets busy also. Give out a couple good tickets for flying through the no wake zone and folks will slow down.emoAngry Jmax

 

[Guest]

Probably just a flurry of action before Turkey season gets cranked up emoPoke I havent seen them on the water yet at Nickajack, but Im sure that I will.emoSmile

 

[RangerRob]

Wormy just got them riled-up with his rant in the paper a few weeks' back. emoLaugh

 

[Guest]

RangerRob - 3/22/2007 5:41 AM

Wormy just got them riled-up with his rant in the paper a few weeks' back. emoLaugh

emoGeezer emoSorry

 

[Fishin Fool]

All the game wardens I have met recently were really nice guys and honestly seemed concerned about doing their jobs well. Which, I might add, in my opinion, is rare for law enforcement. Unfortunately a lot of the folks in law enforcement have a "us versus them" mentality. For example, I've seen it on TV and heard it from police here in Chattanooga,that when a call goes out, "officer in trouble" or "officer down" "we really respond with everything we have and as quick as we can". Really? I thought it was supposed to be the other way around. I thought since the citizen was unarmed that they would respond quicker to that than they would one of their own, armed, vested, trained officers in trouble. Let some guy be beating his wife with a shovel and see how quick and massively they respond versus a cop being assualted with a shovel. You don't see that kind of thinking in Fire Departments. Those guys would give their lives to save another REGARDLESS of who they are. My 2 cents but I think this leads back to the "us versus them" thing. But enough of that ramble.

I actually think the wardens are become more and more friendly toward law abiding fishermen because of all the problems they are having with pleasure boats and personal watercraft. From all I have read or seen it looks like that pretty much keeps their hands full, which is a shame because the creel and length limits are being broken on a massive scale by a lot of "meat" fishermen. We have a growing problem is this area with illegals that fish for free food and have no concern about the laws of the land. We also have a certain segment of society that thinks they are "owed" a living and that anything that can catch out of public waters is fair game for the table. All in all I think the wardens here are pretty nice folks considering.

 

[drumking]

I appreciate our game wardens and I go out of the way to tell them that when I meet them on the water. It doesn't offend me if they stop me and check my liscense or creel. I just wish that there were more of them to help stop all the poaching that is going on. People who will keep short crappie and short bass and know what they are doing, are in essence, stealing from everyone. emoGeezer

 

[Liveliner]

"Ditto" on what DK said.

I like to meet and know our Game Wardens. I like him, but there is one who works in Marion Co who has an attitude as if everyone he stops is a criminal and he is mandated to find what you have done wrong. He is beyond reasonable to the point of taking his job to ridiculous. I have watched him on several occasions interrogating hunters and fishermen. He asked questions and is redundant in repeatedly asking if you are sure you haven’t done anything wrong. A good GW can pretty much tell within a very few minutes if you are a law violator without holding you there for a twenty minute interrogation. Like I said, I like the guy, but for goodness sake let up a bit.

 

[drumking]

Liveliner - 3/22/2007 11:36 AM

"Ditto" on what DK said.

I like to meet and know our Game Wardens. I like him, but there is one who works in Marion Co who has an attitude as if everyone he stops is a criminal and he is mandated to find what you have done wrong. He is beyond reasonable to the point of taking his job to ridiculous. I have watched him on several occasions interrogating hunters and fishermen. He asked questions and is redundant in repeatedly asking if you are sure you haven’t done anything wrong. A good GW can pretty much tell within a very few minutes if you are a law violator without holding you there for a twenty minute interrogation. Like I said, I like the guy, but for goodness sake let up a bit.

Is his name Barney Fife? Sounds like something that Barney would do. emoBigsmile