So true aerobar2, sorry to hear your misfortune, but thanks for the reminder to read up on the regs. I find myself not re freshening up as often as I need to on the regs either.
Best of luck to ya on your future adventures.

A big allright for the WDFW tagging you. As a holder of a license it your responcibility to read the regs. Keep a copy in your car/truck.

a big alright??? sounds like he made a honest mistake to me an ddidine deserve a ticket

How was the water level?


Having worked for fish and game in another state, I can say that the gamewardens here are very heavy handed. We would hand out many warnings and try and educate. I hate seeing fish and game literally hiding in the bushes with binoculars.

Watch out for Game Wardens at American also, at Public Launch in Tillicum, same type of deal one second no Wardens next second two. Soon as they pulled up jumped out and each one marched directly up to onw other guy and the other to myself, I had two poles only fishing with one had the other sitting ready with bait only bait was barely in the water, was going to bring the other line in if nothing after a while to figure out what the fish were eating with various baits and the warden walked up and asked for just my drivers license, went back to his truck Silver Chevy Silverado, pays to be a Warden getting to drive a nice rig like that and ran my name on his computer, came back told me he saw me with two lines in the water, I told him just waiting for a bite to figure out what they were eating and he said even though the line was not casted out he could still give me a ticket for two lines in the water but only gave me a warning then gave my license back and never asked for my fishing license which I found kind of weird, but I guess they can check by just your name if you have a valid fishing license already. So be wary of them at this sight they also were checking boats before they launched for proper equipment and licensing , then several hours later, the other fisherman left, no one else fishing on the bank but me and here they came down the road again, not checking me again, but two other boats one putting in and the other one coming out. So good luck out there and hope no one gets a ticket .

The water level was not too high leaving quite a few stumps and rocks exposed on the shoreline. Frankly I think game warden man was a too harsh. My ex husband and I used to fish and honestly it's been quite a while since I went fishing. We used to do a lot of fly fishing, but rarely on the lakes. Granted he always read the regs, so this was a wake up call for me. I was out there with my sister yesterday - do you suppose it was because I 'm a woman? Maybe if I were a guy and argued with the warden, then I wouldn't have gotten the ticket?

ignorance of the law is not and has never been a viable excuse, single barbless and no bait, your legal every time, thats why us fly fisherman never get in trouble

An honest mistake and he paid the price. I don't see a need for some to rub it in. Thanks for the report!

Ditto, rubbing it in serves no useful purpose. Too bad a fellow angler didn't warn you first - with so many anglers fishing that lake it doesn't take long for the cry of "no bait!" to be heard around the lake.