First let me say Thanks to the few people who dont think I deserve to be sent to prison for my actions. However I find no shame nor fear of going in front of a jury of my peers to explain my actions. I can take responsability for my actions. To those who share the opinion that I should of or am lucky I did not get shot. Simply This more about you than me.If You could live with the notion that you took a human life over a couple of fishing rods then you need to take a real look at yourself. I can assure you that in front of a jury of your peers your outcome would not be a pleasant one. What lesson would that tell those kids? Yes son if you ever have some one take your bike and you can get to them grab the shotgun and blast away. You are pathetic and are far worse than I.

I chose to not have a confrontation with this man in front of his kids and to avoid any severe acts that I would regret for a long time. I am passionate about my 25 year long hobby, I have spent many hours and sweated on the river banks in an effort to help preserve the resource that you all enjoy like me. I feel no remorse for my actions as the rods went to a worthy cause that will be used in a legal, educational manner. Those rods will never be used to pull salmon out of a river by their ass,tail.They will never be used to teach the future generation of fisherpersons how to poach fish in closed waters. For my part I can sleep well at night. I did report the action to the sheriffs office, and via the hotline number. The report that this guy made would be a funny one. Yes officer my snagging rods and box of trebles that i used to snag,poach in closed waters in my back yard while teaching my children the sport of snagging were stolen..

I dought I will make americas most wanted. For those who think I am looking for attention take a look at my posting history. I could care less if I am belived or not. I know one 30 year old father of three who knows what the reality is and that is all i care about......

Quit patting yourself on the back, he's a snagger/poacher and your a thief. If you really did report this are you prepared to have him press charges against you, your as guilty as he is.

As much as I hate snaggers, I hate thieves even worse.

I dislike snaggers as much as anyone, but I fail to see how stealing a snagger's gear will teach that person a lesson, other than to not leave his gear out. You're a thief and he'll pick up a Walmart special the next day and continue snagging. What was accomplished here?

I still think we should go kick his ass.

What drugs are u smoking? Two wrongs make it right? What a completely irrational thought process. You're a thief, plain and simple! So, you say that these rods went to a good cause? Which cause would that be? Your sturgeon rod collection? I highly 'doubt' that any organization or 'worthy cause' would accept these rods if they knew were stolen. And, if you donated this gear to a worthy organization they have every right to know that they were hot! What if some kid is out using the gear and the guy you ripped them off from recognizes them? Now you put someone completely innocent in the middle of the whole thing?

To answer you question about being shot. You said they guy was on his property. Well, having enough stuff ripped off by punks I can tell you that I have absolutely no tolerance for thief punks! Try it at my place and you had better be able to pull a Neo and dodge a few rounds!

The worse part about this whole thing is that you think you are above the law and that what you did is somehow justifiable… But there are your knuckle draggers that think what you did was great….They are just as foolish as you.

You should have pulled the man asside and told him you were going to report him. Then called him in right in front of him. You have no cojones.

Thieves are thieves and snaggers are snaggers. You are a thief and he is a snagger, plain and simple - neither act is legal in this country - and for you to come to this board and try to brag about the injustice you have solved makes me want to puke - in your hat.

You should both get fines and/or jail time.

Here's one for you to try!

Try calling up your local Sheriff Office and ask them what to do! Explain to them what these persons were doing (fishing legally) and that they were breaking the law and appeared to be willing to continue breaking the law. Explain to them that you where not near any phones so you would not call in the illegal act. Explain to them that all you were trying to do is to prevent any more fish from being snagged and that illegal limits of fish were already lying on the banks.

Explain that you did not "steal" there fishing tackle, but instead you confiscated it only to prevent any future crimes from being committed. Explain to the Sheriff that you do not want there fishing equipment and that you are willing to press charges against this person.

Give them a call from a play phone if you're worried about them knowing who you are and ask them what you should do. I do not know what the laws are concerning a citizen making an arrest in this state, but you might want to do some research on the issue.

Either way, you need to turn the fishing tackle over to the Sheriff and tell them why you had to do what you did. To do less, is like waiting to be caught for doing a crime. Who knows, maybe the guy didn't even call the police and or file a report. If that's the case, no legal crime has been committed as of yet. Make the call and see what they say. Or better yet call the WDFW enforcement poacher hot line and ask them what you should do at 1-800-477-6224

That's what I would be doing if I was standing in your shoes at this time. If you don't do something, then you will be considered a thief in the eyes of the law. What's the difference if a person takes the keys away from a guy who is driving drunk? You only took the keys away to prevent the person from doing another criminal act; the intent was not to steel his keys but to prevent another crime. They don't arrest you when you take away a drunk persons keys who performing an illegal act of driving drunk, so why would they arrest you for taking away the tools that the person was committed the crime with here? Good luck! And let us know what you decided to do.

