I have done this sorta thing tons of times with my girls and friends. Here is my take on it.

When you got there you both put out the rig with the powerbait. That is two licensed fishermen with one fishing pole. No problem. I don't think it legally matters who put the bait on, or who put it in the holder. I think it might be important that your wife did something to exercise control over the rod, and as you say, she sat by it.

When you started casting your rod, there were two fishermen with two rods. No problem.

When you rebaited the other rod with powerbait, you first put down your fishing rod and were no longer fishing. You had two licensed fishermen with one rod. No problem. Back to square one.

At no point did you have control of both rods while fishing.

I would fight it, and if you present it right I would think you would win. This game agent is an embarassment to the state.

What the hell happened to common sence ? this is why i am really thinking about selling all my fishing gear and getting a new hobby.

I'm wondering if the same would be true if you were helping your 3 year old fish? If you baited your kids pole and cast it while your rod was set, you would be in violation. ??????????
I think a warning of the unlawful circumstances first would have been more fair then if you continued a ticket would have been waranted.

The gamewardens are tasked with the job of managing people, not fish and game. I would definitly go to court (with my wife ) and at least have the chance to give your side of the story. Getting it reversed is very important for furture encounters with the wardens.Once you have a "strike" against you it stays on your record for 10 years (I believe) and if you get 3 such bogas chicken shiat tickets you lose the right to fish or hunt for 3 years. We all do stuff that may not be legal according to the book, but still not illegal. You could have #2 just by releasing a wild wrong in the eyes of a warden.
Just my .02 cents

NBG,

If the conditions were as you described, that is, the line on your rod was NOT in the water when you reeled in your wife's line and rebaited, then you committed no violation. Hell, your wife didn't even need to be there under such circumstances. You can have 10 rods all baited up on the dock at the same time so long as you have only ONE line in the water at a time, and that rod is under your control.

Either there is more to the story than you presented, or the wildlife agent is in for an embarrassing loss when you take your case to court and win. Of course it will cost you a day off work to do it unless you can get an evening hearing. If you've got the facts straight, by all means contest the ticket.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

My wife has some arthritis in her hands, plus she is small. When she is out with me I let her catch mostl of the fish, but I have to tend her rod and the downrigger because it is too difficult for her to pull the rod out of the holder. I usually pull it and hand it off to her, then reset everything when she is done.

DFW has observed me doing this, hell we had our licenses checked after they watched us for awhile and never said anything. My wife couldn't salmon fish if I didn't tend her rod.

If what you say is true, that is absolutely wrong. There is the spirit of the law and then the letter of the law. I think it is the spirit of the law that should be enforced as opposed to the letter of the law.

What a load of HORSESHIT.
Another way Gammies are making friends wherever they go.

Instead of catching poachers or illegal netting, etc, which would require some effort, instead they go for the easy money.

I for one would have gotten my $91.00 worth

That ticket is total BS. Fight it!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to Washington. They don't call it the Ever"green" state for nothing.

Two guys in a boat. One steering the other drops the riggers. A guide rowing a client pulling plugs the client is in control of both rods. This gamie has a lot of tickets to write.

Yep.

Here we don't have "Law Enforcement" as much as we have "Tax Collectors with Guns." Now even WSLCB employees get guns and badges. Saw a couple downtown during artswalk. He looked like Harvey Milquetoast in SWAT gear and walked into the tavern like he was Wyatt Earp. I wondered if they were going to start shooting people for underage drinking.

I'm getting pretty fed up with it.

Yes fight the ticket. Go into a pre-trial and state not guilty. Then tell them to [censored] themselves on every plea deal they try to give you. Tell them to seat a jury and provide proof of the incedent. Tell them your wife will testify in your behalf. 95% sure this will get thrown out if you fight it.

It's more like "The Peoples Republic of Washington"

That gammie is a "JACK ASS".Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

The 20/20 hind sight approach, next time you go out there, when you go to check your wife's bait, hand her your pole. While she fishes your pole, you can do a little rebaiting and casting. After you have cast, she can watch her own pole and you can tend your pole as needed until ready to cast again.

Simple bait and switch approach to pole handling....

I am always nice until the chicken turns to $hit...

Steve

Any chance of passing on the peckerhead's name so we know who we're dealing with if he comes by us in the future? Total BS. I'd go to court too. I'm glad it was you and not me though. I probably wouldn't have kept my mouth shut or been very polite if I got the same ticket.

if you reeled in "her" rod and baited it up and then casted it back out again...

i dont see where people think that is ok. if she had reeled it in then i can see where i would try and fight it. but if you reel in the rod and bait it and cast it back out. kinda looks to me like you are the one fishing and not her.

just because she is sitting in front of it means nothing...

im looking at this at his point of view though. if that is what happened i can i completely understand why he gave you the ticket.

what is right of him to give you a ticket? thats will be determaned by the judge.

When he reeled in "her" fishing rod, "his" was not in use.

At the time he picked up "her" rod, it became "his". No problem.

People pass rods back and forth all the time. The law was never intended to cover something like this. If it was, then the law would be more specific.

Most of us have several fishing rods that are not in use, but are under our control when we go fishing. For the instance at hand to be a violation, then everyone with a spare rod in the boat or on the dock with them would have to also be in violation.

This is a perfect example of an undertrained or incompetent game agent. That is it, pure and simple.

In an era of state cutbacks, all state employees have had a "brain drain". Good workers are forced to find other work. I would bet my 9 foot loomis that this guy has not been a game agent more than two years, and less would be my guess.

Write a letter of complaint to his supervisor. Take it to the judge. This is wrong morally. This is wrong legally.

good luck on getting her to fish again for a while...if she does you deff have a keeper...

on the other hand, this really worries me about taking my nephew fishing, he cant cast yet, i cast it for him and he is instantly saying "give me give me, give it to me" i dont approve of the "Gimmie" but we are working on breaking him of that...case in point, i would be pissed if i got a ticket for that, who would want to fish at all anymore besides the diehards, and they wonder why liscense sales are going down...

i dont think its right if both had a license, and i think if they were going to be that anal, they should have asked to see hers...its bull IMO...c

oh yeah...welcome on the board... c

I'm sure deerslayer has it right with what the Gamie could possibly be thinking before writing the ticket.

But, I also agree with EathMan's rebuttal.

A reasonable Gamie would have come down and said something about technically being in control of both rods because his wife was just sitting there reading. Then, dude could have said 'yeah, ok.....I'll have her reel it up next time' or something like that. Problem solved, and nobody is worse off.

Instead, Gamie-dude had to play the hard-ass and write him up. All I can say is you have to be a pretty big jerk to ticket a guy up in those circumstances.