Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: fic on July 19, 2017, 07:55:25 PM

Title: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: fic on July 19, 2017, 07:55:25 PM
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-man-caught-world-record-fish-with-his-bare-hands-before-eating-it-1.4213255

Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: wildmanyeah on July 19, 2017, 08:28:06 PM
http://mountainculturegroup.com/castlegar-man-catches-the-worlds-largest-kokanee-and-eats-it/ (http://mountainculturegroup.com/castlegar-man-catches-the-worlds-largest-kokanee-and-eats-it/)

"The staff at Mountain Culture Group just heard from fish biologist Matt Neufeld of BC’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations regarding the DNA test of a fish that was landed on Lower Arrow Lakes. The results confirmed that the fish in question was indeed a Kokanee salmon. Other testing revealed the Kokanee was seven years old and weighed 12.1 pounds (5.4 kg). That’s almost three pounds bigger than the Kokanee caught by Ron Campbell of Pendleton, Oregon, on Wallowa Lake in 2010, which is the official world record according to the International Game Fish Association.
Despite the DNA confirmation, Denis will never be awarded with an official designation because, well, he ate the results"
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: fic on July 19, 2017, 09:17:46 PM
Hmm, picking up that fish with bare hands without using a hook seems kind of illegal.  The fish didn't bite.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: ribolovac02 on July 19, 2017, 10:16:50 PM
This story just makes me puke , litteraly , what people do  , just to be in books that they cought the biggest fish....
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: Noahs Arc on July 20, 2017, 01:02:24 AM
"I don't think that's a rainbow"... ya. Little late for fish ID.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: RalphH on July 20, 2017, 07:16:30 AM
Hmm, picking up that fish with bare hands without using a hook seems kind of illegal.  The fish didn't bite.

likely not illegal.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: fic on July 20, 2017, 07:49:01 AM
likely not illegal.
I had fresh pinks swimming around my ankles in 6 inches of water while I am casting into a river.  Why do I even bother casting when I can just pick it up?
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: CohoJake on July 20, 2017, 08:13:32 AM
When in doubt: 
Quote
ALLOWABLE FISHING METHODS
Although angling is the most popular form of
sport fishing in British Columbia, there are
other methods that you can use to take fish.
Your basic fishing licence entitles you to:
angle … fish (with or without a rod) with
one fishing line to which only one hook,
one artificial lure OR one artificial fly is
attached.

down-rig … angling with a downrigger is
permitted, provided the fishing line is
attached to the downrigger by a quickrelease
mechanism.
ice fish … with one line and one lure,
artificial fly or other terminal attractor.
It is your legal responsibility to warn
other people of the existence of your ice
hole and remove your ice hut before ice
breakup.
set line … you may only fish with a set line
(an unattended line) in lakes of Region 6
& in lakes of Zone A of Region 7. You are
allowed to use only one line with one hook
(no smaller than 3 cm from point to shank
- see below). Any game fish that you
catch other than burbot must be released.
Set lines must be marked with angler’s
name, address and telephone number.
Set Line Hook
(shown 1/2 size)
spear fish … means to fish with a spear or
an arrow that is propelled by a spring, an
elastic band, compressed air, a bow or by
hand. Only non-game fish (such as carp)
may be speared, except burbot which may
also be speared in Regions 3, 5, 6, 7 and
8. No spear fishing of any other game fish
(as defined on page 96), pacific salmon or
protected species (page 10) is permitted
anywhere in B.C. No spear fishing of any
kind is permitted in Region 1, 2 and 4.
trap crayfish … with any number or size of
traps for personal consumption. You must
release all fin fish caught in your trap.
To help sustain crayfish populations, you
should release any crayfish that are less
than 9 cm in total length as well as those
bearing eggs or young.
All other methods of taking fin fish and
crayfish are illegal.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: RalphH on July 20, 2017, 08:58:53 AM
well I would say that as the fish was dead or near dead, the rules of angling don't apply. If it had been seen by a CO I think there is a good probability he'd have been charged. However it's also a good probability if contested, it would be tossed in court since the courts have found angling regulations don't apply to situations like this that may be considered windfalls; a piece of unexpected and unlikely good fortune.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: fic on July 20, 2017, 09:08:08 AM
well I would say that as the fish was dead or near dead, the rules of angling don't apply. If it had been seen by a CO I think there is a good probability he'd have been charged. However it's also a good probability if contested, it would be tossed in court since the courts have found angling regulations don't apply to situations like this that may be considered windfalls; a piece of unexpected and unlikely good fortune.
I can see his defense in court now. I made the whole story up by buying a Sockeye at Superstore and took a picture of it at the Lake.   ;D
The angle of the camera made it look bigger than it actually is.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: Ambassador on July 20, 2017, 11:00:15 AM
well I would say that as the fish was dead or near dead, the rules of angling don't apply. If it had been seen by a CO I think there is a good probability he'd have been charged. However it's also a good probability if contested, it would be tossed in court since the courts have found angling regulations don't apply to situations like this that may be considered windfalls; a piece of unexpected and unlikely good fortune.
If the "rules of angling don't apply" as the fish was dead or near dead, but "there is a good probability he'd have been charged if a CO saw him" - then the rules DO apply. Would you have taken the risk? Be interesting to see some precedent setting cases here. Personally I don't see how this is different to reaching down and plucking salmon out of the water with your bare hands - which I was told once could lead to a "molesting a fish" charge from a CO (maybe someone can confirm?).

