Northwest Fishing Reports

I don't usually get spun up over things, but lately there seems to be a lot of reports being submitted by anglers who are clearly violating the rules when fishing for trout with bait.

Many times I have been tempted to post a comment with an excerpt from the rules pamphlet because so many seem to prefer not to read them, and I have actually composed a complete comment only to blow it off because it won't change anything anyway.

Most recent case in point is this report submitted by Drew72 for Easton Ponds on 4/2/11. Catching and releasing trout and claiming they'd have limited in under an hour if they had not been releasing everything they caught.

I typed up a reply, but again didn't bother to post it. However, several others did comment about the bait/trout rule. Curiosity drove me to read the report again, and all the comments have been deleted, but the report is still up for all to read.

Were the comments removed by Drew72 or an Admin? Since the report describes illegal practice, shouldn't it be removed?

Just trying to understand the baseline.

Those reports are usually deleted, but someone has to report those reports. You have now reported it, and so Mike or Aaron will probably delete it when they are on again. Us mods can't delete reports, only administration. Thankyou.

And you can also just PM Mike or Aaron about the reports.

name used for the report; drew1

but comes tru as drew72

drew72 joined yesterday July 3rd.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/ya ... 17470.aspx

What AMX said is right on - Mike and Aaron depend on those who know the regs for each body of water to let them know when there are rule violations in reports. Best thing to do in that case is PM Mike or Aaron and alert them of it.

hewesfisher wrote:Were the comments removed by Drew72 or an Admin?

When anyone posts a report - they have the power to delete comments (there is a delete button on the right side of each comment). Outside of the owner of the report, only Mike & Aaron have the power to delete report comments.

So what part of this report tells you they broke the rules? I believe they can catch and release fish using bait, up to their limits. They didn't say how many fish they caught, nor how long they were fishing...

As for the comments, the report poster can delete the comments... and I don't think Mike had anything to do with it.

Aaron B wrote:So what part of this report tells you they broke the rules? I believe they can catch and release fish using bait, up to their limits. They didn't say how many fish they caught, nor how long they were fishing...

Phil,,

Yeah, that was kind of weird. I too wrote the guy a friendly comment, just pointing out to be aware of the bait caught fish counting towards your five. I then found the comment deleted ( I imagine by the poster) then I think I commented again later because i thought maybe my comment didn't go through. I realize now that it did. Oh well, you can't fix everything, but the comment tone was friendly enough.
There was some question as to the angler not saying how many fish they caught or how long they fished. It was a little gray I admit,, but they pretty much indicated that they felt they were in the OK.... as long as they kept releasing fish. That is how I took it. Whatever,, bigger fish to fry.

I read the report as well and the way it reads, while using Powerbait, they caught and released well more than their daily limit of trout. As there was already a comment made regarding the regs, I did not post an additonal comment. I do feel that it is important to kindly point out rule violations as this site gets plenty of traffic from minors and persons new to fishing. This way the report becomes a teaching tool as well as letting fellow anglers know what is working and where. If the person who submitted the report keeps taking down comments regarding a rule violation, perhaps they need to have the report amended.

This quote tells it all;

We both would have limited out in under an hour if we had not been releasing everything we caught.

Indicating that they fished for more than an hour, and caught MORE than a limit each AND kept fishing AND kept catching more fish after releasing more than a limit each.

ditto to the above posts. "cringe" as I read it I too agree with AMX, the intent is clear - if they hadn't been releasing fish they would have limited out in under an hour. Since they were using bait they had limited out in under and hour and kept fishing. It's kinda tricky how it's worded.

Post removed.

I can't speak for how Aaron does his approval process, but when I approve the reports the first things I look for are obscenities, crudeness not appropriate for the site, etc. I also look for rules violations but honestly with 5,000 reports a year there are always going to be a few slipping through. We just ask for the members to help police the site by sending us a PM or notifying the Mods and we will remove them. We don't intentional let these get posted.

Thanks everyone!

Not trying to stir things up, just wanting to make sure it's still appropriate to comment about rule infractions when I see them, or if I should just report the report.

Mike, I appreciate all the hard work you and Aaron both put into the report process (and the mods for the forum stuff!!), I know it keeps you two busy, and I also know things will slip through. In the future, I think I will just stay low key with comments, and if they disappear, notify you or Aaron.