# Called Marine Patrol



## Flounder Pounder (May 24, 2001)

*Called Marine Patrol on a poacher*

Fished Gloucester PT. last night and seen a man put an undersized stripper in his cooler. I approached him, gave him the benefit of the doubt and told him his fish was undersized and he needed to release it. The guy gave me some lip and I told him once more, again he ignored me. I then walked to the truck and called the Marine Patrol Hotline and the man showed up in 10 minutes. 

As Marine Patrol was walking down the pier, the man kicked the fish over the side in plain view of the officer, really upsetting the officer because he said he wouldn't be able to prosecute without it. This really pissed me off and I said I would go to court to testify. The man was then escorted to his car and issued a citiation. Funny thing was the man admitted he measured the fish and it was 16 inches. The officer said it would be a solid case without the fish, I'll see him in court on August 6th.


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## hic-lock (Jun 27, 2001)

Good work, any idea what he’ll pay for that fish?


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## ropiv (Oct 7, 2002)

I applaud your efforts, Flounder. The more help we can provide to eliminate this type of occurrence, the better off we'll all be.


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## Guest (Jun 13, 2003)

Good job on the turn in...happy to here there was such a quick response from the man. I can't stand those undersized strippers...I only flip them quarters. No singles or 5'ers unless your packin!

Just a suggestion...easy on the racial descriptions. If your going to use it...I think most would prefer Asian to Oriental. Only use the "O" word to describe furniture, etc. Might save you some flack in the future.


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## PlankCaster (Oct 22, 2001)

Flounder,
Glad to hear you care enough to do something when there is a person with such blatent disrespect for our environment. Also glad to hear there was a fast responce. Major props on offering to go all the way through on this by going to court. Bravo. 
Tight lines and popped riggers


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## julesvaughan (May 10, 2002)

*called marine patrol*

I am glad that your called resulted in a successful citation. I too called them on tues PM. We were at lynnhaven fishing and had a friend with us who was new to fishing. There were some guys fishing right next to us, and they were catching undersize trout and throwing them into a cooler. Our friend kept asking why my husband was throwing the fish back, and I explained the rules on that kind of fish and showed him the card with the fish regs on it. He asked me if the fish the other guys were putting in their cooler were the same kind my husband was throwing back and I told him yes, and looked up and the guy was looking right at me. So after he caught another one and put it in the cooler, I walked up the pier and called it in. We were very disappointed. 1 1/2 hrs later they left after cutting up some of the trout for shark bait. The officer never showed up. We knew they had kept over 10 undersized trout. I hope in future we'll get a better turn out, even if they have to hire more officers! I would pay a little extra on my license for that.
Jules


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## 8AnBait (Jun 24, 2002)

*hell yeah*

Man I almost called on this skinny kid that fish out at cbbt all the time for cutting up and under sized flound for bait the other day...


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## profish 1 (Apr 16, 2003)

You should have kicked his ass in the water after it good job profish 1


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## Doad (Aug 27, 2001)

Feels good to respect authority, doesn't it FP? I mean, without some enforcement of these regulations, there won't be any fishery left pretty soon...

I respect the way you handled yourself and did the right thing, is what I'm trying to say. 

Tight lines!

Doad.


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## Jake Ace (May 4, 2000)

I'm really glad that Flounder Pounder called them in. I have numbers for several jurisdictions and try to call in everytime that I see anyone keeping any undersized fish.

I think we should all do the same.

THROW MORE / MOST / SOME / ANY / MAYBE A FEW BACK

Jake Ace


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## Trippolski (Apr 30, 2003)

Way to go, I think we all should do that when somebody keeps undersized fish. i can't believe people think they can actually get away with that with no punishment. The bad thing is, some of them do.


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## freswaterjim (May 17, 2003)

*call patrol*

8(---) I agree on the call in with violations but you know if every rod and line poacher were stoped today it would have no impact on fish population.In fact if every rod and line surf and pier fisherperson were stoped from fishing their would be no impact on fish population.The massive fish reduction is beeing caused by the commercial sector and untill the private fisher people organize and stanup to be counted to change the laws ,it will stay that way.the few fish i've seen caught on the piers is pathetic.


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## Kozlow (Oct 25, 2002)

*Breaken The Law / Breaken The Law*

Good job Flounder Pounder
I call ever time I see someone down here is Breaken The Law.
Everyone should abide by the rules and for those who don't well the call is made. They get what they deserve sometimes . Just don't break the law and fish near me or you or many others on this site.
Just a warning to those LAW BREAKERS

Good Job


P/S
Hey freswaterjim What part of the Burg are you from I am a replant Floridian from the Northills of the Burg.


