Am I Wrong?

[Raj22]

Well I got my first ticket in my life, 36 years, yesterday. unattended line. I don't think I did anything wrong but I let you guys decide. My buddy and I are on Red, we have caught one walleye in 3 hours, released, and I decide do go outside the portable and drill a hole. I leave my dead stick in the house with the bail open and my buddy keeping an eye on it and I take my jigging stick outside to jig. 15 minutes later, I'm about 75 feet from the house and guess who shows up. He identifies himself and askes for our licenses. He then sees I have one line in the house and writes me a ticket. Whats the difference between this and using a tip up, or bringing 3 kids and having 8 lines down, or sleeping in a house with lines down.

I have one more argument. When he asked for our licenses, my buddy comes out of the house to get his wallet out of the pickup and the officer enters the fishouse without asking permission and sees my other line. If he would have asked I certainly would have allowed him to because I thought we were legal. If he wants to split hairs so can I.

Then he goes on to say that hes doing us favor by letting us keep all our gear. Now I know these guys have a tough job and I admire them for it, but come on, theres got to bigger fish to fry.

Now I got a $120 ticket and have to take a 1/2 day off work to drive to Bemidji and fight it. Do you guys think it worth it to fight or am I totally in the wrong.

I will also like to add that we were all very nice and polite.

[kc0myy]

Man thats hard. If you have a friend in your house watching your line I dont see the problem. I think you should have been off the hook. That is kinda like using a tip up. I think that CO had nothing eles better to do. I can understand if there was no body in the fish house and you could not see your other line then I would probaly give a ticket out. Othere wise I think you should have been off the hook. Just my 2 cents!!

later good luch out ice fishing

[Ryan_V]

I don't think you were wrong, and according to the law, he shouldn't have gone in the house without permission. problem is you'd have to take 2 days off of work. your first appearance which is the date on the ticket is just an arraignment, you'd have to go to that, plead not guilty then come back for a court trial. It is a matter of principle and what you do is up to you. I could see if your buddy was catching fish on all 3 rods in the house, but that wasn't the case. from your side, sounds like it's worth fighting, so other people might not have to go through it. just my opinion.

[Quackaddict9]

I say plead not guilty, because I've done it so many times up on Red Lake and have been checked twice but nothing happened. Youre right its like having a tip up out there but I guess you decide what you want to do. man thats a hard decision. Good Luck, I hope the best out of you.

[redrocketangler]

first off i think you'd win in court but depending on how far away you live and amount of work lost it might be easier to pay it.

That CO must have forgot his morning donut

Oh yeah almost forgot you are not wrong at all......

[WAG416]

Quote:

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That CO must have forgot his morning donut

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Does this CO in particular usually eat a donut in the morning? Do you know him personally? Or is this just another overly abused fat sloppy cop donut joke that I hear on almost daily basis? Just wondering. Because I still write tickets if I eat tasty pastries in the morning.

[PierBridge]

It's Unfortunate but you can not leave your fishing lines unattended when you leave your fishouse or at any other time, totally unrelated to being within 200 feet of your tip-up.

Not sure If I would fight this one.

Good Luck.

[not_nuf_time]

So every time I go out to pee, I'm supposed to bring my line up. And whats the clarification on peeing,(indecent exposure). Everyone does it, and all know they're probably breaking the law. Learned something new.

I would probably pay it cause it's the easy way, but it would be nice to see "you" fight it to see the outcome. I bet you'ld get off on pettiness of the ticket.

[hanson]

I'm with PierBridge on this one.

My interpretation of the regs is that you need to be within 200' of your tipup. It says nothing about being within 200' of your rod and the fact that the rod was in the house, you didn't even have visual contact with it.

Your friend should probably thank you. The way I understand the situation, HE should have been tagged for fishing an extra line in the house. Even though the rod may have been yours, he was in the house fishing it while you were outside fishing a different line. (Am I right on that? I don't know but its something to ponder.)

I think it would be easiest to pay the ticket.

[Nuts4Fishin]

I'll agree with Hanson, but with a twist. The offense was probably correct in that the friend had too many lines but wasn't the offense spotted illegally by the CO? Maybe, unless he could see the third line from the door but it didn't sound like it. The search may have been bad and the third line wouldn't or shouldn't have been found if investigated properly--maybe?.

[caseymcq]

Umm... You are allowed to fish two lines ice fishing unless you are on a designated trout lake. To the best of my knowledge URL is not a designated trout lake. So if his buddy was in the house with two lines it is legal. If there were four lines between the two of them they were legal. There is nothing in the regs that speaks to "visual contact." You are right there is nothing in the regs about being within 200 feet of your rod. There is nothing in the regs about being within 1 foot or 1000 feet either. So by that reasoning if you had your back to your rod (no visual contact there) and you are a foot away from it your line is unattended and you should be cited. I know that is a little bit of a facetious example but what harm could have possibly be done by what Raj22 was doing... none?

I would go to court on that one. Not just for the $120, for the principle also.

