24th/25th

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Downrigger

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Headed up early on the 24th and got on the water by about 8:30 and fished until the wind came up.

We caught 4 limits of 3# fish or better in just over 2 hours this weekend. Everyone was saying orange but we used pink hoochies. Caught them between 30 and 50 feet near Anvil. We had 4 doubles and 2 triples for over 60 fish in 2 days. Even WGF was surprised during our "safety" (cough . . . cough . . . revenue . . . cough) check.
 
Propnut69 said:
opppssssssss, sounds like someone got a ticket.
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Actually, no. We were 100% with everything they asked for. I'm more irritated that they acted disappointed when they couldn't find anything wrong with us. And, I think they were more interested in our money than they were in our safety. Just my opinion but that's the impression their "safety" check gave.

We were using the 5.5" dodgers. Pretty much anything we had with pink worked. RMT varieties Crushed Pink, Orange Watermelon, and Pink Hyper. Also used 1 pink Shasta dodger with the white herringbone. Our squids were anywhere from 10-18" off the dodger. Leader length didn't seem to matter.
 
Glad you didn't get a ticket. But come lets get real ,you're boating on the gorge ,on a holiday weekend. You should of expected to get checked. I'm glad to see the Wy G&F on the water,even when I get checked.
 
Propnut69 said:
Glad you didn't get a ticket. But come lets get real ,you're boating on the gorge ,on a holiday weekend. You should of expected to get checked. I'm glad to see the Wy G&F on the water,even when I get checked.
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I'm fine if they want to check me. I have everything I need and everything is done by the book. I'm glad they do the checking. My only complaint is that I wished they were glad to see me following the rules instead of disappointed at not being able to give me a ticket for something.

They don't care about safety up there. All they care about is making money.
 
I feel the same way about any group or subset of police/game wardens/sheriff that care more about revenue than public safety.

In this case, I don't condemn all of WGF for the 2 of them that were on the Gorge on Sunday. There probably are some that aren't jerks. I just happened to run into two that were.

But there are jerks everywhere, Wyoming doesn't have a monopoly on them.
 
I remember a couple of years ago when I was inspected. They came a long ways to find me near the pipeline coming out of Buckboard. The only thing I could think of was pickings was slim that day to go that distance. But that's their job. I don't get irritated or rattled when an inspection happens. Maintaining that level of courtesy is easy for me and speeds up the process of getting it over with. But I always enjoy having a BS session with those folks who patrol the waters on the Wyoming side further keeping them from moving. I have never been approached from the water cops on the Utah side. But I feel more like a Wyoming resident whenever I fish the Gorge. If one is not in compliant with safety should be warned.
 
I think that's my point Bduck. If they are concerned about safety, why would they act disappointed when they couldn't find anything wrong with me?

I did get rattled when they drove up because they approached us at full speed, only to cut their wake about 50 feet off our aft port quarter as they were doing a full 180 to pull along side of us. I was working the riggers as it happened and when I looked up, all I saw was white water and then someone with a gun in the front of the boat yelling something at me that I could not hear. It took me 2 more seconds to realize that it was WGF when I saw they were wearing matching red shirts and I was somewhat relieved to see that it was not a crazy person wanting to pick a fight or something.

I was totally courteous with them the whole time. I even gave them fishing information and other information just to be courteous. I showed them everything they wanted to see only to get complaints that they couldn't get close enough to see if my fire extinguisher was properly charged (there was a big white zip tie on it showing it had never been used). I could have said something smart about asking if I could throw her my binoculars so she could see it, but I didn't, just to be courteous. I showed them our inspection receipt, I told them I'm a certified inspector and showed them my ID card, the receipt, our seal, and the box WGF gave me to do inspections. I gave them the benefit of the doubt on everything. But they were only interested in finding something wrong.

After they were done asking for everything they could possibly ask for, there was no "thank you," no "good luck," no "be safe," not even a "drop dead." They just shook their heads and slid back off our port side and started to run after a near by pontoon boat.

I've been at FG every Memorial Day for the last 10 years or so, at least for some portion of the weekend. I've been fishing at the Gorge in my own boat for about 10 years or so. I've NEVER ONCE been checked by WGF on the water. Never. Given the attitudes of the two that checked me this time, I hope it will be another 10 years before I see them again. I don't need their kind of "safety" check.
 
perceptions can be off-putting, I've fish the gorge 2 to three times a year and usually get checked a couple off times a year, either for a creel survey or a safety inspection it has never been a big deal to me. they do approach quickly but are excellent boat handlers. And have never affected my fishing during the stop and they have always given me the benefit of the doubt and didn't seem ticket happy . I have also been checked on the ut. side a few time also. I do think Wyoming fish and game target out of state boaters but I haven't felt abused. remember it's a job and some times bad day's happen.
 
mtncat1 said:
perceptions can be off-putting, I've fish the gorge 2 to three times a year and usually get checked a couple off times a year, either for a creel survey or a safety inspection it has never been a big deal to me. they do approach quickly but are excellent boat handlers. And have never affected my fishing during the stop and they have always given me the benefit of the doubt and didn't seem ticket happy . I have also been checked on the ut. side a few time also. I do think Wyoming fish and game target out of state boaters but I haven't felt abused. remember it's a job and some times bad day's happen.
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I've been checked several times on the Utah side as well. One time they drove their boat right up through the back of my spread and cut off two lines. That's not excellent boat handling. Also, pulling out of a dead run and flipping around 180 degrees 50' from another boat is not excellent boat handling.

