Unjust F&W fines

[mariocerna]

Hello Friends, this is my story: I went to buy my tags for special walleye harvest for lake St. Anne in Cabela’s last Wednesday, that day they did not give me the wires because there were no more, I did not give much importance to that. I got home and put the tags in my tackle box. Last weekend a friend and I went fishing with my son, a friend of his and my friend's daughter. It was a fun day of fishing in which we harvested 5 walleyes of the compulsory size. After taking the fish out of the water I proceeded to tag them, but I realized that I did not have my wires, I asked my friend for wires but he did not bring them at that time, the wires were in his truck.
It was very easy for us to decide that when we got to the boat launch we were going to tag the fish. After finishing the fishing we arrived at the boat launch, then my son and his friend who are teenagers without asking but with all the good intention of helping, took the cooler with the fish and pops and started walking towards the pickup that was about 100 meters from the boat launch. Almost arriving at the truck, the kids were stopped by an F&W officer who checked the cooler.
The officer approached us and we discuss the situation, we expressed our intention to tag the fish at the boat launch, we showed our permits and our tags and the fish were within the size limits. Even so we ended up with the fish and tags confiscated and a fine of 150 dollars per fish in the reason of improperly tagged fish. I really did not think we were ended up fined, I thought we would receive a warning or perhaps a lighter fine. My friend had a fine of 300 dollars and I a fine of 450 dollars, this ruined what had been an excellent day of fishing.
Do you believe that you should appeal this fine in court? on the grounds that we have had any history of F&W fines,we had all of our tags, licences, permits and the intention to do the right things, but due to a good intention of the kids and a problem of wire shortage in Cabela’s we ended up being unjustly fined.

[HuyFishin]

My take on the situation. If I was the officer i would definitely have gave you the ticket. Cant take everyones word for it. For all I know you could have put the fish in your vehicle and saved your tags for your next trip. Having the tags on hand is still the outdoorsmans responsibility. If you did not have the tags available you should have put them walleyes back in the water. Law states you have to put tags on as soon as they are harvested. Putting fish in the live well or stringers and waiting till your trip is over is a no no. So this was your first mistake. I remember not receiving my wires for my tags from the fishing hole so i never used my tags. I waited to go back and ask for them. It wasnt a big deal and wasn't ready to take a fine.

If you do try to appeal this case he has all the proof that you broke the law. Not sure if its worth it. Sorry to hear about all your trouble. I hope this is a lesson learned.

Edit: I forget to mention, regardless of the childrens good deed, you still broke the law from the start

[Talking moose]

Have to give you a ticket man.
Otherwise every poacher would be doing this without having to worry about repprocutions.
Sorry. Lesson learned.

[Positrac]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Have to give you a ticket man.
Otherwise every poacher would be doing this without having to worry about repprocutions.
Sorry. Lesson learned.

As much as getting a fine sucks I’d have to agree with what has been posted so far.

[OL_JR]

Unfortunately the only option for you without wires was to throw all your walleye back and you didn't do that. Gonna have to suck it up and pay the fine.

Now another discussion is the tags themselves and how ridiculous it is they haven't come up with something more durable, but that's what we got to work with at the moment.

[roper1]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Have to give you a ticket man.
Otherwise every poacher would be doing this without having to worry about repprocutions.
Sorry. Lesson learned.

^^This^^

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by HuyFishin

My take on the situation. If I was the officer i would definitely have gave you the ticket. Cant take everyones word for it. For all I know you could have put the fish in your vehicle and saved your tags for your next trip. Having the tags on hand is still the outdoorsmans responsibility. If you did not have the tags available you should have put them walleyes back in the water. Law states you have to put tags on as soon as they are harvested. Putting fish in the live well or stringers and waiting till your trip is over is a no no. So this was your first mistake. I remember not receiving my wires for my tags from the fishing hole so i never used my tags. I waited to go back and ask for them. It wasnt a big deal and wasn't ready to take a fine.

If you do try to appeal this case he has all the proof that you broke the law. Not sure if its worth it. Sorry to hear about all your trouble. I hope this is a lesson learned.

Edit: I forget to mention, regardless of the childrens good deed, you still broke the law from the start

exactly...lessens learned...for all involved.

dam I made a quick cut through a provincial park on my quad about 10 years ago ice fishing...my fault 100%...no excuses...$270.00 later...lessens learnt.

