Have you ever been stopped on the water?

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wasilvers

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I imagine plenty of us have been stopped by he boys in blue while on the road, but how many of us have ever been stopped on the water? Did they look over your rig and find anything? Any reason for stopping you or was it just a normal check?

I'll go first. Only been boating 2 years and never been stopped. I did have several wardens at the dock one day while I had an undersized fish in the livewell [-X [-X [-X because my party for the day wanted to show the pike to his wife before he released it. I know, likely story [-X , but he swore he would take the ticket if we were stopped. They never checked us, but he sure was sweating bullets.
 
About35 years my brother and a friend and I stayed up all night getting my brother's new boat ready to go for the opener. We got checked for licenses that day - first and only time. We probably looked bedraggled from being up all night the sheriff probably thought we were either drunks or knuckle-draggers - or both.
 
I've been stopped a few times. They patrol pretty heavy around here in the summer. I have never been cited for anything.
 
I have been stop while fishing from shore. The guy fishing next to me got his DL taken away they said his license was suspended. Up here they sometimes patrol with 2 officers 1 police and 1 fish and wildlife. We get alot of illegal fishing during salmon season
 
yes, yes, and yes. :LOL2: Me and couple friends use to go on all night Cappie hunts and have found a few in the process. We got busted 3 nights in a row by the same DNR agent. On the third night I pointed out that he broke the law by boating without his lights on. Other wise we would have been dumping fish (we had yet to cull the smaller ones out). He acknowledged my point and told me to call the law. I said yes sir and took my ticket with a smile! LOL Fun stories to tell!

Been checked on numerous ocassions but the only time I have received a ticket.
 
I have mostly in Saltwater - The state F&G will do a constant check on some days. Also was checked by the Feds last year which is also common for boats that go offshore after Fed. regulated species like Tuna

No violations so no worries.
 
I've been checked for a license a couple of times, but there was one time a pesky water skier pressed the angry button so after I clothes lined the skier with a cast they ran and got a cop. I told him my story, and he told them to stay away from us. Nobody was injured, but I was much happier when I saw the driver was wearing a White Sox cap. :mrgreen:
 
Up here, most of the stops are from the county cops....They usually just ride on jet ski's. They are usually really cool though. They don't check your boat, or even license. The extent they check you, is to ask what color your license is....Which is usually color coded for the year.


I have been stopped once for a reason. I used to work for a sport boat company.....We built a few boats that were pretty slick....A 18ft boat with a 325hp Volvo, thru hull exhuast, dual prop drive, and solid black with polished stainless hardware.

The other one was a 27ft boat with a 525hp Merc. Thru hull exhuast etc.


Well we wanted to test the boats so we were out there for a while......Later that night we take out the other boat a 25ft with a 525...

Well this time we weren't on the clock anymore....All of us were getting sloshed except the driver....They took his information, and ran a check. Told us to slow down, and that people were complaining we were close to shore. Which was BS. And that we were shaking windows in houses.....A victory in my book....LOL.


No tickets that time either....Just the first time I've ever had the cops called while boating.
 
I forgot about the time I was followed by border patrol, about 50 miles from mexico. I showed up at a local river and 5 minutes later as soon as I had ctossed the river,the border patrol pulled up and sat there I started to cross back,in case they wanted to talk to me, but they left. 10 minutes later, I saw them downriver on an embankment watching me. I walked abit downstream, and then the border patrol airplane, came down the river, circled a few times and continued his cruise. I decided it was time to go!
 
I've only ever had my license checked while fishing from shore in an easily accessible place around here. My real story to that actually goes back about 25 years to my father's only ticket fishing in Montana. We were up in a spot called Island Lake which has hiking trails that go several miles back and actually lead into Wyoming. Everybody knew it went into Wyoming and seeing as how it was about a 15 mile hike back to the border, with no other access, nobody bought a license. We'd hiked way back into that area as a family and my dad was fishing in one of the little run-off lakes and up come fish & game on horses out of nowhere! My dad got hit with a ticket for $250, which he argued angrily (if you knew my father, this is the amusing part - I'd say this was one of 3 times I've ever seen him angry in my life) about it, then took the ticket and told the warden he would never pay it. They told him that's fine, but if he was ever pulled over in Wyoming, he'd have a warrant for not paying it. :shock: After that trip, I don't think he's ever been back to Wyoming...
 
