Yes, police can right you tickets for fishing violations. any commisioned officer in the state can right you tickets for any rule on the books.


One could say that the poachers are not the ones getting waters shut down but its the people calling all the time. For instance the barrier dam silver fishery. the sign was practically at the dam but because there was so many people whinining to the state about the snagging going on the sign got moved way the hell back down river. These fish were surplus silvers that were clogging the fish ladder.The people calling were people that could catch no fish! and were just jealous of the people who were catching fish.
I had a couple fish that were hooked just outside the mouth that I kept. some joe blow logger jerk called the warden and was all checking out my truck like he was the savior of the fish or something. He was standing on the bank waiting for a spot to fish. He started whining about how I had to let the fish go I told him to get a life and take up carp fishing, from there I had to say nothing else after that everybody started laying into him. he was to stupid to realize that the faster I limited the faster he had a spot to fish. The warden came and at first tried to right me a ticket just on heresay, After explaining what happened he did not right me up. We talked for awhile and he told me how he was sick and tired of getting called on snaggers and pulled away from the elk and dear poachers. They get called they have to respond legit or not thats the way it is, and thats why $hit gets closed.

I only call when I am sure the wardens will have a case and only on people that are poaching on naturally spawning fish runs.
The state said it themselves I a response to the letters written regarding netting in the columbia river "sportsfishermen could never catch all the surplus hatchery fish." That is why they let the nets in the columbia even risking the catch of native fish.
Hatchery fish are not important and the more fisheries that get closed the more pressure there is on wild fish!

By the way, on the cowlitz silver fishery the first year they opened the upper pool the wardens would stand up in the p-lot and watch people snag fish but write no tickets. The the unspoken word was that is was ok because of all the surplus fish.