Here's the official TPWD interpretation ... "it's up to the individual game warden." He can choose to cite the person without the license and, he may also cite the other people in the boat for being over the limit.

I would think if you treated the game warden with respect you would have a better chance of only seeing the person without the license cited.

MT - think what you want, I've been checked by numerous game wardens and never had a problem. No one fishes with me that doesn't have a required license if they need one and then they will not be allowed to retain more than the daily bag limit.

Seems to me, you can't pick good folks to fish with or rely on what they tell you as truth. Sounds like you need to find new people to fish with...one ticket is more than enough and it wouldn't take a citation for me to drop them off. If they put any short, over the size or limit fish or game in my boat, vehicle, etc., they wouldn't get the chance to do so. I stop them there, take them back to the landing, drop them off and go back to fishing myself. Let them find their own way home...

Done that once before and the guy couldn't understand.

I met more doubting Thomas' like you before...but you brought the citation on yourself.

Bream

The citation I was speaking of was on SHORE w/ a SHARED stringer.

NOONE I repeat NOONE gets on my boat to fish without a license and NOONE breaks the law on my boat PERIOD.

I take my RESPONSIBILITY seriously in that respect.

As for the coward that cost me the ticket, he got what was coming to him.

And for you to run off at the mouth assuming you know me, lets just say bad idea... I promise you, I am no "doubting thomas" I can back my statements with FACTS.

I can easily say I have run into way more people that suffer from ignorance of the laws than I can count. Ignorance has a cure but the person has to have the willingness to LEARN.

You still don't get what I'm saying, whether that individual is in a boat or shore, you, I or anyone else that is an ethical, responsible angler/hunter/outdoorsperson, should correct them at the first inclination of their questionable activities. If you allow it to happen, then there's nothing anyone else can say when you had the opportunity and choice to stop it from happening.

Its not "really" my responsibility to police adults in my boat- but I do it anyway. nobody fishes in my boat without a license. I took my father in law to WalMart last sunday before we ever hit the water... He asked if it was ok to fish without it. I told him "not around, or with me". I paid for it. and all is well I just WISH we could get close to a limit of crappie! I is HUNGRY!

Bream;

Your the one not getting it at all. On shore it's not my responsibility to check that the guy with me is fishing legally, I don't even bother to ask on shore. I also no longer would share a stringer with ANYONE, not even my own son who I know is legal.

You know VERY LITTLE about me or the situation that I spoke of, you AssUMe that I was at fault from the start. I was 15, the coward I spoke of was my 21 year old cousin. The coward drove the two of us to the lake to fish. I was LEGAL, I didn't need a license at the time.

When we were checked the GW did not PERSONALLY witness the coward putting fish on the stringer. I was the first checked, and the GW asked if the stringer was mine, and I told him it was OURS (refering to the coward AND I).

When he found that the coward didn't have a license, he wrote a ticket to him, then asked which fish were his with the intention of writting additional tickets for the fish. The coward denied any fish were his and claimed they were all mine.

In the end the GW took the "safe" approach, he ticketed me for the additional fish because I had already claimed ownership of the stringer. He ticketed the coward for no licenses.

He told me point blank that if he had witnessed the coward putting fish on the stringer he would not be giving me the ticket, but since he had not he had to give me the ticket. He then told me to "make sure you appear in court to argue your case, do not just pay the ticket."

In court the GW told the judge that there were two of us fishing, and that we were using a shared stringer. He explained that the adult did not have a license and refused to claim the fish that was his. The GW even went so far as to tell the judge that he believed that some of the fish belonged to the adult, but he could not prove this since the adult refused to claim ownership.

The person in the wrong in this case was the ADULT, not the CHILD. In the end the $275 ticket was reduced to $15 court costs, and my rods and reels were returned to me, but it still did not change the situation.

I would think its like, pooling your birds when your hunting dove. Putting everyones kill in the same pile, or in this case the same stringer or livewell. The GW has no way of knowing who caught what or killed what, he/she just knows your over the limit. So I would think tickets for everyone.

Now fishing the bank maybe different if there is a crowd and it is unclear who's together. Ticket stringer owner.

I agree Ronnie, it's cheap to buy a friend his license, and have done that a few times the past couple of years for my friends when I have invited them fishing.

On the other hand as the owner of the boat, I do feel it's my responsibility to make sure everyone is legal. I cannot force them to get a license, but it is my responsibility to not be an accompliss to their illegal activities.

I ask everyone that goes fishing with me if they have a license and if it's current, even remind them of the 8-31 expiration if I think that they might not have been aware of it. I don't go so far as to ask to see the license, but I remind them that they need it on them while fishing.

It's a courtesy thing to them to make sure they aren't illegal, and for me I take it as a responsibility on my boat. When a GW pulls up beside me to check things out, I KNOW that my ducks are in a row. If someone on my boat has lied to me I assure you, they will NEVER fish with me again, and I will do my best to make sure the GW is aware of EVERY violation they have by pointing out any fish that is theirs.

I will have no sympathy for them if they lied to me.

As I said in an earlier post, I don't want a reputation with the GWs for taking unlicensed people out fishing. In fact I'd prefer that the GW feel confident enough that I will make sure that everything on my boat is legal that he doesn't feel he has to check me every time he sees me.

It's just that it's a judgement call on the GWs part. That's what has been said time and time again in this thread.

Sometimes they are spot on, sometimes they punish the wrong people.

The captain of the vessel is responsible for "policing" all parties on board and all activities on board.

baitfish;

<sarcasm on> Not in America, in America the Captain's responsibility is to cover his but and find a way to blame someone else or make someone else take responsibility </sarcasm off>

Seriosuly, under "Marine Law" the captain is 100% responsible, and in most cases Marine Law applies to inland lakes as well. But few seem to know this, let alone practice it. It seems that state law enfocement and state courts seem almost to encourage this ignorance.

A perfect example, if more people knew about the Marine Laws of salvage you would all think twice about allowing a stranger to tow your boat to land without a contract.

If the Captain were held accountable in more cases on the water the lakes would quickly become much more safe for all of us.

It amazes me the number of boaters that hit the water without knowing even the basic right of way laws.

If the Captain were held accountable in more cases on the water the lakes would quickly become much more safe for all of us.

It amazes me the number of boaters that hit the water without knowing even the basic right of way laws.
[/quote]Well I would be the first one to agree with that..

but I see to much gray area in the law with the GW detemining who caught the fish and weather I was nice or not...Bottom line if you are innocent and have to go to court to prove it, you have just spent a vacation day and that is money!!!! STATE WINS you Lose!

magic;

That's law enforcement in general, not JUST Game Wardens. But I'll be honest, I would rather it this way than either of the other extremes that it could be.

LEOs and GWs do as good of a job as the courts allow them to do, and they do it for pennies on the dollar compared to what they SHOULD be making for those jobs.

I'd rather spend a day in court proving my innocence that watching 100s of guilty walk freely amongst us.