Our DFG in action. Or inaction?

[Multispecies]

I am walking my dog this morning behind the Nimbus hatchery and see a group of 5 guys, three of them jabbing with metal poles wading in the river. They stop when they see me watching. About a hundred yds. downstream I see 3 guys fishing. I tell them that portion of the river is closed to fishing and they just keep on casting. Now I am pissed and walk back to the visitors center and tell the two women who work there what was going on. They are DFG employees. They had no phone # for a warden or ranger at the desk?! Their solution is to send the younger of the 2 down there with reg. books and explain the river is closed. I couldn't believe they sent a young 20's girl down the river to confront 8 guys. I was following behind to see what would happen and saw another DFG hatchery worker and told him what was going on. I ask if a warden/ranger could be sent down as the DFG region2 office is right there. He laughed and said "On a weekend?". The young women spoke with the people, the large group left and the 3 fisherman were hanging around waiting for everyone to leave. They are probably fishing now.
What a bunch of apathetic POS. All they had to do was call a warden and several people would have been busted for poaching.

[FISH2WIN55]

I am suprised at the weekend comment. My understanding is that all wardens have to work weekends. I know with the Lake Sonoma hatchery they are Corp of Engineers employees not DFG. It is really to bad that there is not more money in government budgets to have more law enforcement.

[Swimbait Wannabe]

You think that is bad. It was brought to my attention by a loud mouth fisherman that at night he and his buddies go snag salmon in the Nimbus hatchery. Not the river mind you, in the cement raceways!!!! He says he uses 200lb Power Pro and bagged 10+ every time he went. I called cal-tip (the most useless service) and got transferred around from one clueless person to the next. Finally got transferred to a female warden who claimed she was at Nimbus. I told her about the guys snagging in the hatchery. She said you mean the river, I said no the hatchery. I told her he did it in the middle of the night. She said "oh, I don't work that late". Saw the guy a few days later, complete with cell phone images of 15 salmon he bagged the night before. I've made 4 calls to cal-tip over the years with never any action taken. I doubt I'll call again.

[Ken C.]

Unfortunately this is the end result of our great state government re-directing the funds that should go to F&G over to the "general fund", to be spent in whatever way our elected officials deem worthy (i.e., their own pockets!!).

I have seen so many injustices over the years from hunters and fishers that it just blows me away. Yes I have made some calls, taken pictures, etc. but the word I get is that unless the warden is there to wittness it themselves there's not alot they can do. Just today I was out fishing with Jason along Holland cut and we see a truck driving along the levee road. About 50 to 100 yards away from us the passenger sticks the barrel of his shoot-gun out the window and fires off a round.

My first impulse was to fire up and go get the guy's license number, but then I thought "he's armed, we're not", then "it's my word against his and since I didn't have a description of the shooter or the driver, what could I say?" The real pisser is that here's this guy on the bank in his truck obviously shooting at something across the river. If he had actually hit something, what chance would he have of actually retrieving that bird?

I only hope that the round going off inside the cab was enough to make their ears ring for days!

[MGJR]

Wardens work nights and weekends...always. Just because the hatchery workers didn't think the warden would be out at Nimbus on the weekend, doesn't mean that the wardens aren't watching. They are very stealthy buggers. They need to get the evidence they need so that they can ensure the perps are properly convicted and fined.

You have to give them a break though fellas, these guys are some of the lowest paid law enforcement in the State, there aren't very many of them (think about how many Sheriff deputies there are in the County, then how many wardens?). Do you see your City and County guys confronting groups of individuals who they know are armed out in the woods?

I can understand your frustration regarding your observations at Nimbus...but thought I would share my .02.

MG

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

Why dont we petition for a volunteer Warden Corp w/ticket writing authorization. Perhaps we coud get a percentage of the fines to offset the cost of fishing.
I can be the fulltime lobiest if enough of you guys will contribute $5 a month to pay my expenses.
Of course we will all need body guards (fishing partners) packing full auto m-16's while we are writing the tickets. We could also probably pickup some firearms sponsers to pay our entry fees in tournaments while we are fishing tournaments as under cover agents.
Who wants to sign up????

[Tobe]

You people need to understand how DFG works in order to get a warden to respond!

Next time you witness any illegal activity, you will have to tell a white lie. Inform them there is a bass tournament in progress and watch what happens.

[BigBossMan]

Your local Sheriff’s Office can enforce fish and game violations just as easy as a DFG Warden. Next time contact your local Sheriff’s Office dispatch and advise them of the situation. A deputy will respond and either handle the situation or have their dispatch contact DFG dispatch to get a Warden enroute.

[Multispecies]

I have lived across the street from the hatchery for 9 years. I am down there all the time cycling, dog walking , fishing ect. and the incident I described in my post is the 4th time I have brought major fishing violations to the attention hatchery staff. Not once have they responded with any sense of urgency. As a matter of fact Saturday was the first time they ever actually sent anyone down to the river. I have also called Cal-Tip twice and that is a joke. No excuses. DFG staff rank with typical state workers that are there for a check. I can't believe those people raise those Salmon & Steelhead for a living and wont do squat when people poach them. The American River is unique among CA rivers as it runs through a large metropolitan area, has several runs of fish and a large immigrant population that preys on them. I would think that combination of factors alone would warrant law enforcement staff assigned to it.

[Ken C.]

Next time you witness any illegal activity, you will have to tell a white lie. Inform them there is a bass tournament in progress and watch what happens.

That's funny right there - I don't care who you are!!!

But at the same time I have to disagree that our wardens are there just for the check. While I am sure there are some in the department who don't care (as with any job sector) I have to say that I have never had to deal with any of them. Every time I have had contact with any department staff or wardens they have been very responsive and dedicated to their job. The problem is there just aren't enough out there to do what needs to be done, and that is due to their funding sources being re-directed through no fault of their own.

[kopper_bass]

good point!

Here's a question though, cause i wouldn't know who or where to call if i saw an infraction going on near any of the common lakes we fish.

Does anyone have a list of phone numbers for the county offices to DFG and Sherrif dept's in the areas closest to our bass lakes & Delta?

Please post, or a location on the web to grab it. That list would be a great thing to print and put in my truck and boat.

Kopper_Bass

[SABP]

That is tounge in cheek by the way.


I'm sure there are some good ones and some bad ones just like any state agency but.

In the 8 years that I have lived here and competed in tournaments from team level through pro-ams, all my fun fishing and endless days of prefishing, I have never seen or spoken to a game warden in the field. I see them at shows all the time and at big public events but there are not enough of them out there protecting our resources in this state. And it is not their fault. It is horrible oversight, misdirected funding and poor administration. Once again not the wardens fault.

When you have that situation then everything else falls through the cracks. Lack of enforcement, lack of response, lack of effort. They probably feel so overwhelmed and understaffed that as a whole, the entire organization is mostly apathetic.

California probably does the worst job of managing it's resources of any of the states.

If it was not for the great job anglers and hunters and their respective organizations working with the few dedicated DFG people and wardens who really do care then things would be really bad.

I've seen proper management and enforcement in other states first hand and it does not happen here. Even though we might not be able to change the reason for the problem. We can stand up with those people and groups that care about our resources and make a difference. So to all those people, anglers, hunters, wardens, DFG staff and others who do make a difference.

Thank you