me and 4 fishing buddies were below coffer dam and nailed fish this weekend.as we got back to our rigs the gammies told us we were in illigal water and took our fish and we got $380 citations. its a bunch of bull,we were far enough below we thought,your supposed to be 400 ft below and we had to have been pretty close.we have to go to court on the 21st.what should we do.

Simple- read the regs and follow the rules- when you walk the line sooner or later you get caught on the wrong side. Pay your fine and beg to keep your licence. If you were in Idaho you would have lost your poles also, and no chance of fishing for at least 1 year.

Yep! Excuses are like pyloric valves. Everyone has one. Been in your shoes, and it was my own dam fault. Many of the states are instituting slob points. You get a certain amount of points for a violation, and eventually it can lead to forfeiture of your fishing or hunting privelages. Like B-Run said, the gamies also have the rights to confiscate vehicles/boats and/or gear in certain circumstances. Mark it up to experience and move on.

we were far enough below we thought,your supposed to be 400 ft below and we had to have been pretty close

That doesnt cut it, pretty close isnt the rule it is past 400ft, like the others said pay your fine and be happy you kept your gear. I know down here this year they were taking trucks and boats of guys keeping natives. If your gonna push the rules you gotta be ready to get caught.

I agree with B-Run, but if you truly think you are in the right then I suggest you measure the distance.

Be aware that you may have been video taped.

Law breakers will find no sympathy here.

Seems like there would be markers showing where the deadline is too. Were there any?

i'll put my 2 cents in, gamies to me are like idaho state patrol men, they find any excuse to get more money for the state, and if we here on this board who speed,ie: breaking the law there, should we get no mercy for breaking the law eh'? and everyone does it? **berkley boy**

O.K, so every time your speeding you know your doing it right??? Its not a "mistake".. its a choice you make. When you get caught.. you pay the fine. In the situation of the 400 ft deadline, these guys knew full on that they were pushing it.. they must have.. and guess what happened, 380 X 5- Think "Nelson" on the Simpsons "HA HAH"

go to court and if you have had no other viotations they will cut the fine down, just tell them you screwed up and give them the sorry i`l be more careful and never do it again speech.

If you were less than 400 feet, you were doing what is commonly called 'poaching'. Doesn't matter if you were one foot to close or 100 feet to close. Feel lucky you can still fish. Not knowing if your legal or not is plain ignorant. Suck it up and pay the fine.

Sorry about you getting busted, if ya didn't purposely fish above the deadline that is.

This brings me to a point I've brought up in the past: Why the hell do you need an interpreter for the fishing and hunting reg. books? Also, the state could go a little further to make sure things are marked well. I've seen many people who just didn't know any better get busted. Sure it's our responsibility to read the regs., but if you can actually decifer the entire book without any questions, then you are doing a lot better than most of us.

Go back and measure it. If you were in the right, fight it as hard as you can. Through personal experience, I've delt with game wardens that just harass sportsmen for no reason, which, could be the case here. If not, oh well, don't do it next time.

The boundry is marked on both sides of the river 400' below the falls. The river is closed from 400' below the falls to above the coffer dam. On the west side of the river there are signs on the trail and a cable that runs over the side of the canyon all the way to the river. On the east side unless you are a rock climber you cannot get to the deadline from the trail on Indian Cabin road. If you were between the falls and the coffer dam you are lucky you only got a citation. Advise when you go to court tell the judge you have never fished there before and thought you were in the right place, and that it will never happen again. Or tell the judge that you are a member of the lickapoo tribe and that he has no jurisdiction in this case and you want it moved to tribal court. On the serious side bummer, you should know where your fishing cause they have no sense of humor when you violate the law, remember those wardens have to watch the indians snag from the top of the fish ladder and cant even write them a ticket.

MetalHead

According to this from the wdfw
http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/fish/regs/regchng/mar0801f.htm

It is open 100 feet above the falls, to 400 feet below coffer dam, amoung other places