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## freswaterjim (May 17, 2003)

*the burgh*

 kozlow:I'm west of pittsburgh,beaver county,hookstown. fish the ohio river and lake erie.just came back from choptank,gull sandbridge,and hatteras piers total chach 2 crooker 5 perch


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## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

Flounder,

Good job. I wish I had the cahones to really stand up to some of these people who just treat the ocean like it was their toilet. I think we should all make it a point to police these piers like they were our own yards. My hat is off to you sir.


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## Kozlow (Oct 25, 2002)

freswaterjim 


Good to hear from someone near the Burg. Was up there last month didn't get any fishin in but uasually would fish at Lake Arthur Bassin it and the Slippery Rock Creek up near Portersville.
Use to like those Rainbow and Brownies. Now Im just a OLD SALT. Maybe not so old but don't need any salt on the fish now.
Take care.


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## gus (Jan 24, 2002)

nice work; its up t us all to protect our fishery


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## skunked (Jun 4, 2001)

*Cool*

Took some balls to do that. Thanks. And your right freswaterjim, we casual fishermen can't hurt the fisheries like the big guys can but every little bit does help. And we should also do out part to move the commercial reg. in a productive direction.


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## Dr. Bubba (Nov 9, 1999)

Good job on the call FP!

But I've got to also comment on something that's come up in this thread. Some of you have the notion that we recs have little or no impact on fish populations, and that simply is NOT true. Coms must report what they catch, so their catch is pretty well documented. What are the MILLIONS of recreational anglers catching on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly basis??? No one knows for sure. But, we definitely have an impact just by shear numbers of anglers. To think otherwise is to have your head in the sand.

I totally agree though, that there is more need for organization amongst rec anglers in order to have a voice in fishery management decisions.


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## Mummichog (May 19, 2003)

I saw a report(striped bass) recently that said Recreational fisherman account for 60% of the catch, commercial the remaining 40%. I believe it...and not just for this specific fish.

During the Shad run this year, I saw many people consistently filling 5 gallon buckets with shad and herring (I called them in). Some returned the next day to do the same thing. Where I fished I often saw approximately 25-100 "bucketeers" out there. Who knows how many were doing the same thing and who knows how many others there are. 

No doubt recreational fisherman have a large impact on the fishing populations. Drive to the OBX in October/November and see what hundreds of 4x4s will do to a beach...and many have multiple lines out.

Not to mention the trash people leave behind.

Yes sir, there is a sad day looming on the horizon. And we won't be able to blame the commercials for everything.

Unfortunately we only pay attention to the fish pop. when we stop catching them...too late. 'Course both shad and rock have made a comeback which proves we can make it work. I just hope somebody helps the bluefish soon.

I can see the tv spot now...remember the crying indian? 

This time it will be a crying fisherman...


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## Macman (Dec 27, 1999)

Mummichog,

Good work! Responsibility and accountibility to Virginia's fishing regulations are so easy to obtain. Most already know, and the real jerks don't care. Tourists, same deal. I fish NC and FL and am expected to know what the rules there are to. I don't even warn them. I callem in and let the officer make the decisions. Most seem mighty surprised when the man shows up! No repurcusions, no high blood pressure, just silent joy.  

Macman


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## hookinfinger (Feb 7, 2000)

I think it would be a good idea if the pier owners would set up some sort of a system to help make sure that customers are aware of the regulations. for instance why not hand each customer a copy of the va. reg. card with their paid receipt before they walk on the pier. why not have blown up lamenated copys posted every hundred feet or so ? especially at the fish cleaning station ! why not have some of those cheap plastic measuring strips glued up on the inside of the rails every hundred feet ? maybe the attendant at the register could mention how the pier abides by the state regulations regarding the keeeping of under sized,out of season or over the limit fish. the state piers should have the same set up.


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## butch (Jun 9, 2002)

I hear the Marine Patrol boarded one of the party boats out of Rudee's on Sunday. Several people got citations for undersize fish. Good job!


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

Bubba and Mummichog, you guys are right about not always assuming commercials are at fault for declining fisheries. I think it's a species-by-species thing. As certain species are heavily prohibited for commercials (e.g. stripers and red drum), the recreational fishery takes up the slack.

But other species like shark, tuna, various groundfish, flounder, panfish like spot, croaker and seatrout are harvested (by volume) primarily by commercial fishermen. And let's not even talk about menhaden, which impacts almost every other species...

I wish we could simply leave the decisions up to fisheries biologists to make rational decisions, but unfortunately politics enters into the equation. That's why we have lobbying groups on both sides.

There's nothing wrong with keeping fish if you stay within the law, but it's a shame some people don't listen even when they're warned.