I've only been stopped once to check for life jackets. Warden wasn't concerned about the license. We were legal, no citations, and everyone went on their merry way.
 
I've been stopped once. I have stopped quite a few, mostly pleasure boaters. I tend to leave the fisherman alone unless they are doing something really crazy.
 
Never been stopped on the water. However, I have encountered MNR road blocks in cottage country - where they are checking coolers for fish limits.
 
Never been stopped on the water, but a game warden came up to me and my dad after we pulled the boat out of the water at the boat ramp. We had put my dad's Ranger on a 10hp limit lake (but never even put the big motor down in the water). The warden said he had been watching us from a hill with binoculars to see if we were going to start the big motor. He checked our license, livewell, and checked the boat over to make sure everything was legal. He even said that he watched us have alot of trouble getting the boat back on the trailer because it was so windy and I was using the trolling motor haha. He said in a situation like that he didn't care if we fired the big motor up to get it on the trailer as long as we took it easy. He told us thanks for not using the big motor and for releasing the fish that my dad had caught (7+lbs) and then went on his merry way.
 
I've been stopped twice. I was stopped once for a random safety gear inspection. The other time was at night and the DNR officer couldn't see the stern light on my jon boat from his center console boat. He had signaled us to stop, but let us go when he saw the light on approach. No citations and minimal inconvenience.
 
I have been checked quite a few times on the water and at the ramp. The DNR will set up checkpoints at the ramp and check boaters before launching sometimes. Never had a problem there. I was checked one time on a river while anchored and as they pulled their 30 foot boat along side my 14 footer my anchor could not hold both of the boats and we drifted toward a bridge due to the incoming tide. After the check was done they told me I could not stay there since the law says you have to stay at least 300 feet from a bridge. I didn't receive a ticket since they knew I had not anchored there prior to their pulling alongside me.
 
My area is just like Capt. Ahab's. Your lucky if you get checked only once per trip. We have been check 4 times in one day. I live in MS and fish LA waters. Sometimes we launch in MS to fish LA. This causes all kind of problems. MS honors LA laws BUTTT!! LA has a lot more liberal laws Speckled Trout is 25 per person with a 12" min. and MS is 15 with a 14" min. As long as you go straight to the ramp you are fine. If you stop for any reason you could get a ticket. More than one has said you had better be able to prove you broke down if you stop.

All in all most are very nice and have helped me catch fish (they know where all the good spots are). I can honestly say that I've never knowingly broke the law.

Now the Coast Guard is a whole different ball game. Most of them will do a full CG inspection and be on their way, but I've had some bad run ins with a few.

If you have kids onboard and want to see them freak out, Whisper to the officer to ask the kids for their license :lol: . As you can see I stay in trouble with my wife and inlaws [-X . Hey, I like to have a little harmless fun every once in a while.
 
We have a dam we fish up here.You'll get stopped and checked every time you go there.It's run by the army corps of engineers and really patrolled by the fish commision. I was one life jacket short one trip.total mistake.Made for a 100 fine and very short fishing trip.I double ck. now
 
wow.. I have been stopped on the water a few times.. by several levels of law enforcement. I was rammed by a coast guard patrol boat wife a m 60 mounted on the front deck. I was put in jail after being stopped by the fish commission..
I was never a boy scout and i may have fractured a law or two in my youth..
my jail stint was fishing without a license that i never paid the ticket went to court to fight it ( I lost) and forgot my wallet so my dad had to bail me out.
the coast guard thing was during a tournament. just after 9/11 I was running my boat down the river at 78ish mph while they were loading a boat with military supplies. I was on the other side of the river the patrol headed towards me with the lights on. I slowed down and the hit my boat and put a nice scratch in my gel coat. i was pissed but thought i better be nice since they had the m 60 pointed at me.

they said that i was in a no wake zone??? main river channel??? not posted??? oh well
 
Been checked... they called me over to the bank and checked the livewell. Talked for about 30 minutes and became pretty good friends with one of the wardens. Helped them out on some illegal night hunting for deer near my home.

Other than that, seen them several times but no checking.
 

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