Illegal Reports

[hewesbob]

I was just wondering what in the world people are thinking when they post illegal activities on this site. Are they really trying to brag about how many fish they can get out of the water? Are they folks that just don't read or care about the rules? Or are they just stupid? A couple weeks ago there was a report about Wapato lake in Chelan county I think it was bragging about having over his limit and today I see a post about Fish lake in Chelan county, the guy says he netted 12 in some thing like an hour and kept three of those while trolling a wedding ring and worms and then caught a BIG one. Isn't that about like robbing a 7-11 and going to the police station to brag about it?

[Amx]

Yes that is bad. As there is no button anymore to click on to report a bad fishing report, then the best thing to do is get the info to the report: person making the report, lake/river, and the date of the report, or a link/addy, and a reason why the report is bad, and PM that to Mike to have the report deleted. Only the administrators can edit or delete the report itself.

[Larry3215]

I would be slow to assume criminal intent - although I know full well it does happen that people deliberately flaunt the rules.

Still, a surprising number of people have trouble understanding the written word. Even more dont - for a variety of reasons - keep up with rules changes. If you fish the same waters for years in your local area and never see a game warden or talk to other fishermen or keep up with on-line forums, you could easily be unaware of the current rules that apply.

I'm not saying that any of that is a good excuse, but its not necessarily a sign of evil intent either

I would recommend doing what someone did for me when I posted a report with some questionable content. Add a comment to the report or send them a private message pointing out the rules violation. If you do it in a civil manner I would think the person would be grateful - as I was at the time it happened to me.

I read the new rule book every year as soon as it comes out AND I keep coppies in my tackle box, glove box and at home. But I dont read the pamphlet from cover to cover. I just read the parts that apply to my fishing interests and my local area to see whats changed.

Somehow I had missed an important part of how how illegal salmon were to be handled when caught and released. As a result, I was guilty of breaking the rules.

Call me stupid or careless or what ever, but I wasnt doing it deliberately. I was very grateful for the comments pointing out my error.

Just a thought from a reformed/recovering fishing criminal

[returnofthefish]

I saw some people that were leaving a dock because the game warden had a talk with them about releasing trout caught on bait and releasing them until they got the 5 they wanted. Some people just don't read the reg book well enough. The reg book can also can be complicated for some to comprehend, so they come here for clarification. Mistakes are made even though there is no intent.

Ive also been on here long enough to see people post their boat totals for the day and get blasted for over limit. Then the person that wrote the report responds to the commenter know that they had other anglers on the boat. Some reports can look bad, but we just don't really know since we weren't there. That's what the game wardens in the field are for.

[Mike Carey]

As Amx mentioned, if you see a report with reg violations please report it to support@washingtonlakes.com and Aaron or I will review and contact user and remove if appropriate.

Especially now as we get 10-20 reports a day it's going to happen that once in awhile one gets past us. We appreciate people helping us with this as we don't want to be posting fishing violations in reports. The fishing report form specifically warns people reports with violations in them will be removed without notice.

Thanks.

BTW, Fish Lake report I've suspended and contacted the member, Wapato report he does state "we were using lures..." which infers multiple anglers making it unclear if they did catch beyond a limit. The original report does appear to be a violation, the comments "sort of" make it less so.

Second BTW, thanks Hewesbob for bringing this up. I see you post on a regular basis. It drives me nuts to have people that never post a single fishing report be the ones that call people out.

[hewesfisher]

When I read a report that contains obvious violations, I simply send the report url to Mike and let him take care of it.

[Toni]

BTW, Fish Lake report I've suspended and contacted the member, Wapato report he does state "we were using lures..." which infers multiple anglers making it unclear if they did catch beyond a limit. The original report does appear to be a violation, the comments "sort of" make it less so.

Second BTW, thanks Hewesbob for bringing this up. I see you post on a regular basis. It drives me nuts to have people that never post a single fishing report be the ones that call people out.

I made a report one time that we stopped using bait because we were catching too fast. That can happen and in the later report a person can forget to put it in. So they would not be in violation but forgot to put that in the report.

[tnj8222]

This is why i don't post any reports or talk about going out on this site anymore. For some reason people like to pick through what you post like they are hating or correcting spelling. So I just keep my fishing info and reports to myself. Nobody wants to be under a magnifier.

[ncwflounderer]

i decided that if i can't say something nice, i probably shouldn't say anything at all. i wasn't there. Now, out in the field, if i see someone who may be in violation i will let them know about the regulation (it's a lot easier to come across friendly in person), and everyone has always been very thankful for the help. Washington state does have more complicated regulations than a lot of states in our great nation, although it is frustrating that it sometimes seems many people don't even take the time to even read the 2 pages of "general reg's."

[Amx]

Heck lots of people can't even read the rules on the sign at the boat launch, and go way over the 5 mph speed limit.

[Mike Carey]

This is why i don't post any reports or talk about going out on this site anymore. For some reason people like to pick through what you post like they are hating or correcting spelling. So I just keep my fishing info and reports to myself. Nobody wants to be under a magnifier.

That's unfortunate, there is that small group of random people that do this, and they are almost always people that don't post reports. Anyone that uses the report comments to harass members will have the same consequences as people that post abusive stuff in the forums.
Because it's next to impossible to monitor every comment on every report we added the ability for the report poster to delete comments they don't want to be on there.
Our next site upgrade coming next year is going to take the whole report feature to a new level...

[tnj8222]

I did not know you can delete comments. That's actually a nice feature.

[Amx]

And you can always report the comment to the mods and/or the admin. That way we can also deal with the person who posts the crude comments.

[Mike Carey]

I did not know you can delete comments. That's actually a nice feature.

Yup, each comment, upper right corner has a "delete" link. You have to be logged in to see it of course. As Amx said, if it's rude and crude let us know. Even when you delete it we can pull it up, review it, and warn or remove the person that posted it.

[jd39]

I've made comments on people's reports that show or imply a violation just to alert the poster and anyone else who reads the report/sees the picture, most don't seem to appreciate it even though to my memory none were meant to be snarky or attack the poster/report, we all make mistakes (myself included) and I assume good intent until someone gives reason not too.
If I catch one now I just send a heads up PM to Mike to avoid a simple comment on a report from turning into something I didn't want it to be. A lot easier that way and i believe "his site, his discretion" is a good rule of thumb for these situations going forward anyway, at least for me.