+1 and +1million braincells for stlheads post...how does a turkey leg bone get yarded through a baitbox that has a significantly smaller diameter opening.

I think Aunty mightve nailed it.... again. In any case, next outing Im hiring my 15 year old nephew to sit on shore with his buds for 6 hours. Camera and cell phone in hand. We will fish from 6a to 1130a and be within 10 minutes of said pot drop. I spend $50 for vigilance and maybe get $200 worth of crab.... and a misfire with the flare gun that lands in a 15' piece of sh!t Livingston.

I called it in to the White House. They were very interested. Seems they've been after an extremely smart crab called Dungy Bin Laden who's been crawling around organizing other crabs. They can't wait to hot water board him.

This is all good advice up to a point. Giving LE timely and complete information is beneficial for focusing surveillance. That additional LE presence may reduce the illegal activity in the original area but it takes citations and charges (in my opinion) to make the real point with these people. And it just seems that some of the county prosecutors simply do not perceive our concerns as worthy of their time and effort.

Last year there were two specific incidents that come to mind. The first involved a tribal commercial crabber who pulled pots owned by a non-tribal commercial crabber. The "resolution" by the Island County prosecutor was to defer to the tribal court system (an informational black hole). The other involved recreational pot(s) being fished by Todd which were observed being illegally pulled by others. So far I haven't heard of any formal action being taken on that incident.

I believe in Odd's case, the Prosecutor declined to PROSECUTE. And when I looked up her Party Affillation and how many $$$$$$$ were donated to her by the TRIBES, well you draw your own conclusion.

And in Todd's case I believe he had photos of the boat and crew doing the nasty deed. Again, given that information (evidence) one has to ask why not prosecute? Leads one to conclude either indifference or, as JohnQ suggests, a possible financial interest.

In any case this is certainly frustrating for those having their pots raided/stolen and probably also for the LE folks who hear our complaints.

We didn't have photos...and I'm not sure where the investigation came to an end, but I'm pretty sure it was at the tribal governance end, not at the Island Co. prosecutor end.

Richard would know as I was off to northern BC for a while when it was being handled and I didn't have much participation with it after the first couple of days.

Fish on...

Todd

I stand corrected; maybe the pics I was recalling were of the other incident. Bottom line from my perspective is that deferring to the tribal courts on crimes off reservation and involving non-tribal members is abdicating responsibility and authority to an entity which essentially has a closed door to non-tribal members.

I'm just wondering why it seems that everyone jumps to the conclusion it's the indians picking pots.

By the way, I've seen crab pull bones through the mesh. Strong little guys. I can't explain your situation, maybe you should provide some evidence.

Regards,

you assume it was mesh....any other questions?

stlhd said he thought the offender was tribal, and provided no reason for this speculation.

Maybe he's right, but sounds like baseless speculation to me.

I don't think fever displayed any reading comprehension problem.

It was my educated guess based upon past witnessed occurances so it isn't baseless. I use the same bait cages Hookedup posted except I have a clip so it clips shut and a much larger bungy to hold it in place. Is it possible that a crab figured out how to use his claws like apposable thumbs? Maybe but not likely and when it's both pots you are talking lottery winning odds. Like I said it was "my guess". My guess is it's someone who is cruising the shoreline near or after dark, has a pot puller and is cleaning all pots he can find as fast as he can and taking the bait means they have an axe to grind. This would lean towards a commie or tribal boat.

Fair enough

Perhaps not baseless, but not based on any evidence related to this occurrence, right?

I guess I'm just not a big fan of "X probably did it" type of accusations without any hard evidence.

Isn't there anyway you could leave some sort of surprise in the pots? You know, something that could possibly take a finger or at least get some sort of painful retribution? I'm serious but I'm not a crabber so I have no suggestions as to what it would be. This is just another episode about scum bag @ssholes that have no regard for anyone else. It's the same as leaving your car/truck at a trailhead, having your car/truck broken into at a boat launch. It feels like crime is holding good people hostage and I'm f*cking sick of it. I was in a Rite Aid store close to my house the other day. They told me cars were being broken into in broad daylight. It's a wide open area and it's the only store in that location. In other words they have big frickin balls. There has been a rash of home invasions in the Seattle/Tacoma area in the last few months and finally the homeowners are fighting back. How? By shooting the f*ckers! The prosecuting attorney for Tacoma gave a great opinion that you don't often hear from someone in that position. He said "There is a lesson to be learned here. Don't break into someone's home or you'll get shot." I applaud him. It’s a real shame that we have to think about what crime element we need to worry about relating to what activity we’re doing. I can remember in the 60’s leaving a car at the trailhead of a hike and not even thinking twice about it. Or leaving crab pots overnight or leaving your car at a boat launch. It was extremely rare to have any thefts. I fully intend to protect myself and my property by any means necessary. Unfortunately most of these crimes happen with no one is around.

This whole thread is great, but does not explain why my bouy was somehow missing as well as the bait from the pot at the sill of the Skok. near 47 21 744 ,123 07 927 ?

We know a tribal member was caught red handed. From now on if it happens I am going to assume it's the same unpunished tribal member. Maybe if enough of us do the same the tribe will be forced to take action when/if the next one is caught red handed. Being a black eye on the tribe and all. Have at it and prove me wrong.

we zip tie too. have been for a while, we still were suspected getting picked a few years back and did an experiment and you can still clean a pot through the crab doors.

we figured either that was happening or they were just re zip tie them... have not had a problem in the last 2 years though

All my crabs have to be taken through the entry doors, on the danielsons we bend the loop all the way around so it is no longer collapsable, And for me to lighten the load I would have had to throw the two passengers out. I stayed pretty close during the chase, And the next two pulls on subsequent days the pots were stuffed with big crabs. It was to close a call for them thieves, I don't think they would risk returning. Only my pots in this area, so they can't make it look like they are pulling thiers, I do hope to catch them on the water, So we can have a little chat about ethics........ Matthew

Lots of crabby people on here.

Busted for generalizing.... OK, not everyone blames the tribes.....