South West Stream Watch May Report

[cuttbow]

So i have fished in BC. The regulation states barbless hooks. The COs i have been checked by look at the fly and insert the fly into their wool sweater. If it snags on the way out !!!!!!!!Automatic fine for not fishing barbless.No questions about it or warnings.Look on the shelves at the sporting shops in BC. They went single hooks on the regs and youll be hard pressed to fing a treble or other hook. I was amazed even the mepps and panther martens were single/barbless hooks. So if alberta has gone barbless why cant the shops carry barbless hooks like BC. This has been in the regulations for a few years.I was in a fly shop in BC a little while back and was amazed by the selection of barbless hooks in the fly tying section. Try to find barbless hooks in alberta only found a few packs of T200bl hooks. Even the tied flies were barbless. I know were light years behind BC on the regs.But i have to agree with Brian on this. We have been barbless for years.At what point in time do we say enough is enough and start writting tickets. No warnings. Um the regs have stated barbless for years.There are signs posted at most locations.regs are handed out with licenses and are available on line.If your too stupid or lazy to read them OOPS. Alberta adopted the 3 pt regulation for hunting years ago. And yes the Regs state the length of the points.Try to get away with that one , there are no warnings.Bam busted you loose your hunting privelages see you in court.AUTOMATIC. If were going to adopt and make rules for hunting and fishing enforce them. Thats why we have auctions to provide extra support. Enough of this i didnt know! or nobody told me crap. We all see the bait jars and pickeral rigs on the banks of our secret and special waters.

I drew the line and every offence i see im calling. Might be able to pay for this bad habit called flyfishing!!!!!

 

Cuttbow OUT>

[reevesr1]

I've donated to these auctions, both by donating my time, my condo, and buying things to support to support this cause.

 

I have ABSOLUTELY (yes, I typed that in caps) no problem with the officer using his discretion when it comes to fines. In fact, I want him too. Like any other type of enforcement officer, if all he does is follow the rules and never uses his discretion I think he is probably less of a credit to his profession than one who does use his discretion and take opportunities to teach when he thinks it is appropriate.

 

Keep up the great work Jeff. I'm proud to have supported your work.

[cuttbow]

I've donated to these auctions, both by donating my time, my condo, and buying things to support to support this cause.

 

I have ABSOLUTELY (yes, I typed that in caps) no problem with the officer using his discretion when it comes to fines. In fact, I want him too. Like any other type of enforcement officer, if all he does is follow the rules and never uses his discretion I think he is probably less of a credit to his profession than one who does use his discretion and take opportunities to teach when he thinks it is appropriate.

 

Keep up the great work Jeff. I'm proud to have supported your work.

rickr

I agree totally with you on the excellent job jeff is doing. One problem i do have is -If all he does is follow the rules. The rules for C&R, no bull trout, barbless hooks and the list goes on. Then there should be no warning.How many years from now are we going to be writting warnings on something that has been implimented years ago.OOps didnt know it was barbless. Didnt know there was a bait ban and they walked right past the sign.See it all the time on the bow fishing closed waters and using bait.Cos and officers like Jeff can only be so many places its a big ass country.All im trying to say is why has BC made the rules. Published the rules and have no tolerance for breaking them 0.Try to say oops in BC i gurantee itll cost you.Try to get away with a seat belt ticket. The law is written and you disobeyed or failed to follow BAM instant. Im just saying if the rules are written enforce them for a while no warnings. Do this for 6 months and ya publish it in the paper.

Hell paper says big pike caught in beaver pond.Was bonked and going to be mounted. Um today a replica would do just fine.

How about a headline where fishing with barbed hooks cost $500 or fishing with bait cost $500.And ya drag them to court. im sure word of mouth travels just fine.

Jeff glad to support your work.

[Hawgstoppah]

Don't get me wrong. I fully support streamwatch and the officers they have on the job. I've donated a ton to it. But I'd just like to see all the warnings done away with.

 

cheers

[bhurt]

isn't that the whole point I am trying to make??

 

bring a deer home in the back of your pickup truck right now and try to tell the C.O. it was a "mistake". same damn thing.... I don't know why alberta continually gives it's fisheries the shaft.

 

Every time I bring this up people disagree, but the ONLY WAY anything will EVER CHANGE... is to bring in STIFF FINES and ZERO TOLERANCE. Period!

 

Brain,

 

If you want zero tolerance and stiffer fines then WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?

 

I really don't know what you are doing but what I see ids you complaining about it on the forums which in my own personal opion is just a cry for attention (Please note I could be wrong)

 

If this is something that is bothering you as much as you say it is then why are you not lobbing to change these rules?

 

I think it should be up to the C.O myself, cause if you get someone from overseas that fishes alot and keeps the fish they may not know any better, would it be fair to throw the books at them then?

 

I remeber when I first started fly fishing I bought my lience at Canadain Tire and I was never asked or given a regs book so how would I know then where was closed and what rules was for what and when I got my first regs book I had to ask a C.O how to use it because it was so overwhelming and I didn't know what was from the west slopes, or east slopes.