I don't know about tickets, I've never gotten one because I've never had cause to get one.

Also, I can't speak to whether or not WY targets out of state boaters because I've only been checked once there on the water.

I also don't accept that bad days happen as an excuse to mistreat any member of the public for WGF or anyone else. If you owned a business and you had an employee mistreating customers, would you tolerate that as the owner of the business? An employee saying "I had a bad day" is not an excuse, especially when the employee giving you a hard time works for the citizens of the state. Frankly I don't care if they are having a bad day or not. That shouldn't affect how they handle every other boater on the water.

And I hit the Gorge 18-20 times a year.
 
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I like you don't think law enforcement should be revenue collectors. but there has been at least three times I that I could have got ticketed but didn't. I'm sorry you have had bad times with these contacts, but that has not been my experience. it sounds like you've had a few bad experiences. p/s even though I only go up 2 to three times a year I spend about a week each time so that's about 15 days on the water up there . in my opinion it's such a great fishery that its worth the head aches to go there I hope your luck improves though
 
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Bduck said:
I remember a couple of years ago when I was inspected. They came a long ways to find me near the pipeline coming out of Buckboard. The only thing I could think of was pickings was slim that day to go that distance. But that's their job. I don't get irritated or rattled when an inspection happens. Maintaining that level of courtesy is easy for me and speeds up the process of getting it over with. But I always enjoy having a BS session with those folks who patrol the waters on the Wyoming side further keeping them from moving. I have never been approached from the water cops on the Utah side. But I feel more like a Wyoming resident whenever I fish the Gorge. If one is not in compliant with safety should be warned.
Click to expand...

Roger, was this the 32ft well-point(i think it's a well-point),with the big outboards? I hardly doubt that they went all that way just to find you. You're not that hard to find,(esp when you run out of gas :eek: just teasin my friend) That boat is usually down around the state line ,and the smaller boats are used for the rest of the lake. Like mtncat1 said it's all about perception's Some boaters perceive that the Wy G&F are dissapointed,because they didn't find anything wrong,and could't write a ticket,to generate some money for the state. Others perceive it as part of being on the water,a minor inconvenience ,and nothing more. Then there are those that can't follow the rules,if they were printed on their forehead. Those types are why we have a need for law enforcement on the water.

Downrigger, I 'm truly sorry that your interaction with the G&F left you with a bad experience.If you feel that you were some how wronged,make a complaint with their boss. You are right on that,they do work for the citizens,and are a reflection on those of us that live here. Over the years I have been checked many,many times,and yes not all of them ,left me feelin all warm and fuzzy. For the most part I tend to give the G&F ,the benefit of the doubt. I treat them with respect, as long as it is given back .

Years ago we had a new fishcop on the gorge. This guy was out to make a name for himself. He was hard to deal with,because he showed up with a attitude,that everyone was doing something wrong,and he was going to find out what it was. Finally after enough complaints from others ,as well as my self ,he was transferred to another area. It was frustrating to deal with a person like that, thankfully all G&F are not the same way.
 
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I'm an out of state boater-(to the Wyoming side) that fishes from Buckboard 99% of the time. I have been inspected every year that I have been going up there-it usually happens in the first 3 visits. I also believe that they may check of out state boaters more frequently because of their own regulations, and want to make sure everything is up to speed with Wyoming Regs. They have always been courteous, very thorough, and have handled things professionally when they have stopped me.

In the end, we usually talk about the status of kokanee fishing at the Gorge, what's working-what's not, where we have been doing the most good and such. They have always thanked us at the end, and we usually see them a lot more in the coming weeks as we go up there almost every weekend each summer.

This year, I've only had the boat out in the slip for a week, and then had to bring it home to do a repair-(Greg was way too busy to get to it, and was going to have to order more parts). That weekend they were on the docks, saw that we had kokes, but didn't come over and check us out. I'm going to try and put the boat back in the water this weekend for the summer. I'm pretty sure they will get around to us in the coming weeks. It's no big deal to me.

My only feedback to the WFG would be to please have some fenders out-(available) when coming about and tying off to our boat. Mine is still fairly new, and I want to keep it looking that way for as long as I can. A few times we have just held on to each others boats while I get items they request, and my wife has a hard time keeping the 2 separated enough so we are not taking epoxy or decal finishes off. They are not worried about theirs as it's seen better days-

MP
 
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