sallinger Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 I was thinking about taking up spey casting/fishing and i had a thought on practice casting.Is it illegal to practice cast on water that is closed to fishing? Quote
Jayhad Posted February 29, 2012 Posted February 29, 2012 I was thinking about taking up spey casting/fishing and i had a thought on practice casting.Is it illegal to practice cast on water that is closed to fishing? Good question, I asked this once of a CO and he stated it really depends on the interaction between you and the CO. To the letter of the law you aren't fishing but if a CO sees you practising on a closed water his first impression is you are fishing. If you had no flys on and had none with you it would probably defuse the situation quickly, BUT why not avoid the hassle and just practice on legal water. Quote
sallinger Posted February 29, 2012 Author Posted February 29, 2012 Water where I live is all closed. Just wanted to try without having to drive from out of town Quote
kritofr Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 This past fall I had a friend go practice his Spey casting without a hook in his possession the day after the Bow river had closed. He went there as he lives just above centre street bridge and was convenient for him to get and to practise on both sides of the river. He received a fine for fishing closed waters and just lost his battle in court. Some of the logic was if others had seen Bill "fishing" in closed waters it would infer that water is open for fishing ( if they were not familiar with the regs). How could the bystanders tell the difference between fishing and practicing? The judge also stated if the CO had let Bill keep practicing what would have stopped Bill from obtaining some hooks and start fishing after the CO had checked him. If the CO saw Bill again throughout the day he would have assumed Bill would still be practicing. Hopefully a open section of water is not too far away as it isn't worth the risk; Bill' fine was over $200.00. Quote
TerryH Posted March 1, 2012 Posted March 1, 2012 That's bizarre. Sounds like a lot of coulda, woulda, shoulda on the part of the judge. I always assumed whether you're guilty or not of an offense depends on what you actually did, not on what other people might do. Oh well, nothing surprises me anymore, when it comes to judges and our legal system. Terry Quote
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