Do you guys agree with the judge? Followed the signs to know if I could fish there. I’m not a regular angler just go every once in a while with buddies. The only sign showing it wasn’t open for fishing was on the ground face down. Didn’t notice the sign until the fish and wildlife officer pointed it out. Unfortunately the judge still found me liable for the 200$ ticket.
Posted by vague3_
19 Comments
That’s bullshit. Basically theft
Edit: didn’t see the wildlife refuge sign. OP you’re a dumbass. You deserve the fine. You’re fishing a refuge and somehow don’t know..?
Judge is correct. It’s your responsibility to know the local regs, the signs are merely conveniences.
Expensive lesson, which sucks, but always check the regs before fishing new water.
I mean, I’m not a fan of the judges ruling, but it is incumbent upon you to know if what you’re doing is illegal ( legally speaking ).
It sucks the judge wasn’t lenient.
What was the judges reasoning? I feel you’re leaving out details. For example (one of many scenarios), the judge might still issue the fine if they believe you or anyone in your party tampered with the sign or in some scenarios still had knowledge that it was not an appropriate time to fish.
If I assume you’ve provided every single relevant detail in your post then I believe you should not be paying a fine.
I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.
The most difficult part of fishing: find a place to fish.
in our area there’s no signs posting which area is a nature preserve, nor what season is what. its up to the angler to know these areas by looking it up. that said, the judge could have been lenient specially if this was the first infraction.
my dad got lucky one time fishing in a nature preserve that he didnt know about. CA fish game asked him where he caught all the fish and he was overjoyed to tell them “OMG up north in this area! *shows him on his fone gps* THERE’S A TON OF FISH THERE!!! its AMAZING!” lol! FNG was so shocked with the honesty that they knew he just didnt know and let him off with a warning.
I got left off the hook (no pun intended) the first time I did something like this but game warden was cool. But c’mon man I’m just trying to fish, not even keeping the fish either.
It’s bullshit but unfortunately it is your responsibility to know the fishing regs.
Of course he found you liable for the reason he stated
Let this be a lesson …only the government is allowed to make not know the laws.
Did you catch any fish?
Hey my guy… you didn’t remove your name from the 3rd pic.
It’s not about right and wrong …it’s about revenue, sorry you were treated this way
Unfortunately it’s up to the fisherman to know the regulations of the water they are fishing in. A large part of the state where I live has restrictions for artificial lures and barbless hooks and there are no signs posted with these regulations yet. I do believe game and fish are working on updating all the appropriate signage but they will still ticket you if you are using improper gear.
Where I’m at the regs are available online and list every lake in the area and what the regs are for that lake, sometimes there’s signs but more often than not nothing, it’s on the angler to look up the lake they want to fish before they fish it.
I’m not from where your from so idk the law there but here the argument for finding you liable would be along the lines of: If you didn’t look up the lake and didn’t know it was closed how would you have known that means you didn’t check what your quota was, what your allowed to target in that lake, what rigs are or aren’t legal, etc.
If I were the judge, I’d be worried that letting you off would result in people deliberately knocking signs down and ignoring the regulations.
Antonio, what state are you in? Was this at a state park?
Full name last pic, don’t get doxxed
Regardless of what any posted sign says the state regulations change yearly/seasonally. Always gotta check the current state regulation handbook. Signs can be outdated and not relevant anymore, which sucks ass in instances like this
I would like to point out to Antonio that you miss covering you name on photo 3.