Respect

[big wormy]

Up till today I have had the utmost respect for our fish and wildlife officers. Today I was used to fill a quota and to show they were reacting to a complaint. I went to cave run today with my father and we put in at longbow marina. A marina in the back of one of the main feeders to the lake. The water here was 10 to 12 degrees warmer than the rest of the lake and shad had stacked up around the marina. Musky guides were trolling in the no wake zone when we put in and had the water "waking" the marina pretty bad. After we put in, we went to the marina to get some snacks, and they were complaining about the boats and wake. After fishing for about 2 hours, down lake, I took dad back to the marina to use the bathroom. When I pulled in a officer came to my boat and said I came in above idle speed. BS. Out of the 6 to 8 boats in the bay I would say I was one of the slowest on speed and considering I am fishing out of a tracker I would say that the wake observed would be coming of some other boat than mine. I was the only boat assessable to the officer since he was not in a boat. I will not contest a man in uniform but plan on appearing in court vs paying the fine. From a man who is normally happy to see our fish and wildlife officers at the lake and a former safety instructor for the dept. at summer camps, the respect is gone.
Sad Day
BW

[ryan_ekubass]

Up till today I have had the utmost respect for our fish and wildlife officers. Today I was used to fill a quota and to show they were reacting to a complaint. I went to cave run today with my father and we put in at longbow marina. A marina in the back of one of the main feeders to the lake. The water here was 10 to 12 degrees warmer than the rest of the lake and shad had stacked up around the marina. Musky guides were trolling in the no wake zone when we put in and had the water "waking" the marina pretty bad. After we put in, we went to the marina to get some snacks, and they were complaining about the boats and wake. After fishing for about 2 hours, down lake, I took dad back to the marina to use the bathroom. When I pulled in a officer came to my boat and said I came in above idle speed. BS. Out of the 6 to 8 boats in the bay I would say I was one of the slowest on speed and considering I am fishing out of a tracker I would say that the wake observed would be coming of some other boat than mine. I was the only boat assessable to the officer since he was not in a boat. I will not contest a man in uniform but plan on appearing in court vs paying the fine. From a man who is normally happy to see our fish and wildlife officers at the lake and a former safety instructor for the dept. at summer camps, the respect is gone.
Sad Day
BW

i think u kinda shot your self in the foot.... if he wasnt in a boat and u came in and made wake and pulled up to the dock... u was prolly the first one he came to and i am almost certain that if anyone else would have pulled up to that dock and they was making a wake they would have gotten a ticket... and PS there is no quota.... with all the officers i have been around none have to write tickets... they would be fine with everyone being totally compliant.... and he was just doing his job serving the public.....

[Hlleonard]

Sure......and the state troopers and local town cops dont have a quota either....thats why they give tickets for 2 miles over the speed limit...they do us a great service (most of the time) but they are tax collectors in uniform.

[ryan_ekubass]

Sure......and the state troopers and local town cops dont have a quota either....thats why they give tickets for 2 miles over the speed limit...they do us a great service (most of the time) but they are tax collectors in uniform.

i know for a fact that they cant it is illegal for them to do it because if a city cop or state trooper pulls u over most of the money goes to the county sheriff dunno why but it does... and most of them wont pull u over for less than 10 mph... i think u need to get your facts straight before u ASSUME something is when infact it doesnt exist.... oh and by the way i dont reckon u get paid more either to write tickets....

[redneckshadrap]

Ryan....NOw that you are telling folks to get there facts straight. Seems like you seem to know a little bit about the law.....Why were the troopers so heavy between the Northern Split I64/75 to Georgetown last year during road construction...I heard the state granted them overtime money to partrol and WRITE tickets for speeders in that area. There were at least 4 troopers working that small area arouind the clock the whole time of that construction...I know, I drove by them every day.
Please fill us in.

[ryan_ekubass]

Ryan....NOw that you are telling folks to get there facts straight. Seems like you seem to know a little bit about the law.....Why were the troopers so heavy between the Northern Split I64/75 to Georgetown last year during road construction...I heard the state granted them overtime money to partrol and WRITE tickets for speeders in that area. There were at least 4 troopers working that small area arouind the clock the whole time of that construction...I know, I drove by them every day.
Please fill us in.

there is a difference between overtime and meeting a quota... adn i would say that is a dangerous area right thru there and people running between gtown and lex are in a hurry and they were just lookign out for the workers..... but that is just my pure speculation and i know there is no quota thats just a myth.....

[fishin350]

How come the fish and wildlife guys bust the fishermen and don't ever pull over the pontoon with a dozen people on it. Pull me over to check me and harrass me because I'm just fishin. Not running around partying and drinking with the boat overloaded. BULL

[DJD]

Heck, I can't help it gotta tell the story of fishing Beaver Lake a few years back in a small boat Tourny......A couple of fellas come in with two short fish seems they just misunderstood or forgot the rules. No big deal it was an easy fix just put them back in the lake and let them swim off since noone in their right mind would try and measure short 12" fish in a lake with 15" minimums when everyone is telling you they are short.

Well a State Conservation Officer was there and had to run down and get those fish that were headed to the lake just to prove a point. So he ran around holding the fish trying to find a camera and by the time he did this the fish were dead and he gave the Anglers a ticket. Sure they broke the law but common sense says they had no intention on keeping those fish. How could they keep them? They were embarrassed already in front of 50 people all they wanted to do was release the short fish but ole' barney had to prove that he can write a ticket anytime he wants. Laws are not absolute but I guess there are good ones and bad ones in every profession.

[aceoky]

How come the fish and wildlife guys bust the fishermen and don't ever pull over the pontoon with a dozen people on it.+

Pull me over to check me and harrass me because I'm just fishin. Not running around partying and drinking with the boat overloaded. BULL

I don't know the answer to that, but our pontoon is rated for 13 people (over a dozen) and btw we fish on it, has two livewells working; (one more not hooked up and right now used for storage) several rod holders on board , and at least a dozen rods rigged right now ...

I'll admit we've never had a dozen people on it but IF we had it would not be "legally overloaded" FWIW

It's my guess that F&W already KNOW what person capacity that most pontoons are rated for, and most who own pontoons make sure to SHOW (out in the open) enough PFD for each person onboard....

[greenriverman1]

So if a police officer writes a lot less tickets than the other officers he or she wont get jumped on for not writeing near as many tickets?

[redneckshadrap]

Sure......and the state troopers and local town cops dont have a quota either....thats why they give tickets for 2 miles over the speed limit...they do us a great service (most of the time) but they are tax collectors in uniform.

I'd say Big Wormy got the shaft. The 'Musky Guides' are there every day. Probably known well by the officer. Big Wormy, however, is not. The Musky Guides bring a lot of revenue to that area daily. Big Wormy doesn't.

[mhall]

I'd say Big Wormy got the shaft. The 'Musky Guides' are there every day. Probably known well by the officer. Big Wormy, however, is not. The Musky Guides bring a lot of revenue to that area daily. Big Wormy doesn't.

There it is in a nutshell, I've seen it in play too many times.