water patrol harassing fisherman

KYFW officers are sworn officers that can uphold any state law. As far as search and seizure they can come onto your property adn check hunters or fishermen albeit they will hopefully do it respectfully by not driving thru your field or such. THere is also a search and seizure law much like the Plain view. Its call the open field if they can see it they can search it. MUch like if you have dope in your seat they can search. If you have a deer in your barn and the door is open they can search. Also KYFW officers are also federally sworn officers too because they have to patrol both state and federal lands. The federally sworn also allows them to work with the federal migratory birds and the interstate laws. Like when Katrina happened KYFW sent several officers down there with there boats and they were able to rescue peope.arrest people adn uphold the law in LA. And they went to new orleans too because they were the best equiped for the situation at hand. And as far as harrasing i dont think so. Tellemarketers are harrasing but someone who is trying to protect the conservation of fish and wildlife resources is hardly harrasing. And I hate to say it but those darn pleasure boaters bring a crap ton of money to our state and if they didnt come we might be able to put officers out on the lake or in the woods to help protect tommorrow's conservation.

Pleasure boaters have nothing to do with being able to pay for our game wardens... game wardens salaries are paid by the hunting and fishing licenes sales throughout the year....

I agree with everybody else ...Let the drunk wakeboarders , and party boaters , who blair their welfare music loud enough to knock the pond scum off your boat be....We the fisherman need to be checked over and over again because we are the threat. By golly what if you didnt have a whistle or a horn , things could get way out of control from us who love and appreciate the outdoors........The more I think about it I think the Federal Gov. should step in and do something about us crazy outdoorsmen.

I always get nervous when I am checked but I have never had any problems and I truly appreciate the job the COs do.

That said - my experience is that Conservation Officers are "all ears" when told about concerns, etc. and will quickly act. If you see someone drinking alcohol or boating dangerously, tell them and they will put the smack down! :D

[QUOTE=Swift1;423341]I agree with everybody else ...Let the drunk wakeboarders , and party boaters , who blair their welfare music loud enough to knock the pond scum off your boat be....We the fisherman need to be checked over and over again because we are the threat. By golly what if you didnt have a whistle or a horn , things could get way out of control from us who love and appreciate the outdoors........The more I think about it I think the Federal Gov. should step in and do something about us crazy outdoorsmen.[/QUOTE]

Why does everyone think that wakeboarders and party boaters are all drunk? Geez what a tough crowd. I wakeboard and like to party too! If I do plan on getting drunk, I have a DD just the same as if I were going to a bar with friends. There are responsible people out there still. Fishermen aren't perfect either and catch their fair share of stereotypes, but by bashing others they really aren't any better than those they bash. The fishing community deserves better than that. Make friends, not enemies.

I was in a bass boat yesterday (Sunday) anchored up by the dam, floating around with beer in hand (in a cup of course); I waved to the game wardens as they went by towards the dam, to which they nicely waved back. They were just checking the guys fishing up by the dam.

It has been my experience that KDFWR will not check unless they have probable cause. Fishing is probable cause, because you may not have a license. Seeing a guy drinking from a whiskey bottle is probable cause, along with unsafe operation, overloading of a boat, or anything else that resembles irresponsible behavior. They don't like checking every boat and will only do so if they feel it necessary. If they cruised through the crowd and saw nothing going on, then why do you feel like they should have been checking regardless? That's just stupid. KDFWR officers need to make the most of their time on the water trying to make the waters and wildlife as safe as possible; checking every boat on the water does not achieve this.

[QUOTE=BurleyDog;423342]I always get nervous when I am checked but I have never had any problems and I truly appreciate the job the COs do.

That said - my experience is that Conservation Officers are "all ears" when told about concerns, etc. and will quickly act. If you see someone drinking alcohol or boating dangerously, tell them and they will put the smack down! :D[/QUOTE]

You are right on the money there. I somehow got tangled up in a riot next to a rental houseboat in the rock quarry on KY Lake. I got my crew and boat free from the rafted up bunch of boats and radioed it in. The COs showed up just as we were at the mouth of the bay. We could still see it going on back in the back; bottles flying and guys throwing down. It all started over a woman...thank goodness our boat was on the far end of it and didn't have anything to do with it!

