Enforcement Problems?

[ecce38]

I just had to share this incredible scene I witnessed this morning around 830am in the 'Lure only' section of Beaver tailwater. Upon walking down the stone steps to the edge of the river I looked left down river to see 4 men and 2 or 3 little boys all fishing from the bank. I quickly noticed they were using bread, corn, and powerbait. One guy I later noticed was using a coke can as a reel for his line. I saw that he had caught 2 fish amazingly enough (What was I thinking when I paid $250 for my Ross? Does Pepsi know about Coke's new line of fishing products?)

I walked on down and fished for a little bit. But seeing what I was seeing bothered me so much that I just couldn't let it pass. I politely went up to where they were and told one guy what the rules were for this portion of the river and that they were fishing illegally. Upon backing up and leaving, one of the guys grabs his rope stringer with 10-13 fish on it, 3-4 of which were probably in the slot. (Another fisherman told me later he saw them taking another stringer up to the parking lot earlier with about the same number of fish on it.)

I hate to post something as negative as this on the board, but this really upset me. I personally participated (as did many of you) in the various meetings last year which eventually became the current management plan for this river. I just hate to see these new changes being ignored on a wholesale level. This morning's experience was just another case-in-point. We've all seen them too many times. The bottom line: There seems to be a huge enforcement problem on Beaver tailwater and with current manpower levels, that's not likely to change anytime soon. Sorry for the rant.

[MTM]

Why didn't you call the warden or the Sheriff? I would have and not thought another thing about it. If you let people get away with things like that then they will do it again and again until someone does turn them in. You have to take some responsibality and call the law when it needs to ne done otherwise you are not helping anything. I have done so two times. Once they never showed up and the other time the guy's braking the law ended up paying about $300 in fines. Just watching them and getting mad about it isn't helping you or the problem. Ron

[Phil Lilley]

We see it all the time here on Taney... common occurance I'm sorry to say. If you frequent the tailwater, I'd call the area agent and take him to lunch... share what you think and see how you and others can help. Get his phone number and publish it on this board and others... with his permission.

[ecce38]

Why didn't you call the warden or the Sheriff? I would have and not thought another thing about it. If you let people get away with things like that then they will do it again and again until someone does turn them in. Ron

Absolutely Ron. But I just didn't stand around. I went over there and literally talked them out of doing any more fishing (in Spanish I might add). In fact, others thanked me for going over there and doing what I did. I have the poacher # programmed into my cell but forgot it in the truck (It's always that one time that you need it!). Otherwise that call would have been made first thing. But such illegal acts are happening on something of a regular basis up there and the game wardens are aware of this. My real concern is this: The wardens are spread so thin they rarely can be where we need them to be in order to stop this sort of thing from occurring. My fear is that if there are enough of these gross violations happening they may really undermine the hoped-for results of the new regulations. I promise you I won't forget my phone again.

[Phil Lilley]

The wardens are spread so thin

Realistically... this isn't going to change- here or in Arkansas. Have to figure something else out if the problem is going to be addressed.

[Guest flyfishBDS]

Realistically I think this sort of thing is going to happen unless we had a fulltime warden on the river _ and that isn't a likelihood.

The best avenues for deterrence though is through making it clear to people fishing illegally _ I don't know how many people I have put in the right place this year_ what the right thing means.

If they don't move pull out your cell phone and call the anti-poacher hotline _ or fake it if you don't have cell service, which has happened to me on several occassions. BTW I had a 25 minute arrival time earlier this year when I did call in some poachers _ unfortuanately not fast enough to grad the guys but still pretty good considering the distances involved.

I think there has been a lot more illegal behaviour this year _ largely due to the regulation changes on the river _ but up until the 6 weeks I'd seen a lot less poaching.

Now the enforcement guys I know have been on the river a lot and have written a bunch of tickets, and given plenty of warnings for genuine mistakes.

But there is only two wardens for this river and they have to cover hunting as well.

I think other fishers can play a pretty good deterrent role byt using cell phones, talking to illegal fishers, to back up the wardens _ no we can't arrest them but you can help by spotting poachers and calling etc, anything that creates the appearance of higher risk can keep these guys off the river.

Cheers

Steve.

[Phil Lilley]

Speaking of faking... if I'm away from the people far enough where they can't see well and I don't have a phone, I've pretended to have one, hold my hand up to the side of my face and point to the spot where they're fishing. It's done the trick... once.

[ecce38]

I have Alltel service and can receive and make calls from below the dam all the time. No problem. So all you Alltel people need to be pro-active on calling in rule violators. The poacher number for Alltel users: *847. After you make the call, be prepared for this:

[Terry Beeson]

...One guy I later noticed was using a coke can as a reel for his line...

I don't like what happened one bit... I've witnessed double dipping and other illegal acts on the Spring and White... not yet on Taney, but I know it's coming....

HOWEVER.... did you see the guy cast that line from his coke can? I witnessed this same thing about 10 years ago fishing off a dock for Crappie... Three hispanics showed up with cheap Wally World line, hooks, worms, a few split shot, and each with a coke can... I swear, those guys could cast that line as far as I could with my rig... I bet that guy cast his line as far as you could cast a fly, huh?

[ecce38]

Three hispanics showed up with cheap Wally World line, hooks, worms, a few split shot, and each with a coke can... I swear, those guys could cast that line as far as I could with my rig... I bet that guy cast his line as far as you could cast a fly, huh?

Didn't see him cast, just bring the line in with the can. And if he could have cast farther than me with that rig, I sure as heck wouldn't admit it to the world!