[Fitscottn]

I will side with F&W on this.

Similar to hunting, the first thing you do after you walk up to the harvested animal is put the tag on.

Honest mistakes are sadly expensive lessons.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HuyFishin]

I would also like to take this moment to welcome you to this forum.

[bucksman]

Originally Posted by HuyFishin

I would also like to take this moment to welcome you to this forum.

[bucksman]

Bought the tags Wednesday, had plenty of time to go and find some wires before the weekend. Your friend had wires in the truck so when you realized you forgot them then go and get them. plenty of other ways to affix them if you didn't want to drive back to the boat launch. There was 4 people on the boat and not one person could think of a way to attach the tag?
No one here is going to give you advice on how to get away with poaching

[Justfishin73]

Got our walleye tags at CT, took forever to get them, so left quickly, not noticing that only 2 wires for 6 tags. Didn't notice till that night. PITA--but went back and got the other 4. As many have said, just about anything could have been used. I make every trip out planning to get stopped by a CO. Takes an extra 5 min to do a gear check, to prevent a bigger headache later.

[DiabeticKripple]

Im on side with F&W, if you had no way to tag the fish, then the person shouldnt have kept them.

How does F&W actually know that you were going to tag them?

If you are going to fish a lake that has retention with tags, you better double check you have the tags, wires, and a stapler to help keep the tags on.

[Sparkle]

We had the same situation at Pigeon. Canadian Tire had run out of the wires needed. What I did was use leader material instead ran it through the mouth and gills and stuck the tags to it. I also used a stapler to secure the tags onto the leader line . We were stopped by a F and W officer. He checked our catch , shook his head and thanked us for our ingenuity. The key is show the tags were secured to the fish. Good luck

[Who Da Fisherman]

Originally Posted by Sparkle

We had the same situation at Pigeon. Canadian Tire had run out of the wires needed. What I did was use leader material instead ran it through the mouth and gills and stuck the tags to it. I also used a stapler to secure the tags onto the leader line . We were stopped by a F and W officer. He checked our catch , shook his head and thanked us for our ingenuity. The key is show the tags were secured to the fish. Good luck

^^^This, we did the same, I think it worked better as those wires are small for Class A eyes.
WDF

[lyallpeder]

I would have given you the ticket too. It’s your responsibility to tag the fish as soon as you harvest them.

You could pay $20 on it and ask for more time to pay then as long as your putting $10 on it now and then they will probably keep giving you time. I believe the online fine payment fee is waved right now.

[wildwoods]

Originally Posted by Sparkle

We had the same situation at Pigeon. Canadian Tire had run out of the wires needed. What I did was use leader material instead ran it through the mouth and gills and stuck the tags to it. I also used a stapler to secure the tags onto the leader line . We were stopped by a F and W officer. He checked our catch , shook his head and thanked us for our ingenuity. The key is show the tags were secured to the fish. Good luck

Haha i have had to do the leader material for tags wire thing lol.
Any hardware store sells haywire. This shouldnt be an issue. Go prepared and you are good to go. Sorry OP I know it stings. If everyone was honest we wouldn't need officers.

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by wildwoods

Haha i have had to do the leader material for tags wire thing lol.
Any hardware store sells haywire. This shouldnt be an issue. Go prepared and you are good to go. Sorry OP I know it stings. If everyone was honest we wouldn't need officers.

Agreed.

[fisher Gord]

wrapping the tag around the knot in the rope,sticky side to sticky side will stay better than the wires. how many have had 1 leg of the wire come loose dragging a game animal out of the bush.

[BuckCuller]

Just like others here, I wouldn’t say the fines were unjust. The officer used his judgment to the best of his ability and came to the conclusion that after trying to tag the first fish once you caught it you should have known that you did not have the proper means to tag the fish and should have released it and not kept anymore.
He wouldn’t be able to tell if it was just a mistake or weather you have kept five limits already doing the same thing so people need to be held to a standard.

Some times mistakes cost money just like a fender bender.
But I guarantee, you will have your wires next time.

[mariocerna]

I know that the fine was lawfully, but like a case when you get laid off without proper notice and you get a lawful but unjust severance; then you have to go to the a labor lawyer and he gathers a history of legal plaintiffs to support your case he sues your former employer and then you get a more just severance. Here why I’m asking is not whether the fine is lawful or not, I’m asking whether this can be win in court because can be supported by the legal plaintiffs history, perhaps there is a lawyer in this group that can give more advice.