I had fresh pinks swimming around my ankles in 6 inches of water while I am casting into a river.  Why do I even bother casting when I can just pick it up?
Yeah it wouldn't be hard to do. They use me as a breakwater often ;-)
(http://i.imgur.com/SE72MpR.jpg)

Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: RalphH on July 20, 2017, 11:04:47 AM
yeah well grabbing a fish that is swimming by isn't what might be called a windfall.

FWIW if this was illegal - why hasn't he been charged based on his public statement?
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: CohoJake on July 20, 2017, 11:13:27 AM
yeah well grabbing a fish that is swimming by isn't what might be called a windfall.

FWIW if this was illegal - why hasn't he been charged based on his public statement?
Well, I don't know about in Canada, but in the US, a person's confession isn't enough to sustain criminal charges - there must be some additional evidence of a crime.  And the defense would be pretty simple - people tell fish stories all the time.  Now if there was a video . . .
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: Damien on July 20, 2017, 11:21:13 AM
Who eats something that is found dead or nearly dead?  That is some weird ish man.

What if it was carrying some sort of disease?
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: DanL on July 20, 2017, 11:59:57 AM
Who eats something that is found dead or nearly dead?  That is some weird ish man.

There are other uses like sturgeon bait, or the body for garden fertilizer/dog food, and the roe for bait (yes, people justify harvesting a zombie chum for this reason all the time).

Under the wording of the regs quoted by WAfishboy I would think you cannot just wade into the slack water and grab your daily limit of dying or dead fish. At minimum you have to use some sort of hook and line (even a handline) and make some pretense of hooking it somewhere around the mouth**.

Another thing is that presumably you cant harvest a dead fish if it's currently closed for retention. ie. you could not grab a moldy sockeye floating by as sturgeon bait if that water was closed for sockeye at the time even though that carcass clearly has absolutely no value otherwise.

** A funny story on this topic. Last year on the Vedder a guy retains a chum. A while later he catches another beauty doe chum and bonks that one too (over the limit). Fishermen around start giving him a hard time, and one was apparently an off duty cop and goes up to Mr Poacher, asks for his license and gives him the business for a few minutes and makes him dump the extra chum into the river. Mr Poacher packs up and leaves but the extra chum eventually floats it way back to the rivers edge. One guy who watched the whole thing goes up to the chum, hooks it in the mouth and drags it the last two feet onto the bank and retains it.