Our game wardens have more power than a fed as long as their in the state and connected/shared waters. Not even feds or marshals or any of them can just enter your property whenever they feel like it looking for a violation with no cause. I know a few and hunt occasionally with a fella who's been with kdfwr since people lived in log cabins and dinosaurs roamed the earth. Most of them are great and it's just a quick check. They are still people however, and can be crabby. It is most unwise to mess with them. If everyone would just keep it legal and have a little sense about them everything would be fine on the water. Sadly, once again, the "people" factor.

[QUOTE=Bass_King2007;423336]Pleasure boaters have nothing to do with being able to pay for our game wardens... game wardens salaries are paid by the hunting and fishing licenes sales throughout the year....[/QUOTE]

And you would be wrong. The KDFWR gets a Coast Guard grant to help patrol the waterways and they also get money from boat license and motorboat fuel sales in the form of a federal excise tax that was started by the Wallop-Breaux act that was helped push through by B.A.S.S. founder Ray Scott.

[QUOTE=artcarney_agr;423346]Why does everyone think that wakeboarders and party boaters are all drunk? Geez what a tough crowd. I wakeboard and like to party too! If I do plan on getting drunk, I have a DD just the same as if I were going to a bar with friends. There are responsible people out there still. Fishermen aren't perfect either and catch their fair share of stereotypes, but by bashing others they really aren't any better than those they bash. The fishing community deserves better than that. Make friends, not enemies.

I was in a bass boat yesterday (Sunday) anchored up by the dam, floating around with beer in hand (in a cup of course); I waved to the game wardens as they went by towards the dam, to which they nicely waved back. They were just checking the guys fishing up by the dam.

It has been my experience that KDFWR will not check unless they have probable cause. Fishing is probable cause, because you may not have a license. Seeing a guy drinking from a whiskey bottle is probable cause, along with unsafe operation, overloading of a boat, or anything else that resembles irresponsible behavior. They don't like checking every boat and will only do so if they feel it necessary. If they cruised through the crowd and saw nothing going on, then why do you feel like they should have been checking regardless? That's just stupid. KDFWR officers need to make the most of their time on the water trying to make the waters and wildlife as safe as possible; checking every boat on the water does not achieve this.[/QUOTE]


First off I never said all wakeboarders and party boaters are drunk. Secondly Im glad you are a responsible while drunk. I have the pleasure of fishing Taylorsville ( wakeboard capital of the world) and I can tell you from first hand experience that the majority of the ones I see are the most rude , disrespectful people Ive ever had the displeasure of coming in contact with. That being said I understand that its public waters and "to each his own". Also if you have ever had the pleasure of being checked three times in less than a month in your same boat on the same lake by the same officer you might would have different opinions on "probable cause". But I guess getting back to the original point by the original poster is that it would be nice to see our officers give our lovely friends in wake barges some attention to. In all my days on the water I can never recall seeing an officer checking on the Wakeboarders?? Sorry if I came off as bashing , Can we have a group hug now.......

Boys the problem is they have the badge and the gun and you dont!! they will do what they want when they want too... Yes i dont agree with some things they do but o well tuff titty said the kitty!!

Hey Guys,I see the TWRA on Dale all the time but have only been checked once in the last two years.Usually they just want a fishing report from a safe distance.However I have seen them check 40 or 50 pleasure boaters in a couple of hours near the dam and all I got was a wave.....Job well done.

I have noticed that it seems like water patrol is on T'ville more this year than last. I only remember seeing them once or twice last year, and that was around Settler's Trace to catch people speeding in the no wake zone. This year, I've seen as many as 3 different water patrol boats on the lake several different times. But I've not been stopped by them any