I was up at Putah Creek this last Saturday 11th August. It was my first time so I stopped at every parking lot and walked pretty much most of the fishable section.

I saw some people fishing with live worms, and others with traditional lures.  In one spot, someone had put what looked like raw chicken meat on the end of a line anchored to a tree and thrown it in. I find it hard to believe you could catch a trout that way, and I assume there are no crocodiles in the creek.

Should I report any of the above to the Dept of Fish/Game if I see it again?

Cheers

Peter

As SK60 says, illegal fishing happens all the time on our little river. Every time I go up there, I find bait containers and discarded tackle from bait rigs. Heck, when me and Rich were up there on tues we not only saw a guy fishing across from us at the bridge section with spinning tackle and no doubt barbed hooks, we ran into a guy and his son drifting worms. We talked to the dude and explained the regs, and he seemed very apologetic. We informed him of the fine as well as the damage bait fishing puts on the wild trout fishery. Traded him some flies for a couple brews and tossed him a PCT business card. He was very friendly. That worked out nicely. I feel like a lot of the time approaching someone in a calm and non-accusatory manner does wonders. But there are those certain folks who simply brazenly and unapologetically flaunt their regs violations and may react in a hostile manner when approached. That's when CALTIP is useful....

I was at the bridge with a client yesterday and ran into 2 guys fishing with night crawlers, I politely told them of the regs and the stiff fines if they get caught and also where good places to go to spin fish. They were nice but bummed-out about not being able to fish with bait. BTW yesterday sucked, only one fish to hand in 4 hrs. I didnt even see any bugs, no mayflies; one caddis; and virtually no everpresent midges. We threw everything in my box to no avail, very odd day to say the least!  Bono