We all kind of laughed at the absurdity of the whole incident and discussed it, and yes, if he had just gone up and grabbed it would have been against the regs, but making at least some effort of hooking it in the mouth first made it perfectly legit, if not a bit weird.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: milo on July 20, 2017, 12:12:42 PM
I had fresh pinks swimming around my ankles in 6 inches of water while I am casting into a river.  Why do I even bother casting when I can just pick it up?

Well, we can only hope it's because you enjoy the sporting aspect of it. If not, if you are only out there to harvest them, buying them in your local supermarket is much much much much cheaper in the long run. ::)
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: Ambassador on July 20, 2017, 12:15:44 PM
FWIW if this was illegal - why hasn't he been charged based on his public statement?

Darn good question. I'd like to know. It sends out the wrong message to people that grabbing fish with their bare hands is acceptable behavior. No different to snagging in my opinion.

Maybe they were just hypnotized by his story -
"and, because he had forgotten his net, reached in with two hands" (really? - Who forgets their net on a boat?)
"But when Woodcox reached down — placing one hand under the tail, one near the head" (ever so gently - didn't he think the fish was dead?)
"Woodcox shared much of the smoked fish with his neighbours, as he usually does" (does his benevolence make up for a seemingly illegal catch?)
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: fic on July 20, 2017, 12:24:55 PM
Well, we can only hope it's because you enjoy the sporting aspect of it. If not, if you are only out there to harvest them, buying them in your local supermarket is much much much much cheaper in the long run. ::)
To Clarify, I was not casting at the fish swimming at my ankles.  They happened to be there while I was casting in the middle of the river. 
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: Easywater on July 20, 2017, 12:40:13 PM
Always wondered if you would get in trouble for picking up a "floater" while fishing for sturgeon during salmon season.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: fic on July 20, 2017, 12:43:10 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/SE72MpR.jpg)

Hey, you and I fish that same spot lol, I remember that rock  ;D.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: Ambassador on July 20, 2017, 02:18:11 PM
Hey, you and I fish that same spot lol, I remember that rock  ;D.
Hahaha! A beauty of a rock in the perfect spot - among the seals, bears and eagles. See you there next weekend!
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: RalphH on July 20, 2017, 02:45:54 PM
Well, I don't know about in Canada, but in the US, a person's confession isn't enough to sustain criminal charges - there must be some additional evidence of a crime.  And the defense would be pretty simple - people tell fish stories all the time.  Now if there was a video . . .

hmm additional evidence; there is a photo; there is genetic evidence and here was a 2nd person there when he retrieved the fish.

Personally I can't see why people get so twisted out of whack over is that illegal or not. I've taken a dying fish myself - legal fish. I'd rather do that than leave it to rot. Didn't take anything over my limit. The fish were dying from visible wounds - bleeding gills. It made a nice meal.

I'd also bet Provincial CO office doesn't see it as worth their while to bother.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: typhoon on July 20, 2017, 03:07:27 PM
hmm additional evidence; there is a photo; there is genetic evidence and here was a 2nd person there when he retrieved the fish.

Personally I can't see why people get so twisted out of whack over is that illegal or not. I've taken a dying fish myself - legal fish. I'd rather do that than leave it to rot. Didn't take anything over my limit. The fish were dying from visible wounds - bleeding gills. It made a nice meal.

I'd also bet Provincial CO office doesn't see it as worth their while to bother.

It may not be worth their while to prosecute, but it's still illegal.
"leave it to rot" is probably the most valuable thing you can do with a dying salmon. Feed the ecosystem for the next generation.
Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: RalphH on July 20, 2017, 07:08:16 PM
It may not be worth their while to prosecute, but it's still illegal.


well I know such cases have gone to court and the judge found for the defendant. It will depend on the facts of an individual case if a citation is issued and contested.

There is also a procedure in BC to claim found road kill: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/pasb/road_kill.html

Title: Re: 5.4 Kilogram Kokanee
Post by: troutbreath on July 21, 2017, 07:41:02 AM
His next meal he found on the sidewalk.