Trout Commander

I just spoke with Sheriff Ken Copeland via phone. It was a lengthy conversation with more detail but the bullet points are: I explained the ordeal and asked him what his take on it was to which he replied something to the effect that the river is everyone's and you can float down it anytime you want, but when you guys were stopped were you out of your boats? I explained that yes some of us were out of boats. Sheriff Copeland replied with something to the effect that if we were out of the boats and up on someone's land and that we were trespassing and that if the landowner asked us to we should. I then asked Mr. Copeland if we were just on the gravel bar under the high water mark would we be legal? To that he suggested I contact MDC in regards to that. He then asked someone else in his office if they knew for sure and they did not. I then asked, just to clarify, if the scenario I had described to him with me standing knee deep in the stream if I was legal or not. He told me I certainly was legal. The phone was ringing here at work and I did not thank to ask him to clarify that with his deputies, but I did tell him specifically what the one deputy told me. Sheriff Copeland seemed to be a reasonable person and invited me back to float the river again. He also echoed what we have all heard that not all floaters are like us and that we should understand where the land owner was coming from. He did not take Prater's side whatsoever, only said that we would have to clarify with MDC what we were allowed to be on outside of the water. I am glad that I called and talked to him.

Everything (so many people and boats) from a kayak floating in slack water to Chief's boat beached and both occupants seated to two of use up past our knees in the middle of the river to a couple guys standing on a gravel bar (well below high water mark) In the 45 minutes we were floating and fishing. They came down to head us off at the pass a la John Wayne. He said we couldn't beach our boats on the gravel or get out and wade.

I guess the guy with the gun could have owned the land adjoining Prick Praters land to the upstream side..... If so he never indicated that he did. Additionally if this is the case, Prick Prater was not on his own land when he threatened me. But it is my feeling that it was Prader's land and Mr. Friendly with the gun was on Prater's land.

I hear you loud and clear. Thing is, it was not the land owner with the gun. The land owner told me I would be in a world of hurt. I don't care so much as he get in trouble, that would be icing on the cake. The goal is to get the record set straight and everyone educated on the law so others can float the stream without being hassled and not having to go through the immense distress that I have suffered due to this encounter.

We didn't need a tent, the two deputies and k9 made it there rather quickly. This is my intention. Exactly. And just to clarify the landowner (who said I would be in a world of hurt) wasn't carrying openly that I saw. It was the other feller. Right and right. No name was taken that I heard and when I asked him if we were legal where we were at that current time (which he said we were) he got pretty testy and even more so when I asked multiple times who the MDC agent he spoke to was. Again, just to clarify, there were three individuals - the property owner and his wife(?) as well as another man working for the land owner (I do not know if he was payed, but he made it obvious he was working on the land owners behalf by stating "I found another one for you over here" in regards to another idividual in our party. The man working for the land owner had the gun displayed on his hip and the land owner threatened me. I was still very fearful as they were acting together and standing side by side.

I have a feeling I would have been in the same boat (pun intended as you). As it were I bit my tongue in fear of taking others down with me. I would have loved to have said more. I have been brewing, stewing, thinking, researching and printing all morning. However, my research has been slow going this a.m. as I think I have continued emotional distress and physiological damages from when Prick Prader and his gun toting strong arm told me that I "would be in a world of hurt if I didn't move on down"... I haven't made it to the statutes on harassment yet, but am curios of the statute of limitations might be on such an incident? And hopefully I am recovered enough to do that float with you again Cricket Copy that.

Beer wasn't on the list because beer is explicitly implied. : lol: Not to say anyone will be drunk.

A good read. I will have to check out some more of his articles.

I hope you mean that you fell. Usually I wouldn't hope that anyone did, but it beats the heck out of the other "dump in my waders"

Saw this a little earlier on my feed on Blogger. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Awesome Fish! I Love the close up of the brown in the net (what net is that?) and the one of the brown in hand quartered away. Glad you decided to join us. Thank you for sharing.

Sounds good. Did Amy say you were getting some Redington sticks in??

Looks like I was a little slow on the trigger with that last post, but yeah what they said.

Sounds like a great, relaxing trip. I enjoyed the pictures too. Thanks for sharing.

Right right there aren't supposed to be any. This is sooooo cliche but the picture really doesn't do it justice. I may be way out in left field out here but it looked to me that the fish had faint parr marks left. Like I said I may be way off and browns might not even have them for all I know? But it sure looked like that one did. I wish I would have gotten better pictures but didn't want to hold onto the fish for too long and I was shooting half blind with the camera on my phone because the screen was washed out from the sun. That's why my shadow is in half of the picture, I was fighting the sun. I took three rapid fire shots and luckily one was decent. I showed it to Amy and she thought it was wild compared to the definite stockers she has seen. I sent it along to Wise in an email exchange also and he said he thought it was legit if the fins on the other side were intact as well, which they were. Thanks for your comments though Eric. That's why I posted a picture of such a big fish . To see if everyone thought it was wild or not though.

Thanks! Not wild? What makes you say that? It had white tipped fins and none were clipped either (even though you can't really tell from the crappy pic). I also have it on good info from a reliable source that they do not stock browns that small and if they did, the last time fish were socked was long enough ago the fish would've been quite a bit larger.

Touche I left it big so that you could fully enjoy its color and beauty #end dramatic voice# as well as note the white on it's fin. Oh and also I am lazy and never resize my pictures.

Actually, it came on the swing at the end of a drift. I had quite a bit line out for a sizable drift and if I let it go without making the last mend that I wanted to I got strikes fairly consistently right as it "broke" from a dead drift. If it made it very far into the swing I could count on not getting a strike. I was standing mid river fishing the opposite bank so I do not know if maybe it had something to do with depth? I would like to get into polish nymphing but have not yet. I don't know how well suited my 8' rod would be.

Thought some of you might find this interesting.

First with stickers!(?)

The one time I went I tore it up with a white chamois worm suspended under an EHC and then a double trico rig after some tiny bugs started coming off of the water. I had a few strikes on small poppers as well. If bass are present in the pond I would try some Clouser minnows or other streamers, I only caught one sunfish on a Clouser, but it was the big'un of the day.

If you do decide to sell it....

Where you bank fishing, Tim?

Hope you get it back in time for your AK season then. Do you mind my asking what rod it is? Your opinion on gear holds lots of weight to us folks that don't use ours quite as much as you do.