Today while driving to willard bay i noticed a DNR truck watching a Couple in there 20's fishing from the bridge area of the channel which is closed to fishing until the end of april. I also noticed the no fishing signs that were posted just last week saying "no fishing " were missing. The couple didn't no that it was closed to fishing. I know this because I turned my car around and told them that there was no fishing until the last sat of april. they were surprize and said they had fished it last year in may and it was open. Once i told them it was closed they started picking up and reeled in to leave after thanking me. I started to drive down the road as they were packing their car and sure enough the DNR pulled up. I once again turned around to let the officer know that they really didn't know and that once they found out they packed up to leave. He just gave me a look of o'well and motioned me down the road. He pulled out his ticket box as i drove away. I don't know if he gave them a ticket but what do you think is fair? I know we are suppose to read and know the rules but i would have given them a chance since they obviously didn't know. What about you???
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The DNR should have just gone up to them right away and not left it up to another sportsman. They the DNR have heard as many excuses as the police so I am sure they are uneffected by most offerings of excuses. That said it is our responsiblity to know the rules and regulations before we go to a body of water. The proclimations are free and found everywhere you can buy a fishing license.
I watch Vegas visitors disappear into the woods at some lakes here in the south when a game cop does their patrol. They slowly reemurge after he has gone and check all the law abiding people's licenses
Hopefully where you took the time to back track and tell the officer that you had told them that he did take it easy on them and just give them a warning.
Did they take any fish from that spot? Maybe that was what he was waiting?
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Not sure what you are saying or even talking about????
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No, No fish were taken and they said they had only been there 20 mins. They said they saw the DNR truck there and thought that they would have told them when they pull up. But they just sat there.
So i can see that they really didn't know about that spot otherwise why would they blatenly fish in front of an officer.
Thanks for your responce.
sterling
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I hope they did not get a ticket. Life is not fair sometimes, the balance between justice and mercy gets very little thought by law enforcement. But I vote for mercy in this case.
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I feel that simply educating an offender is the best thing to do if it seems that they made an honest mistake that isn't directly hurting someone. But If I was the CO and ran the guys license and saw that he had any warnings or similar tickets then I would let the fine and ticket help change his ways.
Today I rode my mt bike into Provo boat harbor and there were a few groups fishing the Provo River before it entered into the lake. I was amazed to see that there were two DNR CO trucks at the state park building not more than 100 yards away. In the 45mins that I was there no CO's walked out to educate or enforce the law.
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The river from the bridge going into the park to the lake is considered lake and can be fished. I dont know if the people you saw were above the bridge but since you said you rode into the park I assume you were talking about people from the bridge west toward the lake. that section of river is open.
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I don't think they should have gotten a ticket if they genuinely didn't know then maybe a warning this one time. But as mentioned earlier it is the fisherman's responsibility to educate them selves with the rules & regs. Ignorance is not get out of jail free card.
I don't know how many times Ive heard the " I didn't know " card be played If people aren't going to take the time to educate them selves on there own dime well then there going to be educated on the states dime [
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Sorry you're mistaken. In the proclomation on page 32 it clearly states that from the bouys up the channel to the second set of baffle it is closed from march 1st to 6 am on the last saturday of april it is closed to fishing. They were fishing on the bridge between the first set and the second set of baffels. Maybe you misread it. thanks for your comment though
sterling
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fish fear me2. Thanks for the info. I was in the wrong then since they were fishing right below the bridge. I have never read that rule in the proc and I'm curious where I need to look for it. Because I like fishing all of the tribs and I may be able to get closer to land when i'm in my boat.
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It's ok to fish the river all the way up to Center Street bridge. The entire stretch adjacent to the state park is fishable year round.
From this year's proclamation:
"Provo River, Summit, Utah and Wasatch counties
(a) [#ff0000]East from Center Street Bridge (entrance to Utah Lake State Park) to I-15 (Utah County):[/#ff0000]
• CLOSED to taking of nongame fish by methods other than angling.
• CLOSED March 1 through 6 a.m. on the first Saturday of May."
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You're right, but i was talking about Willard bay.
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