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## freswaterjim (May 17, 2003)

8(---) I had a big rant to deliver but on second though how about taking a personal survey on what you actualy saw pulled in on a pier in a days fishing.I was on choptank one day and actualy saw 10 croker,dozen or so small perch and 4 nice crabs (from 8 traps all day)I caugh 1 croker....seagull (3/4 day)40 spot,1 20 in rock few perch all by same guy 6 skate out on the end and my one croker.Sandbridge ,I saw about 30 mullet and 1/2 doz small blue(6 hrs)they had big fishfinder rigs out on the end but no hits.All in all not enough fish to feed me in thoes 3 days I saw caought let alone the couple hundred people that were fishing.Take yourown survey,not what people say but what you see(it's hard to hide fish on a pier)My conclusion is the commercials cleaned the fish out,the reck fisherperson have no effect and are expected to pay for the fix.thats a BIG water out there where's the fish???


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

freswaterjim, try multiplying th fish you saw caught in that 3 day period by what 10,000? Or how ever many rec fishermen may have fished in that time period. Saying that th comms are sucking up all th fish an th recs don't do anything is freaking stupid. If th freaking rec vs comm issue would calm down we might actually be able to do something to help protect *OUR* future fishing. Ya know why they put blinders on a horse? So it goes where they want it to. Think about it.


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## freswaterjim (May 17, 2003)

8(---) dont talk about horses and 10,000 mulitpliers.Im telling you what I saw.unless i just happen to be at the crappiest fishing pier each of thoes days and this is not the norm.last time i looked va and md had about 10 each piers ans shore spots on the hot spot map.thats 20 piers and what 50000 sq mi producing a copple hundred fish for a thousand people.whens the last time you saw a limit caught anywhere??the pier people have no effect on fish population.you can see it ,measure it ,it's the truth..even the boaters are limited to 2 fish when in season. i just realized how good lake erie realy is .6 fish (was 10) no season ,walleye


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

> whens the last time you saw a limit caught anywhere??


 Glad you asked,although there is no "limit" I had th opportunity to fish with a fellow P&Ser who within his legal "limit" took home over 60 croaker. An I am not saying anything negative about him taking that many croaker because it is legal but one person catching an keeping 60+ fish, you don't think that makes a difference?  Th bottom line as far as I am concerned is to get over th "us VS them" mentality an to work together to protect what we all want which is too pass on th joy of fishing on to th next generation.


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## freswaterjim (May 17, 2003)

you found only one person with fish? all that water and 60 fish is not significant.why nolimit? I ate the croaker i caught and their not so good.not as good as walleye perch bass crappies bluegill even catfish.thats why no limit i think.!croaker,mullet are not high on the taste chart.spot are good but too small thats why thats all there is left.the blues are not to good eating but they are fun to fight and they are gone.what would you suggest to do raise the licence price ?dont get me wrong i believe you intensions are great and we both agree on that ,its a start..


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## Kenmefish (Apr 21, 2000)

Hey Jim

I don't know about walleye, but I'll take sea mullet over any of the other fish you mentioned. 
I don't keep very many fish but I do keep enought mullet, puffers, or small blues for a meal. 
Also what these people are saying is that all of us need to practice consevring the resourse. Blaming someone else for the problem solves nothing. We can only try to get the message out and call when we see violations. But we can all do our part and not waste the resouse.
In other words we can monitor ourselves right now. where it might take awhile to get everyone else to do the right thing.


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

I think you guys are not seeing the brighter pic of it. I think rec fisherman do a dent in the fishery supply. But it is not the rec fisherman that is LEGAL that is the problem. It is the dummies out there that keep undersized and oversized and over their limits that do most of the damage on the rec side. That is why there is limits! To keep fish population available for us all to enjoy. I agree with jim, the fishing has really not been that good compared to say 50 yrs ago. And I agree with C-dog, that we should not be "us vs them" b/c they almost will always win b/c of $$ and politics. So if we can police our side then maybe one day they will be able to police their side too. Just my .02.


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## inawe (May 24, 2003)

I beieve theres a 25 per person catch on the eastern side but as far as croakers go they breed faster than a catfish coolers full of croakers cant wait for those big belly SPOTS


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## Morrocco Mole (Apr 8, 2003)

I never keep under size fish when ever I do keep some but I would have to agree with {FreswaterJim} on this one. To me he said it all.


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Oh there is still plenty of fish still out there to catch, if you are in a boat. But the days when you could just pull up on any part of a beach and cast a line out and catch some fish are gone. Mostly in part to EL NINO. And with a lot of cities pumping sand in to beaches and then letting them erode away. It is causing a lot of areas to get real shallow and fish aren't holding there anymore. So for the shorebound angler our days are getting slilm.


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## Morrocco Mole (Apr 8, 2003)

FL FISHERMAN
You have another good point.


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