Warden going through tackle??

[ryisnky]

I have a friend who was fishing off shore last weekend & a warden came up to him & checked him out, the rig he was using was pinched so he was good to go. The warden opened up his tackle box without asking and went through all his tackle. He gave him the gears & told him that he should have every barb pinched in his box. Has anyone had this happen to them & is there a rule saying everything has to be pinched in your box, even though it is brand new & never been used?

[hillbillyreefer]

If you're not using it it doesn't have to be pinched.

[jts1]

He did not have the right to do this. I would have told him so in not so kind words. There are some great guys out there doing that job and there are some who deserve to be drowned in the lake they are protecting.

[spopadyn]

That is complete BS. You only need to pinch the barbs of the hooks that are in the water. These F&W officers sometimes act like they are judges. I would happily go to court over an incident like that.

[jacenbeers]

A warden giving you the gears for having unpinched tackle in your box is like getting arrested for drinking and driving for having unopened alcohol in your car. You are not guilty of anything until you throw it in the water. I have tons of unpinched gear in my box and nobody has ever said a thing and wardens have talked to me 4 times this year to make sure I was not breaking the rules.

[plinker]

Illegal search. The officer in question did not have reasonable cause, therefore he did not have the right to inspect any further than the gear that was in the water being used at that time. I would file a formal complaint, so as to assist this officer in being retrained in the compliance of his duties. I am behind F&W 100%, however I do not respect bullies, and that is the impression I am getting in this instance.

[sportster]

had a similar incident on oldman river above falls my buddy was driving quad on his way to fishing hole and was stopped by fish and game. he checked everything from licence to barbs and was given gears about barbed hooks in his box. a( he was not even fishing at the time, could have been carrying rod for somebody who knows) and B(barbs on hooks in box don't apply imo). i would have been giving that c.o. the gears if it was me, my friend moved here from ontario and is not a very exp fisherman and didn't know. i was ****ed when he told me about the bs he went thru

[nick0danger]

If this was in a national park, he could ask to look, and if you had LEAD than its an instant violation, this is true is you have treble hooks as well (although they never gave me a hard time for it as long as the ones on my rods are not). If this was not in the park then its wrong. That said the national park wardens are super laid back, i get asked if i have a license and i go yup and the wonder off don't look at anything just ask, like they got bigger fish to fry.

[nevercatchmuch]

I agree 100% with plinker. report it.

[Fishfinder]

He did not have the right to do this. I would have told him so in not so kind words. There are some great guys out there doing that job and there are some who deserve to be drowned in the lake they are protecting.

Yup pretty much.
I think I would get his name and plate number and report it to FnW if this happened to me. Not sure if it would do anything, but if this fellow is illegally searching people's tackle and enough people report him, perhaps it may have some impact? Not cool of him.:(

[ryisnky]

Glad you all think the same, I though this was BS too! He wanted to question the warden & ask what the hell are you doing, but did not want to argue much with warden because his little boy was fishing with him.

[KyleM]

I would have told that idiot to kick rocks.

I dont carry a different bag for every pronvince I fish....I carry a different bag per species. My pike bag has 50 or 60 baits that would break every rule in the Alberta regs.

[marlin1]

had a warden accuse me of switching lures on the ice , umm yeah i was using the super duper barbed pike slayer banned in all provinces :rolleye2: she asked why I was switching when she came over and I told her because my buddy is catching all the fish ,so she proceeded to search the truck. Doing some shooting eh? uhh no not yet. Suppressed the urge here to make any remarks . Gun was unloaded by the way , no charges laid . Sometimes they get a little overzealous IMO

[MoFugger21]

Ya, that's BS!

For what's it worth, last week I was fishing at a near by lake and got checked 3 times in 3 consecutive days (2x it was the same guy tho), and I had my tackle box open right beside me, and not once was there mention of my hooks in my tackle box, and whether they had barbs on them. They came over, we chatted, they checked my license, asked me to reel in so they could check the hooks I had in the water, and that was that. There is no reason for them to take it upon themselves to check to see what is in your tackle box.

