Ok, I 've calmed down now.... not! Let me begin this by saying I am sure none of those that visit this site are guilty of this, but it is a problem and it is real.

Last Saturday I hooked up with a fellow fly fisher to take him to one of my secret spots. This place is fished by few and it can produce some very nice Steelhead. You have to work to get there, but let me tell you it is worth it. This water just makes you smile.

Anyway, we get up and head out at 4 am, get to the river just after dawn, and hike on in. When you first see the river you are looking down onto a beautiful bowl hole with a creek flowing in. This hole sits at the top of a long up hill no holding water climb for any fish moving up stream.....perfect.

Once we got down on the gravel bar my euphoria turned to rage. I could not believe my eyes. Plunking sticks, lots of them. A stick fire still smoldering, beer cans everywhere, Doritos strune about, bait containers, and sand shrimp.....SAND SHRIMP! This water is quality water. Single barbless hook no bait water.

Because of the time of our arrival and the coaled fire it was easy to figure out there were poachers in there during the night. Not only were they poaching but they were pigs on top of it. We spent 45 minutes picking everything up as we always carry a garbage bags to pack litter out and then we fished.

I could not let this go as it gnawed at me all day. It was as if someone had broken into my house. I began to think about how this can be stopped, the poachers, snaggers, and the litterbugs. This is what I came up with.

When caught, the penalty must be punitive. It must be more then a fine and/or lose of gear. The way I see it, most guys that do these things invest more dollars in beer then they do in equipment. So get caught, loose your hunting and fishing privilages for life, forever, period. Get caught again with no licsense, go to jail, at least a year during which time you had to pick up trash every where it existed.

This may seem harsh, but obviously what is happening now is not working. We need to cull these people, and I use the term loosely, out of the gene pool because they will just poach and trash it. All it would take is a few guys to suffer this wrath and their buddies in crime and it is a crime, might think twice about
committing the same crime. I guess this is predicated on the idea that they can think and judging from their behavior this fact is yet to be proved.

Well that is just my opinion. What do you think will stop these idiots?

So, did you bust em' wide open? I mean, did you put a cap in there a$$3s...No really what I mean, did you call the poaching line and report these violators?

Yes, enforcement is hard to manage and make effective. That reminds me of.....well, of a time when I called the WDFW Poacing Hotline only to find out the "message center" was full! Oh, well!
I guess we better start writing those legislators.....
Good Fishing, DB

Ran into the Fed agent later that day and I was more then animated with him. I asked if they patrolled at night to which he was very sly about saying they did. Then he checked us out.

since the fish and game depo obviously cant enforce the rules there,they should just close it! that seems to be there favorite solution so far. It really sucks that people got to throw there garbage everywhere especially if it was one of my honey holes. as far as calling them poachers, maybe they let there fish go? maybe they dont know its special regulation or maybe you dont know its not special regulations. the more rules and regs you have out there there more "poachers" your going to see. I have had people really pissed of at me thinking I was fishing closed waters but I was right they were wrong.


shoot them for throwing there ther garbage everywhere? YES!

shoot them for plunking? NO


In my book somebody is not a poacher because of how they fish. There a poacher by what they take or kill.

I am not saying they are poachers because of their fishing methods. Whatever works for the individual is fine by me. I am saying they are poachers because the water is clearly noted single barbless no bait. They were in there during the night to poach no matter what excuse is made. All of us MUST read the regs as part of our hunting and fishing resposibilities. As to closing the water, why punish those who live by the rules for the actions of those that don't...... Just my opinion

That malicious type of behavior, which shows no regard for our environment, happens far too often. I am continually disgusted to see litter at boat launches, bank accesses, and actually just about everywhere these days. Ever notice the cigarette butts on the ground by the stop sign at a freeway exit? Poaching is bad too, but the problem is that both littering and poaching is not dealt with efficiently by our current legal system. Our priorities of law enforcement are completely out of order. We have police all over our highways, pulling you over for not wearing a seatbelt.(I thought this was America, you know, freedom of choice). I wear a seatbelt because I CHOOSE to wear a seatbelt. And while I am on this topic, why does the guy in a F-250 4X4 with a roll-bar get pulled over for no seatbelt, but the guy riding a motorcycle(no seatbelt that I can see) has no requirement. I'm not against motorcycles, but it's not fair. It's that we have screwed up priorities. Our law enforcement should be watching our children(schools), our borders(enemies), any strange late night activity(drug dealing), and watching for those who are responsible for the destruction of our natural resources, i.e. littering, poaching, pollution.

I agree with you 100% there Pilskin! Freedom of choice in the fate of doing nobody else direct, intentional or ignorant harm is a silly argument up for debate. Maybe it's the insurance companies and our rates that are at stake in the fate of seatbelt laws -you should wear one if you value your life not because some folks "care" about you that much....come on....please. If they do, then please somebody stop me from
rockclimbing.....

Now all I do is carry trash bags with me evertime I go to the lake or river...maybe it brings me good fishing karma??

By the way, did these people get caught in the end?

Maybe Fish and Game should reqire us all to carry garbage bags, hell, things have gotten much more big brother lately. I always carry one. I guess we could just put the other kids on restriction to their rooms where they can trash at will. There at least they can't poach.

To answer your question. As far as I know they have not been caught to date. I have been thinking of doing a little late nite sortie. I don't care how big you 4x4 is it won't drive well with all the valve stems removed. Uncle Sam trained me very well on the skills of not being seen years ago, might as well see if I am still good at it. Could be fun and I know exactly where I get cell service back. From what I have been told if you call the State Patrol they have to respond

I'm not sure about the status of law enforcement in WA, as I'm an Oregonian, but I can tell you that here, we don't have enough officers and jail space to deal with car thieves and burglars, much less poachers. Seems it takes tax dollars to pay for law enforcement and people don't want to pay any more.

The problem will be of course once they make it to the slammer, saying they do, Governor Locke will be swinging the door wide open to balance the budget based on what was in the news today. The same budget balancing that allows those state exempt liscenced Excursions to keep rolling down the road. No one takes responsibility for their acts all to often. Didn't these people have parents or were they part timers too. No respect!! The values that made this country what it is are not those we see all to often at the trailheads or parking lots. I've been know to deliver trash back into the front yard of loosers. You can find a lot of source information in the eir leavings. Wake-up America!!!!

Great thread. To "iamatwork" and "Chappy," more power to you for taking matters into your own hands. Yeah, yeah, I can hear the rest of you, and I understand. A vigilante mentality can be a dangerous thing, but if more of these brain-dead abusers of OUR resources knew they could get an ass-kicking by their "peers" (instead of the thin law enforcement ranks), maybe they would be less apt to poach and pollute. Personally, I am much too mild mannered (okay, scared) to ever go toe to toe on a waterway, but I sure appreciate folks who know how to dish it out. So go ahead, iamatwork, go on a stake-out and catch these morons in the act. But be careful - a license plate and some secret photos will be more beneficial than you in the hospital. But I like that you care enough to do something besides just b*tch. Me, I pick up garbage and write my legislature. Yours is good, too!

Eddy