Drama on The Mad

[Bruce Berman]

The fish gods have been good to me the past 2 days. Yesterday I lost a fly box and found it floating in the river 50 yards away. Here's what happened today.
I was fishing upstream from 4 guys; one was solo and below him were 3 buddies. I struck up a conversation with the solo guy who mentioned he wanted to try fly fishing sometime. I gave him a few pointers and later he photographed me with a nice hatchery buck. I then gave the buck to one of the other 3 gear guys.
"Solo" and I talked a bit more, and when he snagged onto a fly that I'd lost, I gave it to him as his first fly. He then asked me if I'd noted on my steelhead card that I'd kept a fish. I've never kept a steelie, so doing that never entered my mind. I then said that the guy I gave it to had actually killed and kept the fish.
"Solo" replied, "I'm an undercover warden, and you seem to be a nice guy. Would you log that fish in, and would you not talk to those other fishermen, for me?"
Damn right I would. He then said that I'd been responsible for the fish being kept and mentioned that he didn't know how many fish the other 3 guys had kept. He then left. In a few minutes, 2 uniformed F&G wardens showed up and checked the gear guys.
Later, in talking to the guys, the one I gave the buck to said his heart was pounding hard when the wardens talked to him, but luckily he'd logged in the buck on his steelhead card. One fish and 2 log ins? That doesn't seem quite right.

[Charlie S]

Bruce, no matter what, the bottom line is that you are responsible for knowing and following the letter of the law. Agreement with the law doesn't count for beans in court.

[Bruce Berman]

I totally agree with you, Charlie. Like I said, I'd never kept a steelhead, so it just never dawned on me. Luckily, I'm a "nice guy".

[STEELIES/26c3]

TECHNICALLY.... I believe you can legally give a fish to another person and if they log it in you do not have to.

The recipient MUST have a valid fishing license and a steelhead report card and they must log it in immediately upon receiving the fish.

That prevents double-counting and protects the integrity of statistics (when biologists conduct creel census reports...)

It also protects you and the recipient against non-compliance (marking report card) and the retainer of the fish from over in-possession limits.

That overzealous warden just messed up the numbers~

[Covelo]

I have always considered the fishing license as a take permit, not a possession permit. Otherwise you would need a license to purchase salmon from your local market. When I have given away fish I have always marked them as mine so I think the warden was correct in that you needed to mark the fish since it was your take. That said I would not want to be the other guy explaining that the fish in my possession was actually taken by some other guy who is no longer present. That seems like an automatic citation.

[Dustin Revel]

Out of respect for what is trying to be done by our law enforcement please delete this.

[mr. 3 wt.]

Out of respect for what is trying to be done by our law enforcement please delete this.

Why Dusty? It would be good for people to read this so that they would think twice before breaking the law. None of us know (except for Bruce) what this undercover warden looks like. I am glad to hear that this is being done these day and there is not a better place than the Mad to do this. Well, except maybe the American too.

[jbird]

If I harvest a fish, I record it before I make another cast. If I run into someone later and i give it to him, its gotta be recorded on his tag too. Otherwise he will be illegaly in possesion of the fish. It certainly effects creel counts for the season, but theres really no other way to do it. Thered just be too many guys saying "oh, this fish was given to me thats why I didnt tag it".

On the other hand, if someones there when I land the fish and he wants it, Ill let him tag it. Probably pushing the law there a little. Good thing I rarely kill them. Thatd be not-so-funny if the guy standing there happened to be a warden and I played it like that.

[Larry S]

There's probably a reason for it being called the Mad. We were there last week and talked
to several DFG guys at the hatchery. They were on the lookout for somebody who was
taking fish out of the weir. We were told that there were a number of "undercover
wardens on the river. You better assume that you are being "looked at" whenever you're out there. We were checked by a young ranger named "Shane' on the Eel. I'm
glad to see them. Times are tough; but wildlife deserve that extra chance!
Larry S

[joshfish]

if your supposed to record the catch wether you keep it or not wouldnt you just record it as released on your card and the person you gave it to record it on his card as kept.