More poaching

[spectorfly]

Well, here we go again.

I was just preparing to start grilling for Memorial Day when my brother Sal calls me. The whole family, 6 of them who own the killer sheep field are down on Lititz Run using bait and keeping stringers full of fish in the catch and release ALO area.
He says to the guy that he can't be doing that down here and he replies back that he doesn't give a damn, he owns the land and is going to do it anyway.

Problem #1 - The guy may own that side of the stream but he doesn't on the other side. That is land owned by the Hess farm. So does he own the stream? No. Only the land on that side.

Problem #2 - You would think that for a guy who owns an animal that just hurt someone and broke their leg wouldn't want to push their luck.

Problem #3 - They just put over 700 trout in the Lititz Run Raparian Park area the other week and the park in Manheim on Little Chickies Creek was stocked with 500 trout for a memorial Day Family event for kids.

They could drive 15 min and all catch their limit if so desired. For someone who doesn't give a damn Sal said the family left pretty quick after he walked away and called me on his cell. Seems to me he knew the was in the wrong and was about to get called out on it and hi-tailed it back to the house.

I preceided to call the Lancaster Co. WCO office and let them know about the poaching. Needless to say, I'm going to be going by there more often if nothing more than to just drive by and check to see if I need to make another call.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

im too pissed to reply on this subject atm.

stream report to follow on the excellent fishing i had later....

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear spectorfly,

I'm sorry to hear that but unfortunately that kind of behavior is all too common nowadays.

I fished Muncy Creek yesterday in the DH area and when I got there some guy was having a few words with a guy who was fishing bait and had his limit of fish.

I wound up talking to the law abiding fisherman a bit later on and he told me the guy said he'd been fishing there all his life and he can keep fish if he wants to keep them, and he doesn't care about the rules against no bait either.

I only fished for about 45 minutes and did pretty well with an orange soft hackle wet fly. I had a nice conversation with the other fisherman and gave him a couple of flies like I was using, hopefully he got into some fish too.

Regards,
Tim Murphy

 

[ErnieBall]

ugh.... people

 

[tomgamber]

Follow up, follow up, follow up. Ask if they were cited. If not, ask why. Be a pain. Make a difference. Go get' em.

 

[PoconoPuke]

I don't ever go fishing without my Wallyworld DXG camcorder. It's smaller than a pack of cigarettes and only set me back a lousy 90 bucks. People like this need to be recorded in the act of violating the law on video and then posting the vid on YouTube. Also, any warden that needs evidence to prosecute gets free copies of all the DVD's I can burn.
A word of warning to you malfeasants, smile, you may be on Candid Camera.

 

[wgmiller]

Spector,

I got your PM and am sad to hear the news. I've been putting time in at the Conservancy lately, but will purposely divert to the "open water" to keep an eye on things. Hopefully by everyone keeping an eye on this character, we can nip this in the bud in a hurry!

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[slay12345]

Sal and I were talking about this and hoping it was only a holiday ordeal. I too will be scouting the area looking for poachers, not only in the killer sheep field, but also along the entire stretch.

 

[Mike]

The special regs area that you describe is not an official special regs area established by or recognized by the PFBC. Fishing regulations such as tackle restrictions, creel limits, and size limits, established by a landowner are not enforceable by the PFBC. By default the general statewide regulations are still enforceable by the agency, however.

 

[osprey]

Once again Tom calls it right, follow up , call the WCO back and ask what was done , you have a right to know , that's one of the reasons we buy a license.

 

[tomgamber]

That's what I thought until Mike says its not enforceable catch and release. At least as far as the PFBC is concerned. Now if "stringers full of fish" turn out to be more than the general regs allow, of course you still want it enforced. Just about everyone's phone, if you carry it fishing, records video these days. Capture it. Show it to your WCO. If he blows you off, show it to your local news desk. You know how they love to blow things out of proportion. Perhaps writing someone a ticket is more desirable than a public relations hassle.

 

[spectorfly]

The local WCO has been seen on the stream and have talked with a few of us and says he does patrol the stream to try and "persuade" people to follow the regs imposed on the stream by TU. That is why i called to talk with him.

 

[FarmerDave]

What i want to know is ...

Where can i get some of those killer sheep?!?

 

[JackM]

If Mike is right and the area you were in is open water under PFBC regulations, then the fellow was neither a poacher nor was your handling of the situation appropriate. Don't be surprised to find NO TRESPASSING signs up on his side of the creek next time you visit.

 

[tomgamber]

spectorfly wrote:
The local WCO has been seen on the stream and have talked with a few of us and says he does patrol the stream to try and "persuade" people to follow the regs imposed on the stream by TU. That is why i called to talk with him.

That's good. My only question would be does he have any authority to enforce rules (not laws) made by a TU chapter? Yes, I saw how you used "persuade" but the bigger the @$$hole (poacher) the less effective that is.

 

[trowpa]

Hope this isn't TOOO far off topic, but I also had a poaching encounter this weekend and decided I need to have my local WCO number in my cell phone - can anyone tell me where to find this info??

 

[pete41]

If Mike is right and the area you were in is open water under PFBC regulations, then the fellow was neither a poacher nor was your handling of the situation appropriate. Don't be surprised to find NO TRESPASSING signs up on his side of the creek next time you visit."

Man do I ever agree with Jack on this one-sitting here stunned that somebody was browbeating the property owner.
This could lead to a lot of no trespassing signs all over the state if you break the unwritten rule about not offending thine host.

 

[spectorfly]

Tom, yes, that was exactly the question I wanted to ask when I called.

Sorry Jack. I'll consult you next time. Here I was simply looking for an answer from a local WCO about a situation. Instead I get beat down. I guess it does hurt to ask a question. Guess I will not make the call next time to inform and ask.

Oh yeah, I wasn't there to be involved in a situation just passing along info. Boy i hope the little 40 yard stretch of Lititz Run, on which this guy only owns one side of the stream not both, doesn't lead to the whole state being posted by the weekend.

 

[JackM]

Well, I mixed you and your brother up, but since you posted about it, indignant as you were, I will assume you would have handled things the same way. Surely you know the regulations on streams you fish.

I honestly can't understand why people get so indignant about poaching, fish pictures, pinched barbs, and you name it-- it's like everyone is in competition to demonstrate how much they love the little fishies that they weekly trick with artificial food, impale with a wire dagger, drag through the water against a struggle (the greater the fight the better), then pat the thing on the tail and feel superior when they release it. Fishing is exploitation of the creature whether you are doing it for mere personal gratification or for food.

 

[tomgamber]

spectorfly wrote:

Sorry Jack. I'll consult you next time. Here I was simply looking for an answer from a local WCO about a situation. Instead I get beat down. I guess it does hurt to ask a question. Guess I will not make the call next time to inform and ask.

That would be the old cutting of your nose to spite your face method. I do not recommend it.

If you saw something you thought was inappropriate, it was not wrong to ask. I guess it would depend on whether you asked the guy if he knew if what he was doing may be illegal or if you confronted him. The fact that he was a jerk may have caused the response to be the same either way. But making the call to the WCO is not wrong whether you read the situation correctly or not.

By now you should know not everyone here sees things the same way all the time. Especially those of us who weren't there.