I just wanted to make you guys down south aware that illegal guiding on our classified waters could restrict your access to our fall steelhead rivers. Illegal guiding is becoming a major problem on our fall steelhead rivers. A small portion of visiting non resident anglers have been running guiding operations for their countless "friends". Soon we will have regulations in place so we can limit where and the number of days a non resident can fish in BC. Who can you thank for these changes? Ask around down south and it will be blatantly obvious.

And who are you blatently referring to Mr/Ms
newly registered hide behind hotmail.....

What, was life under the bridge getting boring? No Billy goats to scare off?

Take a walk, eh?

You know the funny thing about this post is that most of the fish camps up there are owned and ran by people from wa., ore. also maybe some of those guide boats are fishing for them selves since the north end rivers are closed. Maybe you should do more investagating before you accuse people of doing somthing they may not be doing. maybe you could grow enough balls and ask if they are guiding . GOOD IDEA A

Why is it that people from up north always wanna start $hit us USA boys.
TM looks your going to have to start regulating again

Take off EA!

I wouldnt be suprised if he wasnt from up North but our own backyard.

I don't think our Canuck friends are anymore wrongly territorial than some fishermen in the lower 48 are. Just as roughshod wrong down here. ... There are a lot of @hotmail.com addys up in northwest B.C., a couple registered here from the Terrace area that we now have to keep a watch on their ISP numbers for lame flame stuff (unfortunately). As for this Canuck poster, he could be right but shouldn't post spam about it without proper evidence, because he could also easily be wrong. As far as his hollow threat of limiting yank's fishing time up there I really doubt that - the tourism ecomonmic affect is too much for them to risk that; as well as risk retailitory limitation of them fishing down here. So I'm not concerned about his post.

RT

I like to hide behind my hotmail account, but I check my account

Hey Dan,
The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

I'm not here for about 3 or 4 days and y'all let someone from "Canadia" talk smack?

I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Most of what cato has to say in his post is true, unfortunately he didn’t expand on the subject and I’m sure he got the reaction he was hoping for. Cato has not accused anyone across the line of illegal guiding; he has stated, “illegal guiding is becoming a major problem on our fall steelhead rivers”… I would assume that the same applies across the 49th as well? We have illegal guides in the northwest from every country and county imaginable.

It’s sad, but a few rotten apples have ruined things for a good many people up here and regulation changes may soon be implemented. These changes may seriously restrict access to some fine angling for all non-residents. I wouldn’t wish restricted access/days on anyone, but we definitely need a solution to the problem we are facing. The days of tying up fishing holes for extended periods of time (months) for your over-seas business associates may soon be over.

I’d like to find out more about this as well.

You American boys are a little defensive...Cato's post shouldn't piss any of you off. You would think that someone could come up with a relatively intelligent response to the post. Nice try though Dan S.

RT...of course they wouldn't limit American hours on the water, the Sport fishong industry is huge in BC, and a large number of visitors are American. As for his post being spam and unfounded,isn't that the nature of a bulletin board? Cato works for fisheries and probably heard this through the grapevine. By your definition, 95% of the posts on this board are spam.

I find it interesting that this fellow from BC's moniker is the genus for suckers.

If any of you would like the document that outlines the proposed changes to the regulations please feel free to contact me and I will let you have a copy. I personally like RT's americanocentric view on things. Europeans and Japanese generate much more $ than mom and pop in an RV.

As Billy stated illegal guiding is a problem we face from all directions including our neighbors to the East in Alberta. Because they are Canadian they feel they have the right to exploit.

I just ask you guys to keep your eyes and ears open when you are visiting and when you are at home. I would hate to see you guys miss out on a good thing.

Cato,

Since you're going to follow up, why don't you answer your question FOR us. Who, exactly, DO we have to thank for this? Do you have something you'd like to say about it?

Please do, Cato. This is an open forum for the most part.

Now let me ask about this scenario: say a fish camp is owned by a resident of Austria and because he and his wife speak several languages, they get lots of European guys over who stay for several weeks or even a month because they have more liberal vacation policies (and a lot more money than most of us). The owner of the camp fishes on his own, but not with his guests. Is he considered to be illegally guiding? And under your new proposals can this owner count on losing a lot of business?

How about those details?

Bruce

I don't believe it is legal to own and operate a "fish camp" without a guiding license and rod days therefore it is this type of activity that is threatening your access. This type of activity is known to occur already and is hard to police due to the grey areas it encompasses. These fish camps are most likely advertising overseas and if they are taking $ or goods in exchange for fishing opportunities then they are most likely illegal.

Who do you have to blame? The guys who feel they can outsmart the system and run roughshod over resident anglers. I hope you do your part to report any suspicious activities to the appropriate people. Illegal guides and guiding are just as bad as poachers and should be treated the same.

In my opinion, this is a serious problem. I fish B.C. and Alberta every year and have been treated with respect always. But in the last couple years I have seen USA fishers drive north to BC in huge pickups with a chest freezer in the bed, filling the freezer then plugging it in to cheap electricity to take a bunch of dead fish home when their trip is over. I think that this sends the wrong message. We are supposed to be SPORT fishers, not commercial guides.
B.C. is responding by restricting our opportunity on many rivers, notably the Dean and Babine. I can't blame them.
Just my $0.02.

In my opinion, this is a serious problem. I fish B.C. and Alberta every year and have been treated with respect always. But in the last couple years I have seen USA fishers drive north to BC in huge pickups with a chest freezer in the bed, filling the freezer then plugging it in to cheap electricity to take a bunch of dead fish home when their trip is over. I think that this sends the wrong message. We are supposed to be SPORT fishers, not commercial guides.
B.C. is responding by restricting our opportunity on many rivers, notably the Dean and Babine. I can't blame them.
Just my $0.02.

ct,

This is the type of activity that will ruin it for guys like you. What we really want is quality angling for all user groups. Guys who feel they can take advantage of our limited ability to enforce the regulations will get you restricted purely by association. The best thing to do is report this activity and be a good representative for your country.

I'm not sure I can follow the logic here Cato. Illegal guiding will restrict sportsanglers??? Seems like you are shooting yourselves in the foot. This is an law enforcement issue (and I am sure a serious one), why would you punish those not associated with breaking the law? Thats not how its done down here.

Are there local restrictions on who can guide and who can not or is it an issue of BC loosing Guide license revenue? Or maybe too many fish are being harvested?

There are regulations restricting guiding on Classified Waters. Only licenced guides can operate with a set number of allocated rod days. We cannot enforce the current regulations because we lack sufficient funding for Conservation Officers. Right now the CO's spend most of their time dealing with problem bears. Remember our CO's have to deal with fish and wildlife enforcement. Therefore the economical way is to restrict all instead of chasing the few. Guiding licenses generate a very few dollars. In fact we are giving our licenses away to you already. $10 and $20 a day is a joke. I would be more comfortable with anything over $50 a day.