Originally Posted By: father of three
Update. Got a call from the officer this am. The only way he will release my pots is if I accept a ticket for poaching. Otherwise I have to wait until they go up at auction and buy them back.

I wasn't the one fishing with them.


Your Dad should buy you new pots.

Seems pretty straight forward to me.

Honestly, I'm failing to see what's wrong here, or how it's unjust in any ways.

You loaned your gear out to your Dad who basically was "poaching", according to the regulations. You are now paying the consequences.

I think.

There is no definition of "poaching" in the WDFW regulations. Is this a RCW? If so, which one is it and what does it state?

Your father was in violation of the regulations, but not what I personally would consider to be "poaching". Poaching (to me) involves illegally harvesting game either out of season, or above and beyond limits.

Your father should just be issued a citation. Once the citation is paid, he should get the gear back.

If it were me, I'd look up the RCW on all of that:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?Cite=77







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T.K. Paker