Has anyone on here ever been caught while fishing bait in CLOSED waters and if so how much was it?? Is the ticket higher for good bait or lower if you're using "cracker" bait?

Just wondering, thanks for the help!!!
Keith :p :p

Hey Keith,

I don't know about fishing bait in closed waters, but I do know the base line fine for a fish and wildlife violation starts at 175 in Oregon. Lets just say it made for an EXPENSIVE duck dinner at my house that night

Aaron

Anyone know the base fine for WA???
Keith

I heard it is castration, when the bait is good. At the very least you better keep your good bait in the right places. For using cracker bait, they just print your name in the local newspapers and internet as a violator, because that's not much of a threat to fish. I used some grade B bait a couple times when I was out of the grade A [Bleeeeep!], in a bait permitted area yet, and that got my name posted.

I am not sure about bait but I did get a ticket a few years back for not writing it down on my card. I lost my pen and was walking back to my truck. I believe it was about $71. I went to court and got it dismissed. only ticket I have ever had. Now I carry 2 pens with me.
Chris

It sounds to me like you've already decided this law doesn't apply to you, if you can't catch fish without using bait (which I don't believe is true from what others say about you) and you don't fear getting a ticket, why not just snag? last time I checked that was illegal too.
If you can't play by the rules, don't play.

Just call the game non-enforcement office here in Vancouver. I bet they won't even know what the fine is.

Believe it or not I am a huge proponent of civil disobedience, if it is done the right way. I suggest a more powerful approach to get your point across...organize a bait-in.

Get you and like minded fishermen together in a floatilla or in a huge line on the bank, let the local media know what you are up to (if there is a media outlet paper or TV with a conservative bent they are more likely to cover your event).

A picture of one guy casting bait in closed waters isn't very powertful, 100 guys?? more?? Invite the outdoors columnists, make sure to tell them there will be free donuts, newspaper guys like donuts even more than cops...

Civil disobedience can be the most powerful weapon in our arsenals as citizens if applied properly, I hope you take my suggestion Keith.

An excellent suggestion Stlhdh2o.

If Cowlitzfisherman's poll is indeed accurate (I hear Reuters and Gallup were both approached to conduct it, but respectfully declined :p ) then Keith should have no problem whatsoever recruiting hundreds of other like-minded fishermen to join him at his favorite spots on the EF Lewis river this summer. Why, this could be bigger than Kent State, or dare I say, the million man march.

Why would you even joke that breaking the law is ok. The last time I checked if everybody lived by their own set of superior rules it was called anarchy.

Keith, count me in for a protest. It's the only way the little people have a way to get things changed. We don't have the money to get things done through the legal system.

Fishhead5

Jerry,

If your last post was directed at me, we're just enjoying a little sarcasm here. I think we can agree that breaking the law is not the best solution. For me, it's the arrogant attitude expressed here, and in the other threads that prompts this type of response.

Not to you 4salt, to ironhead1

The "Paddy Wagon" at the pullout would be quite the humorous site!

How do they impound boats?

Although I don't necessarily agree with Keith I would seriously support his effort should he decide to undertake it.

I wasn't being sarcastic at all, at least not intentionally.

In fact I might even agree with him that the restriction on the Lewis is going too far if I were provided the right information. You won't find me on the beach that day but I would cheer someone taking their conviction so far to heart that they organized a 'bait-in', whether I agreed with it or not!

4Salt, I think some of these guys need to go out and try walking on some water, they might just get a shock.

Fishhead5

H20-
Great idea... I like it, but I highly doubt you could get enough people to step up to the plate. Most all will talk big then not show, but truthfully something has to be done it the end result will be "no fishing" someday and I know I'm not looking forward to that.
I take pride in fishing and get more enjoyment out of it than anything else in life (except one thing ) but I know if everyone sits back and let's these laws happen then it will only get worse...
Keith
By the way AKKings I love you too...

A 'spinner-in' just doesn't sound like as much fun...

