Idiot ranger

[Jeff_The_Hokie]

Yesterday I was kayak crabbing from one of my favorite spots, and when I was landing the boat, the ranger came up to me and said "We have a sign-no fishing or crabbing from the docks." I pointed to the boat and said "I crabbed from the boat". He said he was getting ready to lock up. At the time I figured he had just seen the traps and hadn't seen the kayak yet.

Today, I launched from the same park and went crabbing, and about a minute after I landed my kayak, a police officer walked up to me and said he got a call that someone was fishing from the park and asked if it was me. I pointed to the kayak and said, I crabbed from my boat. He looked at it and said "I can't write you a ticket for fishing from a kayak", and left.

How can someone that <censored>ing stupid actually get a ranger job. No fishing from dock does not mean you can't fish from a boat that launches and lands there. Every public dock in existence has a "No Fishing From Dock" sign. That doesn't mean boat fishing is illegal. Does this mean I'm going to be harassed every time I launch from River Street Park?

[tugcapt]

Find a ranger and give him a float plan before you go.    Or, put up your own sign on you kayak that says "I crabbed from my kayak"  

[flounderpounder]

put up a sign like that he might make you take a sobriety test

[tugcapt]

    I am on the boat typing in the dark without my glasses on.  I wish I did type like that because I had few, but not til next week. 

[ChrisS]

He may of just been responding to a complaint. Regardless of what he may already know, he still has to respond.
Jmo

[Jeff_The_Hokie]

I have no complaints about the cop. He was just responding to a complaint, he was cool, and as soon as he realized I'd been crabbing from a kayak, he said that was fine and he left. But who on earth called him on me?
 
I had just gotten home and was mad as [Sam Hill] when I posted, but maybe the ranger didn't call the cop.  (It's just a neighborhood park.The ranger isn't permanently there.  He just drives by morning and evening to lock and unlock.)  When I was coming in yesterday he was there to lock up, and from where he was standing he probably saw the traps before he saw the boat.

But the very next day a cop meets me on the dock when I land. Someone saw me crabbing in my kayak and called the cops to report I was fishing from the park. If it was someone other than the ranger that's a [Sam Hill] of a coincidence. If it was him, that's incredibly stupid.

Maybe the park has an overzealous nosy neighbor who's too dumb to know what the sign does and doesn't mean. Maybe someone (horror of horrors) was actually fishing from the park, and some citizen cared enough to report the "crime".

Maybe this year the city is  cracking down on illegal fishing (there's always been lots of it there) and I'm one of the few honest people who actually use the kayak dock for a kayak.

Or maybe the same ranger who chewed me out yesterday about the no crabbing sign while he was watching me unload my BOAT, saw my truck today when he drove by and called the cops. To me that explanation seems most likely, but it also seems too dumb.

[jack1747]

My questions is, why would ya be trying to crab in VA... Everyone knows there are no crabs in VA..       

[Ronster]

 

[Jeff_The_Hokie]

My questions is, why would ya be trying to crab in VA... Everyone knows there are no crabs in VA..      

Just catching 10-legged water-bugs for practice, just in case someday we do get real crabs.

[Rusty Gate]

So how many crab's DIDN'T you catch? 


RG

[flounderpounder]

why would you put your plate on your boat in the first place? follow directions and you won't have any problems..

[mdjohn]

I was told that at a "public" ramp they have every right to tow your car and the trailer to the impound lot for no tags on the trailer while you are out on the water and they will give you a ticket for not having lights on your trailer tags at night. Impound fees and ticket are not cheep. and the impound lot is closed on the weekend.

I tried doing it once

 

[Jeff_The_Hokie]

This park's not a ramp with trailer parking.  It's just a little gated city park unlocked sunup to sundown with a floating canoe/kayak dock (the walkway to it way is too narrow for a trailer), and the parking is parallel with no way a trailer would fit.  

The park has a "no fishing or crabbing from dock or rocks" sign , and a sign that you can't launch a motorized boat (not even possible due to the walkway), but once you are in the water away from the dock it is perfectly legal to fish and crab in the Hampton River from a boat. The cop even told me he wouldn't write a ticket because there is no law against crabbing from a kayak.

When the ranger talked to me, I had the kayak tied to the dock and was pulling the crab traps off of it. It is very possible that from his vantage point he only saw the traps and not the boat. When I told him I was crabbing from the kayak instead of the docks, he didn't argue, but said he was getting ready to lock up.

But who in the world called the cop the next day? Its possible that they are cracking down on illegal fishing and questioning everyone who goes in and out of the park with fishing or crabbing gear.  Illegal fishing-from-the-park is very common there and kayak-fishing and kayak-crabbing are not. The cop even called my boat innovative told me its the first time he's ever seen someone crabbing from a kayak.

But twice in two days? I've never been hassled there before.



 

 

[Jeff_The_Hokie]

So how many crab's DIDN'T you catch? 


RG

When I went out, there were no crabs in Virginia.  Now there are even less.

[Jeff_The_Hokie]

When I went out, there were no crabs in Virginia.  Now there are even less.

Oops-was trying to edit my post and accidentally quoted it instead

[mdjohn]

.....I know alot of people that have their tag and trailer lights on a board and mount them on the boat while trailering the boat and when they park the lights go in the back of the truck......it keeps their lights high and dry and it must be legal cause ive never known anyone to get a ticket for doing it....not to mention you dont have to buy the expensive marine lights ......i never recieved a ticket or warning about my tag that day  

that's what I did and I put the tags and the board in the trunk when I was out on the boat. Seemed like a real good idea.

I was told that a public ramp is like a public street, you need tags and the next time, I would do it, I would get a ticket or get towed.

soooo. I bought some decent marine lights

 

now a private ramp is a different story