afishinado
Moderator
Staff member
Here is a post I picked up from another site. It’s a long post, but to summarize, the poster fishes a DHALO area in SE PA, and runs into poachers all the time. He has even seen poachers use cast nets to steal fish! He tries to report it to the PFBC, but the office is closed except during daily business hours M-F. He also calls the cell phone of the local WCO with no answer and no response. What should he do?
Here’s the post from “MBWCC”:
“In terms of background information, the water is a short (~3 mile section) of creek located in the SE corner of PA, extending from a crossing road bridge, under two other road bridges, down to the confluence of the main creek. The water is designated "delayed harvest, artificial lures only", meaning artificial lures only allowed, catch & release only between sunset Labor Day and sunrise June 15th; June 15th to Labor Day the stream has a 5 trout limit. Locals will immediately recognize which creek it is.
The problem is poachers--scads of them. For the most part bait fishermen and spin casters, but I wouldn't be shocked to learn that a fly fisherman or two took something out of season. Bait fishing (worms, powerbait, whatever) is illegal at any time. Taking fish is illegal except June 15th to Labor Day. On any given evening from early March (spring stocking date) until June 15th I will encounter poachers taking fish illegally, often using illegal bait. I can usually find a poacher with 15 minutes of parking my car, and no further than 100 yards from the road/bridge. After June 15th the illegal bait & lures poaching activity continues, as does taking more than a legal catch (5 fish). Things die down once the poachers strip the stream of all trout, but come the first Monday in October (fall stocking day) the poaching activity begins again and continues until the trout are once again scoured from the river. Mind you, the fall stocking fish may not be legally taken until the following June, but the poachers will have stripped the river clean by the first of November.
A contributing factor to the problem is Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission enforcement--or, more, accurately, total lack of enforcement. First, there is no enforcement presence on the stream. For example, I fished the creek nearly every other day since 2006; I spent a portion of nearly 200 days on that water in 2007. Despite being on the creek nearly every other day, I have never, ever seen a warden. Second, there is no means to report a poacher except during normal Fish & Boat Commission business hours (8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday). Just completely forgot about reporting a poacher after hours, weekends, or state holidays. There is no 24-hour/7-day 800- poacher hotline in this state. After hours poaching sighted? Sorry, no help available. Even if you call during business hours the warden will not respond. I have the local warden's cell phone number on my cell phone's speed dial (he made the mistake of calling me on a Saturday using his cell phone)—perhaps now he recognizes my name/number on caller ID and doesn't answer my calls--especially after hours—but when I try to report poachers I can’t reach anyone.
Literally, seeing a poacher on this stream is a daily occurrence. You need not work very hard to find one. If you were to walk the stream's 2 or 3 hot spots (i.e. where the stocking truck drops the fish) it would take less than 30 minutes to cover them all, including walking time along the creek and driving time between creek access points. In that time you would most likely encounter one or more poachers on a routine basis, see signs of poaching (worm tubs or other bait bins), etc.
I do this routinely and have assembled a rather large rogue gallery of poachers' vehicle & license plate photos in my truck.
All of this is made even more frustrating by the stream's designation and what that means in terms of number of trout stocked. Because the stream is intended to be catch & release the state stocks only a minimal number of fish; ~200 trout is all the state places within ~3 miles of creek during any one stocking season.
When contacted about apprehending poachers the warden cries budget shortages, being spread to thin, other higher priority duties (pollution enforcement, etc.). Hearing that tale of woe, several locals offered to become volunteer Fish & Boat enforcement officers, including footing the bill and time for whatever training and equipment might be required—we received no response. None.
I have watched the poaching drama for 2-years now. Last October, a few days after the fall stocking, 3 guys brazenly waded into the 2nd stocking point with cast nets and rather quickly cleaned out the entire trout stocking at that point--about 75 fish.
Personally confront poachers? I'm a big guy, but even I don't like 3-on-1 confrontations. When I confront a poacher I take the approach of "probably an honest mistake, let me tell you that this stream section is catch & release, the boundaries are located there & there, surely you'll release the fish" -- I've been told by many poachers, in no uncertain terms, that it is none of my business.
So, apologies for the long winded post, but I would really appreciate any useful suggestions. Approaching the warden is a losing proposition--been there, done that. The creek runs through a state park, but contacting the park warden is equally futile. I think I need a political solution, brought about by either the local state senator or representative, or brought about by heat from the local paper. That, or brought about by some great idea I haven't considered.