I think you'd be surprised at what resources are available to you through this board and others to organize just such a powerful event...If you could get one write up in even a local paper you'd have all the guys and gals you needed, it wouldn't surprise me if they all showed up with yellow rods but they'd be there

Post a thread, maybe give out some free hooks and stuff (which brand again?), first guy to get arrested wins a brand new bonkin stick...I'm kidding man but I am also serious, if I saw one guy throwing bait in closed waters I'd turn him in but if I saw a hundred I'd stand and cheer...

Good Luck

Right back at-ya Keith.

No problem, Keith. Vision will step up to the plate and donate all the hooks for your little "demonstration".

No *real* loss when they consficate all the gear, huh?

Oh wait, I'm not suppose to slam myself....

If everyone at the "bait-in" uses Vision hooks, will you really be getting your "point" across?

J/k guys.

First off, let me start by saying that just because a law is made, desn't mean that it is fair or just. I too, amm a huge proponent of cival disobedience and I think that a "Bait in" would be a great idea. Just because a law is made prohibiting something doesn't mean that everyone should just follow that law blindly, never questioning or challanging. If yu dont agree with a law, then by all means, challenge it! Remeber, this county was founded by men who had the balls to challenge the laws that governed them..... What would have happened if they would have just chose instead to follow blindly?

Important!! The 'founding fathers' did it as a collective, one guy who stood in the courthouse giving the finger (did they have the finger back then??) to the Brits would have been summarily hanged. But the tea party? We are still talking about that event 250 years later!!

Better yet, if all of you Masters have a "vision" at the "bait-in" ...........you'll all be.....you know......

Sorry gang, couldn't help myself!

Double Haul -

Read the whole the thread man...

Well, it certainly sounds like some people walk pretty lightly around here. But reality is like ZoZo said, let them make nonsense laws and they will keep making laws that don't make sense. All because people were down catching hatchery smolt....
Keith

My apologies for responding to a irational thread. I have pulled my request from above.

DH, I'm curious as to why you think the thread is an irrational one. What's irrational about suggesting civil disobedience as a means to call attention to (in the opinion of some) unjust laws?
It's worked before, and it'll work in the future. You don't have to agree with the motives to see that.

By your handle I'd guess that you're not prone to using bait much. Is that the issue?

Gets me thinking...maybe we should have a "Fly-In" on the bait opener on the Stilly at Fortson next winter! Get a couple hundred guys flinging buglines around in the faces of the snaggers...hmm...does Fireline make a flyline? :p

Maybe we should keep on shrimping in areas 9 &10: I {emphasis on the I] don't agree, it should stay open. It's ignorant to close the Stilly to bait June through Nov.Why can't the Sky be open now for 'nooks, and if I think Reiter has enough Steelhead to fish now, why should we wait for June 1st. As a matter of fact why have any seasons or regs at all? I'm sure somebody disagrees with every rule or reg and thinks they know best.

Perhaps it would be smart to have a commissioner that was going to make a decision on our system to have at least had some sort of contact with it.. It's sad that 4 of the commissioners live east of the Cascades and 3 of them live in the Olympia/Seattle area.. Absolutly no contact with the EF of the Lewis. Sure that's who we need making decisions about our rivers future.. Some one without a friggin clue...
Keith

I look at the above, and I have to ask the question of proportionality.

Civil disobediance is a great approach, when the level of injustice is high. As in when Gandhi was protesting for the rights of Indian citizens to be treated as humans.

If you start treating laws that are on the level of misdemeanors as optional, by choosing to disobey them, you aren't really doing much, other than disavowing the bounds of civil society. It's kind of like dumping your trash in the pullouts on the highway. You're partaking in in act that is convenient to you, inconvenient and abusive of society, and of no real real risk to you.

Kind of a Trailer Park Barbie approach. You can do it, and probably get away with it. Don't expect much respect from society, however. This smacks of somebody protesting high prices by shoplifting.