Poachers Busted by TWRA

[ChemEAngler]

Just found this while piddling around online. Talk about exceeding the creel limit. How about 111 fish over the legal limit.

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_167932.asp

[GrouseMan77]

An article like this could have been the in Clinton Courier just about any day last summer.

[ChemEAngler]

Just another reason to keep the TWRA poacher hotline on my cell phone.

[Speck Lover]

Bass turds!

[Knothead]

I can't figure out the mentality (or lack of it) of people like that. Thankfully, someone turned them in to the TWRA and they were caught. I use an illustration in my Hunter Ed classes: If you saw someone robbing a convenient store, you would call the police. If you see someone poaching, would you call the police or TWRA?
I recall the story of a guy many years ago that was observed "fishing" in the tanks at Pheasant Fields hatchery. This was before the fence was installed. He would pause at his backcast and let the fly land in the tank, haul out the trout and start over. A TWRA officer watched him and wrote a citation for fishing in the hatchery.
ChemEangler, you are correct in keeping the phone number handy!

[Carlito]

Need...more....crappie!

[Paula Begley]

Originally Posted by Speck Lover

Bass turds!

That was a rather masterful way around the board rules.

LOL

Paula

[Speck Lover]

Originally Posted by Paula Begley

That was a rather masterful way around the board rules.

LOL

Paula

My hillbilly education at work there.

[dbutler080263]

i was finishing up a great day fishing the caney fork last autumn, and was below the dam taking my gear down. i noticed 3 men coming up the ramp with an incredible stringer of fish. Curiosity got the best of me and i went over to investigate what luck they had. As i got closer to the truck they were in, i noticed that they had a full stringer of fish (20 or more). Upon further investigation i found out they were all brown trout most around 8-10 inches. i asked them if they new what kind of trout they had. No one answered. i told them what they had and they quickly exited the scene. i also found out they were locals.

you can't even imagine that locals do not even know the law! Or is it just ignoring the law?

[jeffnles1]

Originally Posted by dbutler080263

i was finishing up a great day fishing the caney fork last autumn, and was below the dam taking my gear down. i noticed 3 men coming up the ramp with an incredible stringer of fish. Curiosity got the best of me and i went over to investigate what luck they had. As i got closer to the truck they were in, i noticed that they had a full stringer of fish (20 or more). Upon further investigation i found out they were all brown trout most around 8-10 inches. i asked them if they new what kind of trout they had. No one answered. i told them what they had and they quickly exited the scene. i also found out they were locals.

you can't even imagine that locals do not even know the law! Or is it just ignoring the law?

Similar thing happened at a tailwater around here last summer. It seems the local TU chapter wanted to designate part of the stream catch & release trophy water and do some streambed improvements.

Locals objected, and a small group of them decided the water was theirs adn nobody was going to tell them what to do and chose to keep every fish they caught. The DFW did little more than lip service to stop it and that combined with low water in summer the stream ended up being nothing but suckers and carp by the end of September.

Really sad to see and a lot of times, it's not a matter of being ignorant about the law but more a matter of thinking because "we live here" the "water is ours".

Jeff