What do you do when...

[Big Vern]

Someone fishing near you takes a short?

I usually ask them if they know the regs, and then try to be nice about educating a little.

However, last night, this one guy fishing near me keeps maybe a twenty-five incher, and I try and tell him you can't do that, but he spoke virtually no english. Then like ten minutes later, another guy shows up, and starts screaming at this dude because he was there in the morning as well and kept a short then too! I don't think this guy is going to stop, and I didn't know what to do. I almost went over and threw his fish back in the water. If it was even somewhat alive, it would've happened.

[jeffsod]

Not saying this was the case but in my experience some of the people in question conviently don't speak english when confronted with this issue.

I have seen it in the Sakonnet river area in the spring myself (mostly Ca*******s) where the cuprits throw everything they catch in a supermarket shopping bag to take home irregardless of size.

[Goose]

I love my new cell phone aaaand.......Drop a dime on environmental crime, call 617.556.1000 or toll free, 1.888.VIOLATE (1.888.846.5283) from outside the 617 area code.
You may also e-mail the strike force: Dana.Muldoon@state.ma.us

[Mr. Sandman]

you are doing the right thing to call in a violation. The problem with the regulations is there is not enough enforcement. I for one have NEVER been checked EVER and I have been fishing hard for 40 years is 5 states.

What is the penelty for an undersize fish? Has ANYONE EVER been prosecuted for this?

Rules without enforcement are worthless.

I am proud to say that I came across just the reverse the other night. There was a guy who never caught a bass before and had never gone night fishing. He saw me unhooking and releasing a sizable keeper and asked me if I had a tape measure. (he was very excited...he had just caught his first bass from shore at night and was beaming) I measured his fish...29.5 in and he replied "its a keeper right?" and I said yep its a keeper but it has to be 32" to weigh it in for the derby....He said that this was his first fish and wanted to keep it. I said thats great, congrats. A few casts later, he hooked into a bigger fish. (about 34 ") He came to me and asked what should I do? You can only keep one right? I said, yep, this bass fishing is kind of a crap shoot you really don't know which one to keep until you done fishing. And he then released the bigger fish. ..."I should have released the 1st fish but with it being my 1st and all I wanted to bring it home to eat...OH I can't believe I released this big fish...OH this it GREAT out here!, This is really fantastic!!!" We both caught several more and each went home with a single fish.
Some people do follow the law..

I know what you mean when you see someone take a short...It makes me sad when I see a short cleaned on the beach...I wish the law was enforced. But it never will be.

I would like to see some sanity and common sence brought into the law. Have you ever released a bass you know was going to die?

[mrmacey]

you just caught the 40lb fish wow you keep it fish on 63lb trophy fish what do you do!!!! ill never know i cant catch a schoolie!!!! but now it becomes how well your morals and ethics are!!!!! if you keep both your guilty and gonna feel it!!!! if you let the big one go youll allways feel good about catching and releasing the fish of a lifetime and can hold your head up high knowing you did the right thing bring a camera and youll allways catch the moment!!!!! have fun out there!!!! THATS WHAT ITS ABOUT !!!!

[JohnR]

Part one...

I was out just so recently in the Blind Casting BlueFish Bonnanza at the end of my street (you really can catch 'em blindfolded and I'm gonna do that next year ) and I wanted a quick fix. Knowing I had a good shot at getting a couple fish in 15 minutes before my wife knows I'm even gone (hi honey) I run down to where people tend to wait until the fish are ON TOP of the water before casting instead of looking at how the bait is being pushed or odd waves rolling across the otherwise calm water (sometimes you can see the V wakes and these guys DON'T GET IT!!!!). There have been so few bass out there, probably 95 blues for every bass in my area. Well, this guy 20 feet to my right hooks into a small schoolie, probably 22 - 23 inches or so, spends a miserable amount of time working the plug out of it's mouth ( note to self, remember to crush barbs and cut off 2 hooks of rear trebble on plastic poppers for easy release of bass and safe - to me - release of blues). He then leaves the fish at his feet in all of 2 inches of water.

I asked him when he planned to release the fish. He said why should he so I told him that it was an obviously short fish, not even close to keeper size. He didn't give me any real flack, just mildly disappointed then he shrugged his shoulders and released (sorta) the fish. As he releases this schoolie, it drops in between the concrete ties of the old launch ramp and it's half stuck, half floating on it's side, so he nudges it with his foot and after about 4 mild kicks it's out of his range.

That fish was out of the water for probably 5 minutes. Four minutes and 30 seconds longer than what was really necessary.

Moral of this story? This fella has probably been buying Atoms & Striper Swipers from Benny's for 10 years and the rare time he get's bait at a tackle shop, he still doesn't care to know or learn the rules and the better ways of keeping or releasing fish...

[Fishpart]

Saw a couple of keepers on the beach this AM, but definitely not monsters....