Game Wardens can't ID Fish?

Hey guys, something had been brought to my attention yesterday after a short fishing trip and it had been annoying me for a bit now...

I was yak fishing at a local lake of mine that forbids gas motor and I happen to run into this DFG lady warden. Well she was kind of giving this family on shore hell about some kind of fishes so I decided to go take a look.

Well, as it turned out after a light chat with the family about why the warden was giving them hell, they told me that the warden says they had over limited on Sacramento Splittails. So I decided to take a look because in the 15 years that I had fished this lake, never had I seen a Splittail in the lake and as it turned out, the Warden was so dead wrong on the fishes ID that I wanted to slap her upside the head for embarrassing herself... The fishes weren't Splittails, they were the Clear Lake Hitch! (For those of you whom fished Clear Lake will know what I'm talking about...)

So I waited politely for the warden to return with the father and that's when I decided to intervene. I slowly presented my case that I thought this whole confrontation was a misunderstanding and that's when she decided to hear me out. I told her that if anything, she is wrong on the fish ID and that the family had broken no laws. The fish they possess isn't the Sacramento Splittail but is the actually the Clear Lake Hitch.

At first she was skeptical but then I decided that if I had to win this case, I would have to use the power of GOOGLE... I took out my I Phone and GOOGLE; Clear Lake Hitch for her and the images were so clear and identical that even I knew the Warden was embarrass of herself. Afterwards she apologized to the family about what happened and left promptly.

Now that leads me to question, Do these Wardens know what they're doing out there? Knowing that half of them probably don't fish or hunt do they know if they're wrong or right? Man it bothers me that the very people who impose restrictions on fish limits don't even know their fishes...

Mistakes do happen....  It does beg the questions regarding level of training that is received before qualification him/her as "the law, the court, the judge & the jury".

   Good point & thank you for taking your time to step in and right a wrong.

   ~Bill

I don't expect them to be icthyologists......but if they're gonna try to enforce an oddball species specific regulation (like limits) then I'd expect them to at least know what the fish looked like.   

At least she apologized and realized she was wrong. I respect that. I've had my run ins with law enforcement officers who refuse to hear any story other than their own. Being respectful, I just allow them to do their thing. I'm pretty sure that when out and about, anyone can get cited for almost anything from the law man. Imagine if you were not there to defend this family. They probably would have been cited and just paid the fine without challenging. Many of us are like that.

And good job approaching her calmly and respectfully, that also makes all the difference

Once again, Google comes through.  Well done for stepping in, fish-karma will be heading your way! 

Hope she was at least good looking   

I don't expect them to be icthyologists......but if they're gonna try to enforce an oddball species specific regulation (like limits) then I'd expect them to at least know what the fish looked like.   

This

Fwiw, 4 of the 5 wardens I know are fishermen...and other is a hunter. But I have heard about others who aren't fishermen and that always seemed weird to me.

Once again, Google comes through.  Well done for stepping in, fish-karma will be heading your way! 

I'm sitting here giggling and thinking about how slow that picture could have been taking to load into your phone

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This is just one of many problems created when a government agency in charge of law enforcement shifts its primary focus from serving the public good to revenue generation. The DFG has created such complex regulations in an obvious attempt to garnish violations from wantonly Law abiding citizens that even their own officers can't accurately interpret or enforce the rules.

I'll bet most of the fishermen in California have never heard of a Clearlake Hitch.

I think the fact that she was mature enough to not only listen to your side of the story but also admit she was wrong makes her a credit to the uniform. The bad ones are those who take disagreements personally, take offense.

Grandslam!!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, you must have been so stoked doing that, that you were shaking with a maniacal grin at the same time. I love it!

Good job helping that family.  Maybe that warden will develop a better attitude because of it. 

I think they get rotated around to help in different areas at different seasons so they may not be experts on species or the pertinent regulations.

Last month I was approached by two young wardens.  Nice guys.  After checking my license and talking for a few minutes they asked if I had any questions.  I asked if I could take scallops.  They both pored over the reg's book then gave me the correct answer.  I was happy to see that they could understand the book!

Dude, you must have been so stoked doing that, that you were shaking with a maniacal grin at the same time. I love it!

I would have been doing a dance! 

But seriously, anyone who carries a gun needs be absolutely sure they are right every time.  Everybody makes mistakes excuse is just not acceptable.  When she's wrong, she has no consequence other than to admit her mistake.  The fisherman can't get away with that; 'I made a mistake.  I'm sorry.  I'll just leave now.'  But she sure could.  That's just NOT right. 

I just read that Clear Lake Hitch are illegal to catch as of around April 2013. But still wardens should know the differences. I once shot a snow goose at Gray Lodge legally and the warden confiscated it and my shot gun then we went back to the headquarters and he found out it was legal to shoot the goose after a mile hike and lost shooting time he didn't even say sorry.
 
2013http://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/new-protections-provided-for-clear-lake-hitch/