[hal53]

Originally Posted by mariocerna

I know that the fine was lawfully, but like a case when you get laid off without proper notice and you get a lawful but unjust severance; then you have to go to the a labor lawyer and he gathers a history of legal plaintiffs to support your case he sues your former employer and then you get a more just severance. Here why I’m asking is not whether the fine is lawful or not, I’m asking whether this can be win in court because can be supported by the legal plaintiffs history, perhaps there is a lawyer in this group that can give more advice.

The law is very clearly stated in the regulations. You broke the law, got caught and received a fine..pay up.

[waldedw]

Originally Posted by hal53

The law is very clearly stated in the regulations. You broke the law, got caught and received a fine..pay up.

This

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by mariocerna

I know that the fine was lawfully, but like a case when you get laid off without proper notice and you get a lawful but unjust severance; then you have to go to the a labor lawyer and he gathers a history of legal plaintiffs to support your case he sues your former employer and then you get a more just severance. Here why I’m asking is not whether the fine is lawful or not, I’m asking whether this can be win in court because can be supported by the legal plaintiffs history, perhaps there is a lawyer in this group that can give more advice.

Cmon man. Is it really worth it? It might be different if alligators had bitten your hands off and you had no way of affixing a tag.

[sportman]

Originally Posted by mariocerna

I know that the fine was lawfully, but like a case when you get laid off without proper notice and you get a lawful but unjust severance; then you have to go to the a labor lawyer and he gathers a history of legal plaintiffs to support your case he sues your former employer and then you get a more just severance. Here why I’m asking is not whether the fine is lawful or not, I’m asking whether this can be win in court because can be supported by the legal plaintiffs history, perhaps there is a lawyer in this group that can give more advice.

To say that if you fight this I hope you lose sounds a little too crass so I will just say I hope you don't win. I think you are just looking to play the system and hope that by wasting everyones time you can get away with something. Your "history" has nothing to do with it, just means you weren't caught before.

[spoiledsaskhunter]

have to go with the crowd here....

the best outcome for this would be a lesson for the kids. explain to them that the fine is high, but you deserved it......for everything you do, there is a consequence, so remember for next time; before you do something wrong, consider what the consequence might be, and act accordingly.

what kind of example is whining to the judge and asking for leniency going to be for young people who need to be taught the right way to do things? have a discussion with them and explain that the warden wasn't the bad guy, he was doing his job.

[FlyTheory]

OP, sorry man. I know the feeling of money being tight, but if it was extremely tight, staying home would have been a better option. Leisurely activities are really best for when you can afford it. In the past when I was low on money, don’t fish (gas - especially if towing a boat - and tags and licence cost add up). Also investing in time to apply for CERB, EI, and look for a new vocation would be more valuable. Once you have stability, fish away!

Sorry it happened, but that’s the way it goes. Make a mistake and there are consequences... Cabelas not having wires is not an excuse, as there are many items that could do the same thing.

[Fishwhere]

I hate to say it but i agree with F & W. They literally didnt have a choice in that situation. The tag rules are very clear. I do think you should appeal though and hopefully your fines get reduced.

I dont necassarily agree with losing the fish too - even though its menial.

Also to add - what is saying you havent done that 10 times in a year and just have the tags as a back up for a situation like this? Not saying thats what you do, but you could....

[HuyFishin]

Originally Posted by Fishwhere

I hate to say it but i agree with F & W. They literally didnt have a choice in that situation. The tag rules are very clear. I do think you should appeal though and hopefully your fines get reduced.

I dont necassarily agree with losing the fish too - even though its menial.

Also to add - what is saying you havent done that 10 times in a year and just have the tags as a back up for a situation like this? Not saying thats what you do, but you could....

Losing the fish will have to be a part of it. Its still illegally harvested fish so I dont think he would allow you to keep it. The Officer rather throw the walleye back in the water regardless if its still alive or dead. Let nature do its thing.

Not on the same level but if someone was to steal candy from a candy store. The officers not gonna say you might aswell eat it since I already fined you.

[pikeman06]

The tag system is pretty open to abuse. The f&w know this and have heard every excuse in the book. Of course they are gonna charge people being non complient, that's their job. I don't see much ground for appeal in your case.