I heard from a very reliable source massive tickets (estimated at 50 plus) were written at the Barrier dam Sat AM for everyone who had a line in the water before 0518 hrs as the Cowlitz at the Barrier Dam is closed for night fishing & the people who got an early start before the sun came all the way up got a $ 100 ticket...Max

Would not doubt it. People have been getting away with that for years down there.

Per the 2004 regs, Night Closure is stated as "Fishing is closed from one hour after official sunset to one hour before official sunrise."

This data was taken from US Naval Observatory for Toledo WA:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html

SUN
Begin civil twilight 5:20 a.m.
Sunrise 5:53 a.m.
Sun transit 1:08 p.m.
Sunset 8:24 p.m.
End civil twilight 8:58 p.m.

Now even if you take the latest time of 5:53am for "official sunrise", which by the way there is no definition for in the WA fishing regs, you should still be able to start fishing at 4:53am.

This is just my interpretation of the reg. Take it how ever you want but I think tickets issued after 4:53am are bogus.

There was 50 people fishing the Barrier on Sat.Glad I was not there with boats must have been 100 guys there.Well the state does it ever year that a quick $5000

Oh the south side of the river was closed saturday maybe that what they were writing tickets for.

That is possible

Write em up for something silly like starting 5 minutes too early, but let em snag the piss out of the fish. Makes sense to me.

With a name like "glowball", you must certainly know that it's much easier to snag them in the dark!!

Also keeps the gamies from seeing you pull the hook out from their tail.....

My best friend beat a "night closure" ticket by bringing in the regs book and a newspaper stating the sunrise time.

Max Madd I call Barrier dam campground yesterday your story is right,But is was not 50 ticket on Saturday it was 12 one day 6 the next yes for fishing to early.

Im interested as to what time the tickets were issued, or how early the gamies said they were fishing.

Yeah it would be fitting, but I haven't been glowballing in a couple years. The only glowballing I've done was down at blue creek. Actually that's why I chose this name. I was getting ready to go fishing when I signed up on this board. I think we did pretty good that night.

Too bad about those tickets though. Most of them were probably guys from out of town trying to get their moneys worth of the long expensive drive down there. Rules are rules though and now we know that the gamies will stoop that low to make the STATE a buck.

Kris

It wouldnt surprise me if the gamies didnt even know their own regs. I had a guy on the green a few years ago try to tell me the river was closed. After 10 seconds of arguing, I told him to wait right there while I get the regs out of my vechile. Once he saw I was right, the river was open for chum only, he still threatened to ticket/arrest me for catching and releasing silvers. Sorry, I didnt have a sign on my corkie that said "chum only" I must say, that is really the only a$$hole gamie ive come across. All the others that have checked my license/barbless hooks have been very professional.

I don't think you can say the gamies are stooping to make a buck.....the regs are the regs....and the gamies JOB is to enforce them. They don't get a %

Do you think the same of the WSP when they have speed traps on the hwy?

The State makes NO money from the issuing of fishing or traffic citations. The monies (if any) collected go to the county where the violations were adjudicated.

Thank You 4salt I live in Lewis Co.

Yeah, I do think the same of speed traps....even when it's me getting the ticket.

It's called "social responsibility" and unless you're an Anarchist or a member of a Montana Militia, "law and order" is the best thing going.