 

I think we do not need to punish people more but we need to EDUCATE people more.

 

I hate it when people just assume things others are doing, sure some could be bad and other could just not know any better.

 

I remeber one day I was walking by the boat launch and noticed a indian fellow fishing so I walked up to him and started talking to him, it turned out that today was the first day he was in canada from India, and when I asked him if he got his liecene he didn't know he needed one cause in India it is not required, so I told him about our rules directed him to where to go to get a lience and suggested that he asked for a regs book. As I was leaving he was there with all the proper stuff and was 100% legit. Does this guy deserve to get the book throwen at him, I think not, all he needed was some education.

 

Also I was talking to a c.o one day in fish creek and asked them why they give out so many warning and I was told it is because when they have multiple charges alot of time the person will plea bargin (if they do not have a bad crimal recorded for the offences they are beeing charged with) and alot of time the courts will give them the lesser of the fine, so the c.o alot of the time will charge someone with the more seriouse offence and give written warnning on their lience with the minor ones, that way the offender is charged but doesn't get away with a minor fine.

[mikefromsundre]

Good report thanks. I am glad I read some of the comments. It reminded me that I bought flies from Icky Flies this spring and they all have barbs. When I tie I always mash mine down before I tie them so I had kind of forgotten all about barbless -my flies are automatically barbless if they go in the box. I need to go back through all my boxes and check for Icky flies.

[abe]

This is really interesting discussion. It's great to see passion for the sport and protection of the resource.

 

As a person who makes honest mistakes now and then, and who get's tickets for everything, I hope officers use discretion when issuing fines. I would feel pretty angry if an officer felt my flies still had barbs even though I try hard to smooth them down as much as possible. Sometimes the barb will snap when pinching it down and without meticulous filing, they will still catch denim or a fine mesh net - something I have noticed recently (as a bit of a newbie). I would buy more barbless hooks if they were available to solve this issue. After this discussion, I may have to go through my boxes to see if any bought flies still have barbs on them (likely).

 

I think and hope officers will recognize those who generally care about the fish and the sport and those who are breaking the law on purpose. That being said, if you forget to pinch a barb, find yourself fishing in a prohibited area... - you should suck it up, recognize you made a mistake and broke the law and happily pay the fine which pays for the officer's time and resources necessary to enforce the rules of fishing and protect fish in AB.

 

 

 

[trailhead]

When I tie I always mash mine down before I tie them so I had kind of forgotten all about barbless

 

There is a "grey" area for you. Like I said earlier I got a warning on that and I actually even felt that was unwarranted. Because I do the same as Mike, yet the CO made a judgment call, on a size 18 hook. If he had written me a ticket I would have fought it on principle.

[rusty]

It's not a black and white type of deal. I'm sure that Jeff realized that throwing the book at the guy would have spelled the last fishing trip for the youngster. He didn't let the guy off scot free either. I'm not advocating for letting people off with a slap on the wrist, but maybe Jeff's looking at the big picture.

 

What really pissed me off was when the CO was out a few years ago on the Bow and he'd handed out hundreds of barbed hook warnings - many of them to guides and outfitters. When people who are making a living off of the public resource don't follow the rules, there should be much more stringent enforcement.

 

Keep up the great work...hopefully next year the economy will be in better shape and we can support the cause more.

[adc]

Great discussion and some really good points........Just as an interesting note, many of our corporate sponsors, mainly resource companies, do NOT want their funding used for enforcement, only education........If Stream Watch was simply an enforcement arm, we would not have the committment we have from many who pay the bills..........

 

Cheers.......

 

Al........

[Hawgstoppah]

Great discussion and some really good points........Just as an interesting note, many of our corporate sponsors, mainly resource companies, do NOT want their funding used for enforcement, only education........If Stream Watch was simply an enforcement arm, we would not have the committment we have from many who pay the bills..........

 

Cheers.......

 

Al........

 

Ok that's says a lot. I stand down. *crawls back into a hole*

 

[Taco]

Ok that's says a lot. I stand down. *crawls back into a hole*

 

[OneMoreLastCast]

Warning or Fine....Are we forgetting that neither would have been given out without the Stream Watch Program?

 

Either way, I'm sure the person went away less ignorant and will hopefully teach His child to read the regulations as soon as they can read.

 

Thanks to those involved in Stream Watch and keep up the great work.

 

I will say though, on the slim chance the offender in question reads this board....Shame on you. You've just taught your young child a terrible lesson that hopefully gets forgotten in time due to only being 3 years old. Parents really have to set a better example for the next generation of anglers. You can't teach them that it is okay to break, or ignore the rules and the warning is okay, but it kind of teaches the child that they got away with it in a way.

 

Hopefully, thanks to Jeff and Stream Watch, there's one less uneducated Angler out there that would have continued breaking the rules had Stream Watch not existed.