Spotted Bluegill "poachers" ?

[Senor_denito]

I was really disturbed at seeing a group of three plucking loads of bluegill out from the Tidal Basin on makeshift short wooden rods.  I think they "chummed" the water.  Anyway I am not one to profile but they could have been of middle eastern / asian descent.  As a blue gill was plucked out from the water it was slapped into a ziplock bag full of 20 plus bluegills. 

 I'm not sure if this is considered poaching but two large ziplock bags full of bluegills did not seem right at all.

[Michael Smith]

John Gierach wrote a similar story in "Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders" about a Vietnamese Community doing the exact same thing in one of his local ponds (keeping tons of bluegills) and he being asked to investigate because he was a stringer reporter for the outdoors column for a local newspaper.

"After a few phone calls and a little footwork, I came up with the following information:

"A. None of these people were willing to risk their pending citizenship by getting busted for anything, least of all poaching fish.

"B. They were keeping crappies, bluegills, and bullheads, and a legal combined limit for a family of five consisted of 400 fish, or "buckets" of them, if you prefer.

"C. A fisheries biologist said that removing small panfish in those numbers (they kept everything they caught, no matter how small) could only help the overall gamefish population.  That's why the limits were so generous in the first place.

"D. The Vietnamese turned out to be friendly, polite, and damned good fishermen, putting many of us native Americans to shame on all three accounts.

"And E.  When you look into a bowl of Vietnamese fish stew, it looks back at you."

Ref:

http://books.google.com/books?id=VL53coCVfscC&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=john+gierach+bluegills+vietnamese

VA limit/day is 50 bluegills, no size limit.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/regulations/creelandlengthlimits.pdf

Maryland says 15/day (under "sunfish") and no minimum length:

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/regulations/table.asp?c=recreational

From what I can tell, DC doesn't even consider bluegill to be game fish.

http://ddoe.dc.gov/page/dc-fish-field-guide

Chumming is not addressed in the DC regs (actually, not much is in the regs).  Anybody have additional info/insight, or is DC just the lawless third world that we all know and love?

http://ddoe.dc.gov/service/regulated-fishing-activities

Yes, I'm a total LulzKiller.  =)

[Senor_denito]

Michael,

That reply was much appreciated and interesting.  Any other literature or sources of information on game fish in this area, you would recommend? 

[TurbineBlade]

I worked for DDOE in the water quality division for 2 years before landing my current job and I asked the DC fisheries biologists (who work out of the Anacostia Rec Center (AREC) about who enforces fishing regulations.  They, to the man, had no idea who would actually enforce the regs.  I suspect NPS might enforce the regs in certain locations, particuarly near the Tidal Basin....but I would guess that few if any of them actually know what the DC regs actually are. 

 

With most things in government, if it is not explicitly stated in the regs.....they can't really enforce anything.  So unless chumming is actually prohibited, there's virtually no chance that someone citing you for chumming in DC would hold up.  I've never chummed in DC, but I've never read that it is prohibited so I would assume it's acceptable. 

 

For bluegill I assume the same applies.  Though I would not eat any fish captured anywhere in the area. 

 

This makes me wonder about the general fly fisherman "catch and release" practice vs. the reality that population management can be a better overall approach to the health of the water.....

[namfos]

I'd also point out that in most every jurisdiction enforcement (be it arrest, citation, summons, etc) usually requires the filing of a complaint against the miscreant.  For example out here in MoCo it's a violation of county code to perform auto repairs on the street yet some folks still do oil changes, brake jobs, etc.  Usually it takes something truly egregious before one will file a complaint against a neighbor.

On Sunday, September 30, 2012 9:38:17 PM UTC-4, TurbineBlade wrote:

...With most things in government, if it is not explicitly stated in the regs.....they can't really enforce anything.  So unless chumming is actually prohibited, there's virtually no chance that someone citing you for chumming in DC would hold up...