Fish And Wildlife

[maxwell]

bin checked once by that fellow in the gap/ livingstone area..... seen him creeping around a few times afterwords throughout the year but he new my truck after teh first chat and left me n my clients alone after that.. awsome dude! happy too have bin wondering around watchin! got checked halfdozen tiems on teh bow all in the city and mostly fishcreek..... usually the same dude and he usually jstu walked down too say hi and if i caught anything also asked if i seen anyone breaking the law etc after our first chat.... was looking for tips more than anything when he stopped by... the other couple dude in FC are great folks also! friendly, looking for and hot leads on poachers bait chuckers etc. they are out there and like bloom and otehrs mentioned its not really the fly guys who are breaking the law most of the time poaching/baitfishing btu ive seen it happen also...

[bowbonehead]

You would be surprised how many times you may have been watched through Bino's most CO's won't bother checking you for a license because if you have the money to buy a nice rod and reel , goretex waders etc.... they figure you probably have a 20$ for the License

[Garlicmarshmellow]

As a former graduate from the conservation enforcement program at LCC and worked in the field for a few seasons, like everyone says, just because you don't see them, they are around. I had the pleasure of working one of my seasons as a STEP officer in Calgary and trust me, these guys want nothing more than to get out in the field and catch people angling illegally. There is just a ton of other things to do also that do not include checking anglers. I was told the exact same thing by the senior officers that the folks here are saying, if a guy has about $500 worth of equipment on him, he probably buys his license. Chances are if you are near to a spot that F&W park their vehicle they may check you if it's a slow day, and if your a bit of a walk they won't bother and they'll go looking for the fellow with the $20 Mohawk rod and reel sitting on his case of beer. One fellow we watch for about 20 mins from the top of Bearspaw dam used his rod and his three daughters was doing pretty good below us until we confronted him. He denied it until we showed him the notes and where we were watching from. He got a fine.

 

GM

[kungfool]

I have been checked 3 times in 24 years and not in the last 11 years.

 

It's unfortunate that most Canadians don't find conservation important enought to make it a priority in their lives . We are surounded by so much natural beauty here that I think we just take it all for granted.

[Guest RedWiggler]

I have been checked twice on the Bow in my life and twice in K-Country. Not hard to see why people poach and dont follow the rules, they know they are not getting checked.

[lonefisher]

I have to say the canmore/ k country enforcement appears to me very diligent in checking people. I have been checked atleast a dozen times in this area over the last few years. This year I never saw a C/O on the river (closest would have been Harps who I met one day) and I would be willing to bet that very very few C/Os saw me. But luckily I can't remember seeing a minnow container or blatant poacher all year either. This tells me that they stick to the places were the poachers/offenders actually are, which are the high traffic big name places.

[gillraker]

Checked three times this year. Twice on the Bow and once on the Oldman.

 

I called RAP several times this season. The most recent time resulted in charges and my reward is in the mail.

[trailhead]

I was checked three times this year, twice on the Bow at FC one of whom was a very pleasant young lady, the other was a polite young man who only asked me if I had seen any suspicious activity. I got a warning on the Crow for allegedly not having a barbless hook. It was a size 18 emerger and I tied it myself and always pinch the barbs. But the CO used some type of chart to claim it wasn't barbless, he let me off with the warning after he checked out my flybox with larger barbless hooks, and after he tried to pinch the barb and it didn't make any difference. Now he might have been watching me when I hooked a tiddler, and when I set the hook the little guy flew out of the water and ended in the bushes behind me. I don't know if that classifies as suspicious activity or not.