Anyone had to battle such a situation and won? If so, what worked?”
Here’s the post from “MBWCC”:
“In terms of background information, the water is a short (~3 mile section) of creek located in the SE corner of PA, extending from a crossing road bridge, under two other road bridges, down to the confluence of the main creek. The water is designated "delayed harvest, artificial lures only", meaning artificial lures only allowed, catch & release only between sunset Labor Day and sunrise June 15th; June 15th to Labor Day the stream has a 5 trout limit. Locals will immediately recognize which creek it is.
The problem is poachers--scads of them. For the most part bait fishermen and spin casters, but I wouldn't be shocked to learn that a fly fisherman or two took something out of season. Bait fishing (worms, powerbait, whatever) is illegal at any time. Taking fish is illegal except June 15th to Labor Day. On any given evening from early March (spring stocking date) until June 15th I will encounter poachers taking fish illegally, often using illegal bait. I can usually find a poacher with 15 minutes of parking my car, and no further than 100 yards from the road/bridge. After June 15th the illegal bait & lures poaching activity continues, as does taking more than a legal catch (5 fish). Things die down once the poachers strip the stream of all trout, but come the first Monday in October (fall stocking day) the poaching activity begins again and continues until the trout are once again scoured from the river. Mind you, the fall stocking fish may not be legally taken until the following June, but the poachers will have stripped the river clean by the first of November.
A contributing factor to the problem is Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission enforcement--or, more, accurately, total lack of enforcement. First, there is no enforcement presence on the stream. For example, I fished the creek nearly every other day since 2006; I spent a portion of nearly 200 days on that water in 2007. Despite being on the creek nearly every other day, I have never, ever seen a warden. Second, there is no means to report a poacher except during normal Fish & Boat Commission business hours (8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday). Just completely forgot about reporting a poacher after hours, weekends, or state holidays. There is no 24-hour/7-day 800- poacher hotline in this state. After hours poaching sighted? Sorry, no help available. Even if you call during business hours the warden will not respond. I have the local warden's cell phone number on my cell phone's speed dial (he made the mistake of calling me on a Saturday using his cell phone)—perhaps now he recognizes my name/number on caller ID and doesn't answer my calls--especially after hours—but when I try to report poachers I can’t reach anyone.
Literally, seeing a poacher on this stream is a daily occurrence. You need not work very hard to find one. If you were to walk the stream's 2 or 3 hot spots (i.e. where the stocking truck drops the fish) it would take less than 30 minutes to cover them all, including walking time along the creek and driving time between creek access points. In that time you would most likely encounter one or more poachers on a routine basis, see signs of poaching (worm tubs or other bait bins), etc.
I do this routinely and have assembled a rather large rogue gallery of poachers' vehicle & license plate photos in my truck.
All of this is made even more frustrating by the stream's designation and what that means in terms of number of trout stocked. Because the stream is intended to be catch & release the state stocks only a minimal number of fish; ~200 trout is all the state places within ~3 miles of creek during any one stocking season.
When contacted about apprehending poachers the warden cries budget shortages, being spread to thin, other higher priority duties (pollution enforcement, etc.). Hearing that tale of woe, several locals offered to become volunteer Fish & Boat enforcement officers, including footing the bill and time for whatever training and equipment might be required—we received no response. None.
I have watched the poaching drama for 2-years now. Last October, a few days after the fall stocking, 3 guys brazenly waded into the 2nd stocking point with cast nets and rather quickly cleaned out the entire trout stocking at that point--about 75 fish.
Personally confront poachers? I'm a big guy, but even I don't like 3-on-1 confrontations. When I confront a poacher I take the approach of "probably an honest mistake, let me tell you that this stream section is catch & release, the boundaries are located there & there, surely you'll release the fish" -- I've been told by many poachers, in no uncertain terms, that it is none of my business.
So, apologies for the long winded post, but I would really appreciate any useful suggestions. Approaching the warden is a losing proposition--been there, done that. The creek runs through a state park, but contacting the park warden is equally futile. I think I need a political solution, brought about by either the local state senator or representative, or brought about by heat from the local paper. That, or brought about by some great idea I haven't considered.
Anyone had to battle such a situation and won? If so, what worked?”
