Ticket for no license

[Becky]

Keep it on topic, don't need to start arguing.

[3boys]

He was seventeen he knew he needed a license.  Stop making excuses for people who break the laws.  So cop lets him off that tells the kid that he doesn't need a license cause the warden will just let him slide. Anytime someone gets caught they make up some story to sound like they are the victim and the officer is the big meanie.  Boo hoo follow the rules and you won't have these problems.  This want some twelve year old kid.

He wasn't fishing is the thing. He held a pole for a couple minutes while his friend used the restroom. If you went hunting with a friend and didn't have a license and held his gun while he went under a fence would you be hunting? Law officers need to practice some common sense. Go after poachers and people with excessive limits. These kids didn't have any fish and only 1 pole.  When the officer arrived the kid that was cited wasn't even holding the pole at the time.

[Oh Mah]

What he did is the definition of "fishing" that's the thing here.

[splitshot]

   quit whinning, pay up and get on with life.  a law was broken and the warden was doing his job.  end of story.   mike w

[Ridgeratt]

   quit whinning, pay up and get on with life.  a law was broken and the warden was doing his job.  end of story.   mike w

My question is couldn't both of them been cited:
1: Fishing with out a license.
2: Not in the control of your gear?

[3boys]

   quit whinning, pay up and get on with life.  a law was broken and the warden was doing his job.  end of story.   mike w

My question is couldn't both of them been cited:
1: Fishing with out a license.
2: Not in the control of your gear?

I guess we will find out in a month or so when they take it to court. I would bet it gets thrown out. I will report back on the results.

[hunthard]

I'm sorry but I say this ticket is *censored*!

[Revwrangler]

Keep it on topic, don't need to start arguing.

I think they are way past that point.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Perhaps each warden should be followed by a minivan with six citizens of good moral nature and civic virtue, who can then apply their expertise in goodness to determine what violations should be written.  Do you know how many people without licenses, holding a fishing rod with a line in the water, tell the officer they aren't fishing, just holding it for their friend?

The officer did the job we all claim we want them to do - find violators and cite them.  Could he have handled it differently?  Sure.  Should he have?  All we have is one person's biased, second hand account.  Does the offender have the chance to go to court if he desires, and explain the circumstance to the judge?  He does.  What exactly is the problem?  That the young man who was breaking the law, may choose to pay his fine rather than be inconvenienced by missing school?  I'm not seeing the problem here.

[fishngamereaper]

I wont comment on the anti LE responses or the negativity towards the officer.

For the OP. Have the kids dad request a copy of the report/statement that accompanies the ticket. I know you want to believe the kid but how many 17 years olds tend to bend the truth. If they where being watched for a while by the warden my bet is that he saw more than just two minutes of "fishing". I would get all the facts ironed out before jumping to assumptions.

[Stein]

He was fishing without a license. 

[JDHasty]

I wont comment on the anti LE responses or the negativity towards the officer.

For the OP. Have the kids dad request a copy of the report/statement that accompanies the ticket. I know you want to believe the kid but how many 17 years olds tend to bend the truth. If they where being watched for a while by the warden my bet is that he saw more than just two minutes of "fishing". I would get all the facts ironed out before jumping to assumptions.

If that is the case then he is guilty and should man up and pay up.  If he was just minding a pole for a couple minutes then IMHO he isn't guilty of anything other than being naive and if that is the case what I said about a little understanding and a bit of counseling on the enforcement officer's part is all that this situation needed to be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. 

[REHJWA]

He was seventeen he knew he needed a license.  Stop making excuses for people who break the laws.  So cop lets him off that tells the kid that he doesn't need a license cause the warden will just let him slide. Anytime someone gets caught they make up some story to sound like they are the victim and the officer is the big meanie.  Boo hoo follow the rules and you won't have these problems.  This want some twelve year old kid.

He wasn't fishing is the thing. He held a pole for a couple minutes while his friend used the restroom. If you went hunting with a friend and didn't have a license and held his gun while he went under a fence would you be hunting? Law officers need to practice some common sense. Go after poachers and people with excessive limits. These kids didn't have any fish and only 1 pole.  When the officer arrived the kid that was cited wasn't even holding the pole at the time.

Not hunting when you unloaded the gun to cross the fence...

[WAPatriot]

The money grab in this state is ridiculous the rules are so convoluted if you fish a lot of different fisheries you are inevitably going to break some rule. And some of the rules are just insane. On I fish I guess someone got in trouble on a boat cause 3 guys went fishing caught 3 fish but one guy reeled in 2 fish so he got a 450 dollar ticket was spotted by a Leo from the bushes it's so wrong it's not even funny. 

[3boys]

The officer did the job we all claim we want them to do - find violators and cite them. 

I personally have never claimed that's the job we want them to do. I want them to go after people with excessive limits and hunting during closed seasons or closed areas. If you have 1 razor clam over you did a bad job counting. If you have a bag with 25 you deserve a ticket.  If you shoot a elk in a closed unit or out of season you deserve a ticket. If the kids had 2 poles and were both fishing then he deserves a ticket. I should probably be locked up for catching excessive salmon on charter boats for all the puckers on board (many years ago). When the boat came in nobody exceeded there limits. I think the wardens should practice some discretion. Do you really see this  violation worthy of the officers time and paperwork? Now it will end up in court further bogging down a system that is already overburdened. If they really wanted to make it go away they could spend an additional 500$ and some slick lawyer would get them off easily on some technicality. No different then making a speeding ticket go away. Although those only cost 300$ to make disappear.