Piper is pretty much right!
All you have to do is stop and think about it for a minute and you will understand why all this is just plan old river talk BS at this time.
Here the law:
WAC 220-56-175 Catch record cards. It is unlawful for any person to fail to comply with the catch record requirements as provided for in this section:
(1) In order to fish for or possess for personal use any crab, anadromous salmon, sturgeon, halibut taken from Catch Record Card Areas 5 through 13, or steelhead, an angler must obtain and have in personal possession a valid appropriate catch record card as described in WAC 220-69-236 except for commercially caught salmon retained for personal use as provided for in WAC 220-20-016 and commercially caught sturgeon retained for personal use as provided for in WAC 220-20-021.
(2) Any angler, after obtaining a catch record card shall validate the catch record card by completely, accurately, and legibly completing all personal identification information in ink on the catch record card prior to detaching the catch record card from the underlying copy of the catch record card or, for automated licenses, affixing the appropriate validation sticker to the catch record card. A catch record card remains valid so long as there are one or more unfilled spaces available for the species being fished for, except:
(a) In the mainstem Columbia River downstream from where the river forms the common boundary between Oregon and Washington for sturgeon a catch record card remains valid when the sturgeon portion of the catch record card is filled. A person may not retain sturgeon after the sturgeon portion of the catch record card is filled.
(b) A second or subsequent catch record card is invalid for retention of sturgeon.
(3) Immediately upon catching and possessing a salmon, steelhead, sturgeon or halibut, the angler shall enter in ink in the appropriate space the place, date of catch, species (catch type), for sturgeon, length and, for halibut, vessel type.
(4) Immediately upon retaining a Dungeness crab aboard a vessel or on the shore, the fisher must enter in ink in the appropriate space the place and date of catch, fishery type and enter a tally mark for each Dungeness crab retained from each catch record card area fished. At the end of the fishing day, the fisher shall enter the total number of crab tally marks for each fishery type.
(5) Every person possessing a catch record card shall by April 30 of the year following the year printed on the card return such card to the department of fish and wildlife.
(6) Any person possessing a catch record card shall, upon demand of any law enforcement officer or authorized department employee, exhibit said card to such officer or employee for inspection.
(7) A catch record card shall not be transferred, borrowed, altered, or loaned to another person.
Now how in earth is WDFW going to know what happen to your "punch card" if it doesn't come in the mail? Do you think that they are going to force us to send it in by registered mail….dream on! It's really not that big of a deal for WDFW and they know it! They have already formed a pretty good idea of how many fish are being caught each year at each stream or location by there own creel checks. And they also have formed a formula to calculate for the fish that are not being reported.
Cowlitzfisherman
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Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????