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I emailed the State Parks people regarding the issue in another thread about Lost Creek fishing, etc. Here was their response:
Lost Creek is closed until May. However, in the fishing proclamation,
the Division of Wildlife Resources printed it is open all year, which is
incorrect.
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Hey thanks fishin4fun you might just have saved a few of us one of those unpleasent tickets! I myself believe what the proc says and would argue with them about it. I carry one in the truck just to make sure. I can hear um now "ignorance is no excuse in the eyes on the law".
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I got the same reply to my email as well! Now for the big question??? Who is right, the parks or the proclamation!
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anyone contact the dwr? since i don ice fish not worth the risk for me haha. anyone else good luck at least you would have the lake to yourself unless you get caught and its not much fun to share water with the fishcops, if your in the wrong that is.
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Yep, we talked to the fish and game. like I said in my other post, the DWR is butting heads with the state parks dept and morgan county sherrif on this one. Two seperate entities, same government, bolth differing in opinion on the lost creek subject. Us fishermen are stuck in the middle. They can write you a tresspass ticket if you are up there, but they cant write you a wildlife violation unless you keep too many fish. Thats why I put the link up so we can all tell the parks people how we (sportsmen) feel about the closure.
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That sucks! You're allowed to catch fish there but your not allowed to walk on the ground to do it. Seems to me like another example of agencies not communicating well with each other. The Division of Wildlife Resources manages the fishery and the Division of Parks and Recreation manages the park. What bet the DWR didn't even think about checking with DPR before they changed the proc'.
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I hope enough people email them. It's amazing how we get caught in the middle of alot of things like this. It is similiar to the post about standing in the middle of the river. So if we are on the lake, they can't ticket us until we actually touch the shoreline. [sly] Well.. I guess I will be taking the kids to Currant Creek instead. I was hoping for a close place with fast action for them (besides Pineview).
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I hate to say this, but I a pretty good feeling that was going to be the answer. But, what did you exoect from them I guess?[unsure]
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Got some new info off FishBytes (Utah Outdoors) today. Sounds like we're more at the mercy of the Bureau of Reclamation then anybody else on this one.
"We [Utah Outdoors] hear that State Parks would like to keep it open year-round but it is a US Bureau of Reclamation dam and the Bureau won't allow public access unless State Parks provide services and monitors use. State Parks doesn't have the budget or manpower to do that at this time. Other reservoirs in state parks are apparently not subject to these rules."
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Well, to hopefully help clear up the matter, (or perhaps to add more confusion) here is a response that I just received from Tom Pettengill:
"I have talked to the Division of Wildlife Resources Office in Ogden, Bruce Hamilton with Utah State Parks (he is the Ranger at East Canyon and Lost Creek), and Shane Matthews (Chief Deputy, Morgan County Sheriff's Department). From what I can find out none of these agencies have written any tickets for tresspassing at Lost Creek. According to Jim Jensen the Bureau of Reclamation does not care if people park below the locked gate and walk into Lost Creek to fish and neither do any of the agencies listed above. Parks has not been over there since the end of October. Morgan County will only go up if they get complaints from landowners or if there is some other law enforcement problem. The reservoir is open to fishing. We have been told that the Bureau of Reclamation put the No Tresspassing sign on the gate a couple of years ago but as long as people are just going into fish they don't care. From what I can find out, NO tickets were written unless there was a wildlife violation and the accusations of getting a ticket for walking in to fish are just rumors or misinformation. I hope this will help stop the rumors. The Standard Examiner I understand had an article this morning saying DWR said it's closed but from everything I can find out it is NOT and people can walk in. Thomas D. Pettengill
Sport Fisheries and Aquatic Education Coordinator
State of Utah
Department of Natural Resources
Division of Wildlife Resources
1594 W. North Temple, Suite 2110
P.O. Box 146301
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-6301
801-538-4814
801-538-4745 (Fax)
[url "mailto:tompettengill@utah.gov"][#800080]tompettengill@utah.gov[/#800080][/url]"
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“The reservoir is open to fishing. We have been told that the Bureau of Reclamation put the No Tresspassing sign on the gate a couple of years ago but as long as people are just going into fish they don't care.”
What a mess. Is the no trespassing sign still up? No respectable fisherman would or ever should assume that no trespassing means, “no trespassing except for fishing” because WE care.
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Seems to me that if the B of R "don't care" if people are going in there to fish, they should send somebody up there to take down the No Trespassing signs. No Trespassing signs are not supposed to be open to interpretation. This issue wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for the No Trespassing signs.
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