You may be able to sleep well at night, but you will always wonder if someone saw you leaving the area that day. Did that person see who you were? Did they get your car or trucks license plate number? Will someone you tell fink on you? It's just not worth it!


Cowlitzfisherman

I like CF's approach to this. It's too easy just to call Gettnsnapper a thief, and I don't think he is an attention whore.

He did what he did, take it from there and make some constructive suggestions like CF did.

While this snagger likely knew what he was doing was illegal, I bet he was clueless as to why - so no lession will be learned anyway you try to handle it.

Ignorance is bliss!

Don't lower yourself to the snaggers level getnsnapper!
Be the bigger person and turn the gear into someone.
I like the idea of reporting them to the 800 number.

Mr Pfartin,
I am now convinced that you are a neighbor of this fine tax paying, seagull loving, snagging instructor,model for future fishpersons idiot. The rods were on the bank of the river, maybe 2 feet from the water line at a very low stage. Is this his property? I dont care either way. If you can even consider taking a chance, of killing someone over a pair of rods that were worth less than 20 dollars on a good day, than you are one twisted sob. Look at what happens to people like you who have no clue about the value of human life.Just ask that guy who is now in prison for shooting the guy who stole his car from his precious property and was worth over $15,000 He is doing a few years. How much time do you think you would get for shooting me over two worthless rods???? You deserve to be someones sissy in jail. That again would be a fine example on how to handel difficult situations in life. Your kids would be learning a fine lesson. YOU FOOL The guy deserves to go to jail I took his gear to inconveniance him a little and maybe make him think for a second. Am I that bad of a person? I thought I made it very clear that I will be responsable for my actions. How does this equal me trying to justify my actions to you. Stealing is wrong I am in no way debating that fact. I again would go to a court and not have any remorse or shame for doing what I did. I would pay the consequences and not deny any part of my actions. I do think that this fella got the hint. The rods were not worthy of any real value so one must think why would aybody take them. Maybe I am wrong and this idiot may not even get the hint. Oh well I tried something to discouarage a father from snagging salmon and teaching his kids how to do it the right way. If you live on the Quilcene river and are a stones throw away from posted warnings then you must be aware more than most folks about the enforcement danger you face when snagging in closed waters, taking fish from a closed area, exceeding any limit you would ever see, wasting the fish, mauling the fish, and teaching the youguns to do the same, he was so worried that he leaves his gear and the fish right next to the fish he was killing. Im sorry that tells me that something else needs to be done maybe I am a vigilante but I took action on my own be it right or wrong? I tried to do something to help. Were my actions for my own self intrests, I have never, and will never fish this river. I will never benefit from the rods.
If I was someone you knew or maybe even a friend with no theft history but just a good guy who works hard takes care of his family and is passionate about the sport. Would you be bashing me on this board. Be Honest with yourself. I am sorry to the people who viewed my actions as sickening wanting to make you vomit, wishing you could shoot me, screaming out how awful my actions were To you folks When you go snagging this weekend watch your F------- gear cause the thief could be lurking... Lighten Up and go bang some chrome steel...

im with ya snapper..was fishing the green yesterday, a oriental guy walks up next to me (about 10 feet away) and all i hear is the sound of the rod getting whipped back 3, count 3 times per drift...his very first cast to the last one.. he had a nice shimano set up, jus laying there..hmmmmmmmmmm..lol

You know I might have done the same damn thing. It doesn't make it ok, but you felt like you had to take some sort of action and you did. I turned in some snaggers the other day, I was fortunate to have my cell phone on me and I called the Enforcement Hotline. You don't have to justify your actions to us. I did like the origianl story, I found it entertaining. Thanks for sharing.

"You are a thief and he is a snagger, plain and simple - neither act is legal in this country"

Snagging is legal in some states.
I wouldn't have taken the rods. But some times it's hard to see them lying on the ground and they can accidentally get stepped on.

Good work! Fight fire with fire. I don't condone theft but I may have well done the same. Calling the Sheriff, that's a joke!