[Steve Foss]

If the C.O. actually entered the house without permission and saw your line after he entered, he poisoned his own case, and it will be thrown out if you can convince the judge of that. In court, it would be your word against the C.O.'s word, unless you can get your buddy to verify what happened. Whether you would have allowed the C.O. to enter if he'd asked is a moot point. He DIDN'T ask, and the Supreme Court has dictated that he MUST ask. It's not splitting hairs — it's the law. He is as bound by the law as you are. No askee, no tickee!

If the C.O. saw all the lines through the door opened by someone else and either left open or swining open long enough, then he's OK on that angle.

Also, court would be the place to note that he threatened to take all your gear. Within his power, yes, but why not get it on the court record that he was bullying you, possibly in order to keep you from protesting the ticket to him.

I'm all for law and order, and for the men and women who endanger themselves to enforce that law and order, but I hate a bully.

[metrojoe]

I don't know...Seems like there is some gray area here. Would it have mattered if he had a tip-up set up in the shack? Or would that still have been considered an unattended line?

[ASMOLEY]

I agree that it should have been treated more as a third line than an unattended line. My experience with CO's on URL has not been good they always seem to wake up on the wrong side of the bed and try as hard as they can to stick you with a fine. I think they could find better ways to spend their time than harassing fishermen. Yes ignorance of the law is no excuse but I think misinterpretations could be. I would take it to court and fight it!

[Eric Wettschreck]

You can call the court administrator. Tell them you intend to plea not guilty, and you may be able to miss the first court date. This would allow you only one day in court and not 2.

[Ebiz]

Okay, here's a related question... With the lack of ice this year I've been walking out to my house instead of driving. If I don't feel like dragging the sled, I'll just grab my bucket, rod case, & lantern and leave my tip-ups and extra stuff behind. Instead of using a tip-up, I've been drilling a hole in my normal tip-up spot and putting out a rod with a bell on it. Then go into the house and fish with my other rod as usual. When the bell rings, run out and catch the fish, same concept as using a tip-up. Am I running the risk of getting a ticket???

[broncosguy711]

Just a curious question? Is this a ticket because of distance to fight ? Maybe the ticket was given due to address, lives in the cities, (info) on the shack if it was a portable. maybe he figured this guy lives to far to protest. has anyone that lives on the lake or in the area been ticketed on something so grey? And if it was a rented house from a resort I would talk to the resort to see if this has happened before and what there take is on the circumstance.

Broncs.

[The Grebe]

Just my take on this thing...Forget "It's the principle of the thing!" Send the check for the amount of the ticket, you are probably not going to beat anyways, try to get it behind you and move on.

That way you are a little red faced for awhile, and you are out a stamp and an envolope, as opposed to missing a day of work, a tank of gas and who knows what else? If there was some kind of continuence, for whatever reason, you would have to go back up again.

Like it or not, petty or not, the CO busted you! If the guy busts you for that minor infraction, the alledged unlawful entry into the house isn't even a speed bump for him..."I seen the extra line from outside the house, giving me probable cause." And he may well have?

I guess he could have either busted you, or busted your friend for fishing with 3 lines? I've done that myself, and I would bet that 99% of the other anglers

have done it also....but I'll bet alot of us will be thinking about it the next time, because of your experience!

Kind of like getting a speeding ticket for being 3 mph over the limit, it sucks, but technically speaking....

[Dave]

I think that it was low to give a ticket and there are bigger fish to fry, as someone stated. It sounded clearly like it should've been a "learning" situation. If the windows are closed in a portable, are the tipups within view, no. Is that unattended line?

[broncosguy711]

That is funny as have been fishing with 4 guys. 1 in the house 3 of us out smoking CO checks. says look sgood and leaves. sounds like same situation, unless there is a distance issue for the pole and tip up. Goo dluck eithe rway you go with it.

Broncs.

[puddleduck]

Was the CO named Spalding?

[Raj22]

Thanks for all the replies. Its good to know that I can fight it with only one trip to Bemidji. I live just outside of Grand Rapids so it only an hour. And I don't think theres any way he could have seen my line from outside the house. I have a 4 man polar and my line was on the fare side with an ice buster bobber cut right at the water line. I saw him pull the the door open and stick his head in, but then I turned around and walked back to my vexlar to get my license. I keep it in there so I know I won't forget it. I have a call into my buddy to see if he saw him totally enter house. Although head and shoulders should be enough.

[dirtking]

Sounds like you get to tak a couple more "fishing" trips when you go to fight the ticket - I'm on your side.

[Bobb-o]

if the door was left open by your buddy i am pretty sure that that is considered plain sight. We got checked by the same CO earlier in the season, we were all legal and everything and then he asked us aboot what we had been catching and we told him just a couple of nice walleyes. and he asked how big, so we told them most were around 16-20" and he asked us if they were "keeper" walleyes, my buddy came right back with the most smart@$$ answer "is that a trick question?"

[First Ice-Mike]

This shouldn't even be an issue becaue the CO should have just let you off with a verbal warning. There is so much gray area he should have just let it go. There are probably some people filling up their LP tanks with walleyes on Red right now and he's wasting his time with a guy that fell through the cracks in the Regs and is making an honest effort to be legal - I just don't get it. Plus it doesn't sound like you had kept any fish. Common sense goes a long ways - this CO was a little short of it that day in my opinion.

FI