Glen Helen 2/19/04 Have to stop the POACHERS! - California Fishing

Gerald · 02-20-2004, 06:55 AM

Fished Glen Helen Thurs. afternoon for a steady bite on a Calavaras (sp?) stocking. Arrived around noon, and the place was packed for a Thurs. The small lake was shoulder to shoulder with anglers with alot of fish being caught on PB. I tried jigging a few differant colors of LRs that produced a few fish, but nothing steady. Switched over to a super duper in brn trout color that had produced for me in the past, and that was the hot ticket. Was nailing a fish about every 5 casts or so. Nothing big, but lots of 1 to 2lbers. Then I casted a little to close to the reeds and lost my lure. GRRRRRRRRRR! Got to try and find another one, but this color is really hard to find. Switched back to jigging with a Grn/Yellow LR and the hot bite was back on. Left at 4:00 with probably about 20 fish caught and released for the afternoon. I did see a 5lber caught on PB, and some POACHERS keeping WAY over their limit.

These POACHERS were using jigs with meal worms under a bobber, and just nailing the trout. There were three of them fishing off the concrete slab at the small lake. They were keeping every fish they caught. They all had floating baskets in the water which they kept three or so fish in, but were stuffing all the other fish they caught into bags and putting them in backpacks. These guys had atleast 50 to 60 fish kept between them. I got tired of watching this happen and called the front gate to report them. The girl on the phone told me she would get a Park Ranger over there right away. Well guess what? No one ever showed up! This was total BS! I have been fishing Glen Helen for years. My Grandpa took me there as a little kid. I can remember the Park Rangers coming by every few hours to check on limits. Dont these guys do there jobs anymore? WTF are we paying for with our ever increasing cost of our yearly fishing license? I am truely disgusted!

Wahoo! · 02-20-2004, 08:13 AM

Gerald, thanks for the report. Sounds like the bite was really on over there! That's too bad about your lucky lure. Hopefully you'll be able to replace it.

Wahoo! · 02-20-2004, 08:13 AM

Gerald, I know how you feel. I'm sure we all have stories of people poaching. It's sad that these people don't understand or have respect for our sport. You did the right thing by calling the front gate. The only thing we as fishermen can do (safely) is call the park rangers or DFG and report the poachers. The Department of Fish and Game poacher hotline, is 1-888-DFG-CALTIP. We all have the responsibility to report poachers and I respect that you did your part and reported the crime.

I understand that it can be very frustrating when the authorities don't have the resources to respond to all reports, but they are doing what they can with the resources they have. I actually have seen an increased DFG presence in some areas. Last year I was actually checked for a license for the first time in my life. Not just once, but on multiple occaisions. And in one instance I was checked twice in one day. I have a picture of me hooked up with a fish while surf fishing with a DFG officer standing next to me checking my license!!

Things will improve. In the meantime, we need to become more proactive and do everything in our power to stop poaching when we see it. We are all responsible for the state of our fisheries and need to do everything we can to preserve it.

Gerald · 02-20-2004, 09:55 AM

Well, they had no excuse in this case. The front gate said there was a Park Ranger present at the park at that time.

Wahoo! · 02-20-2004, 10:04 AM

I agree, that is inexcusable.

DementedFish · 02-20-2004, 04:30 PM

well, at least u caught fish

PilotBryson · 02-21-2004, 10:13 AM

Geez that's nuts. Did anyone ever end up saying anything to these guys? Usually if there are that many people fishing at least one person has the guts to confront them.