I'm not sure who said it in an earlier post but I agree, next time it happens ask for the officers name, which branch he/she is out of, and report them. That's complete BS imo!

[A187]

I'm not gonna pinch all my barbs, I fish in other places where its legal to have barbs. The guy had nothing better to do obviously and was power tripping.

[gramps73]

I would have explained to him that I fish all over the country and not all provinces do I have to have pinched barbs. If he still went on I would have asked him to go BPS, WSS or TFH and fine them for selling them..

Next time get his name and report him.

[Bill L]

CO's like this give all CO's a bad name. There are some really decent guys and gals out there doing a tough job.

[BigIrv]

You know its funny. I fish probably about 12 times or more each year (open water only). I got back into fishing about 4 years ago. In these past four years I have seen a CO and been approached once. It was three summers ago, I was just getting my tackle ready at Grotto pond with my son. An unmarked white chevy pickup drives up, stops, and out come an office. He was very nice. As he came up to us at my truck I was just pinching down a barb. Asked for my license and looked at my hook and wished me well. Then I saw him escort the guys on the other side of the pond off, not sure what they were doing, but there was no conflict that I saw.

I am just suprised with the amount of times I hear about CO's visiting lakes on this forum and I have only seen these guys once.

I know if they feel you have the intent to use a lure in your hand, or attached to a rod they can ticket you. It is also the intent to use, not just if you are using. But there is no right frot them to go through your equipment.

[seahawkfisher]

over the long weekend, i was cleaning my fish at the stand and a co came over to talk to me about it - he asked to see my license and even asked to see the hook i caught it with to make sure there were no barbs on it. i had my inflatable along with all of my gear packed up and in the truck already.
cheers

[fisher Gord]

They can look in your tackle box incase you are hiding fish in there but not check barbs. You should inform the officer that hooks only have to be pinched when on the line for fishing and if he disagrees with you then ask where he is stationed out of. If you do not get any results from this, go to your local F&G club or call me I can help with education. I respect all enforcement officers but some do go outside the lines and leave anglers with a bad outing, not what fishing is suppost to be.

[DoUCWhatIC]

F & G Club? You? If you have a problem with an Officer follow the process. F & G has nothing to do with this!

[tacklerunner]

They can look in your tackle box incase you are hiding fish in there but not check barbs. You should inform the officer that hooks only have to be pinched when on the line for fishing and if he disagrees with you then ask where he is stationed out of. If you do not get any results from this, go to your local F&G club or call me I can help with education. I respect all enforcement officers but some do go outside the lines and leave anglers with a bad outing, not what fishing is suppost to be.

Yes they can look in your tackle box, bags, coolers, automobile etc. to look for fish or beer or whatever they deem illegal. However, it was wrong of him to make comment on your barbed tackle. You did nothing wrong. They all have different personalities and you'll get 4 different comments from 4 different COs on the same issue. I'd shrug it off.

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Ive been checked by Fish and wildlife officers and conservation officers province wide , fishing and hunting . Ive never had them go thru my gear . Not sure I quite believe that story , might be more to it then whats being said. Did you have beers in your tackle box , is that what they were looking for , or maybe other stuff . Im not saying this is the case , I just find it hard , Ive been checked possibly 100's of times never to have any of them go thru my gear . Now if you were doing something illegal I can see this happening very easily .

[luckyme]

is it illegal to drink beers while you are fishing? i can see why if you operating boat but what if just shore fishing??

[Joe Fehr]

is it illegal to drink beers while you are fishing? i can see why if you operating boat but what if just shore fishing??

Yup illegal. Open alcohol in a public area or something to that effect. Same as drinking in your ice hut, unless you are camping there (exactly where you are fishing) you are not allowed to have open alcohol.

[KyleM]

Its drinking in public most of the time and yes, thats illegal.

This is not rocket science, there are kids around and others who dont drink.
The shoreline is not a bar so keep the beers away.

Plus Im sick and tired of watching floating bottles and cans in the water.

