Out of the mouths of poachers.

[caniretireyet?]

Here's a new twist on an old problem. Yesterday, while fishing a local tailwater which has in effect catch and release regs in effect (you can keep one hatchery fish, but is hasn't been planted in decades) I had the pleasure of a couple of gents spectacting from a bridge while I fished a pool. When they asked why I wasnt' keeping the ones I caught, I told them because it's illegal. (I figured why bother on the more nuanced ethos of C&R). They proceeded to instruct me on how to carry some clippers and "just clip off that little fin thing like that do at the hatchery" once you catch them.

You gotta love the creativity of these guys. Ironically, last week, a couple of miles from a road on the same water, I shared part of the afternoon with a pair of game wardens. If only the could be out rear round!

Steve

[tacocat]

Duh!!! How you have gotten this far in fishing is beyond me. :D

I kid, but yeah the ingenuity of people determined to not follow rules never surprises me. I would have never thought of that, but I also don't think of ways on how to keep fish either.

[Slice]

DFG wording saying clipped and "healed" lead me to think this has been thought of before. I assume anyone would pick up on a freshly cut fin.

[lee s.]

I have a gear fishing friend who used to clip the adipose on every wild smolt he caught on the Chetco. I used to LMAO at him.
Let's see.....one hundred smolts equals one return adult.....and the odds of being (anyone being) in the right spot, at the time THAT fish was in the right mood to indulge, seems quite optimisticaly hopeful to me. But then mustn't we all posess some of this to be standing in some water waving a stick and a string with ice forming in the guides! ;-)
....lee s.

[Ben J]

Lol i also used to fish with someone who clipped the adipose on wild smolts on the Mad before Low Flow regs set in during late summer