[luckyme]

Yup illegal. Open alcohol in a public area or something to that effect. Same as drinking in your ice hut, unless you are camping there (exactly where you are fishing) you are not allowed to have open alcohol.
thank you for your clarification, i never drink beers while fishing because i have to drive each time gone fishing (which i guess i didn't mentioned earlier) I'm just not quite sure about that.:thinking-006: make lot of sense now and i know this question out of topic.

[hustler]

anyone have a link to the exact way to pinch a barb? I heard the can run a line over it and see if it still snags??? I hope thats BS..... filing down every hook would take forever.
Also on the top of my tackle boxes i have a few see through compartments, thats where i keep the hooks that are pinched and im using. Makes it real easy to avoid any unwanted intanglments :) started that last year at pigeon when they were going through boats and gear at the launch

[buckmaster]

anyone have a link to the exact way to pinch a barb? I heard the can run a line over it and see if it still snags??? I hope thats BS..... filing down every hook would take forever.
Also on the top of my tackle boxes i have a few see through compartments, thats where i keep the hooks that are pinched and im using. Makes it real easy to avoid any unwanted intanglments :) started that last year at pigeon when they were going through boats and gear at the launch

most officers that checked me say that as long as you make your best effort to pinch the barbs is ok.I have heard of officers running line down the hook to see if it catches the barb and the officers giving out tickets.

[vinny]

Ive been checked by Fish and wildlife officers and conservation officers province wide , fishing and hunting . Ive never had them go thru my gear . Not sure I quite believe that story , might be more to it then whats being said. Did you have beers in your tackle box , is that what they were looking for , or maybe other stuff . Im not saying this is the case , I just find it hard , Ive been checked possibly 100's of times never to have any of them go thru my gear . Now if you were doing something illegal I can see this happening very easily .

No, there's no more to it than what's being said. I work with the guy who's box was gone through. He was out with his 3 year old boy. No booze, no nothing.

[fisher Gord]

Vinny If your buddy was not happy with his treatment and it was a wildlife enforcement officer who checked him, your local F&G club has access to channels to bring this to the head of enforcement. If it was a C.O. they can still help get him educated through his park boss. but your buddy has to make the call.

[pdfish]

Out of curiousity, where in the province did this occur?

[bradfuchs]

Contrary to whatever they think obviously, people travel to go fishing, I fish a lot in the home country (sask) where at least the last time I went it was still legal to fish with barbs, so no i'm not going to pinch any of mine until right before they hit the alberta waters. I've had a few really good run-ins with F&W but would take offense to anyone going through my entire tackle box.

[sco22]

I woudl be willing to wager that it was one of two scenarios and both are okay. The first is there was a reason; alcohol (which the poster ruled out), illegally possessing fish or some other contraband. The second is that the Officer asked if he could look inside his box and the fisherman consented. I have had an officer check through my truck in the winter (at Spencer) and through my tackle (at Seibert).

In both cases I consented, but asked the officer after they searched why they looked. At Spencer it was because they were on a high alert for poachers and caught several people in the prior weeks stashing fish in their trucks. At Seibert the officer noted that a lot of people fish Seibert with scented bodies and gulp artificial bait - both of which are not allowed on Seibert. He found some in my box and reminded me that it was illegal. Both guys were respectful. However, the first guy also told me that when people don't consent, the Officers are just a bit more suspicious.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers.

[jusfloatin]

I have a friend who was fishing off shore last weekend & a warden came up to him & checked him out, the rig he was using was pinched so he was good to go. The warden opened up his tackle box without asking and went through all his tackle. He gave him the gears & told him that he should have every barb pinched in his box. Has anyone had this happen to them & is there a rule saying everything has to be pinched in your box, even though it is brand new & never been used?

I cannot figure out why a Warden would just open up a closed fishing box without asking first. I am not a lawyer but if there was anything illegal in the closed fishing box would that not be considered an illegal search and seizure.

[damienelliott]

i would have him charged with invasion of privacy and harassment since he had no evidence he was doing anything wrong