Why Would Someone Do That?!

[Fly_Fisher_12]

I just got back from fishing in Central Washington, Rocky Ford and the like. Anyway, I was driving around the Potholes Reservoir Wildlife Area looking for a good place to toss a fly at some Crappie or 'Gills. I crossed the boudary of the Potholes Game Reserve, keep in mind the the sign said EXACTLY, "No Guns, Traps, or Dogs Beyond This Point." Anyway, it didn't say hook and line fishing, so I kept a-goin' down the gravel road, noticing all of the bullet holes in the Game Reserve signs. Anyway I got to a spot on the shore that looked promising and I look in the water and what do I see? A carp with it's tail blown off! At first I thought, "What could have done this to a carp?" It was a nice sized Mirror Carp probaly 30". I then made the discovery of numerous shotgun shells along with VERY numerous carp pieces, skeletons, and the like. I think some wierdo stood on the bank and killed all of the carp with his 12 guage. I never did find any Crappie or 'Gills either. Has anyone else found this rather disturbing phenomenon? Any theories other than this one?
-Fly_Fisher_12

Someone got bored?

[RonMT]

If you live in the west you had better get use to it. I am not saying it is a good thing just part of life here. Most of the time it is kids being kids. nothing better to do. Some times it is drunks. But who ever does it are being jerks. But like I said it is all over the west so just get use to it and don't worry about it. Save you some headaches that way. Ron

[DG]

In most of the places I have ever lived, carp are exotic fish, and there are few if any rules on what you can do with or to them. As a youngster, shooting them with a bow was a common event, and if we had carp here, I would still be doing it. They do not belong in our waters, they do not exactly improve the health of our waters, and if the folks who did that were not breaking the law, I have no quarrel with them.

Dear DG,

You can't be serious?

How about I come out to California and commence to hunt all the brook and brown trout in the State? I could move on to sunfish and bass. Maybe when I've killed them off I will start gunning down your State's striped bass. All the fish I mentioned are "exotics".

As far as I know, it's illegal to hunt fish with a shotgun in the USA. You can shoot pike with a rifle in Vermont though.

The people who did this were, and are, a bunch of ignorant, and probably drunken, scumbags.

Regards,
Tim Murphy

[perfectloop]

yeah, it's unnerving to see bullet holes in the NF signs along the dirt roads in the middle of nowhere when you have to find a camping spot.

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take him fishing

[DG]

Yep, far as I am concerned, you can have the browns and the brookies and the stripers too. I love to catch browns here, but it they all vanished tonight, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. More damage has been done to our fisheries, and our overall ecology, by people bringing in exotic species to "improve" things, than any idiot with a shotgun could ever hope to do. I don't care how pretty the exotic is, or how much $ it brings in, I would prefer to have the native species in my water and on my land.

[Gringo]

Kill carp however, and whenever you can. They are a noxious pest and destroy entire river systems in Australia. Wipe 'em out if you can.

[Garic]

well there's nothing like promoting the image of fishing, and as far as I am concerned these 2 idiots DG and Gringo are NOTHING LIKE promoting the image of fishermen. What next?? do we start hunting humans that are not native to an area or system? as man has caused more damage to the environment than any other creature, whould this be right also????

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Work is a means for people to afford their fishing.

[atomic_dog]

In the area that Fly_Fisher_12 is referring to (And in most of Eastern Washington that I?ve noticed) most anglers consider carp to be a pest. If you go to just about any popular fishing spot there is a good chance that you?ll come across dead and decaying carp along the banks. When caught they get tossed up on the bank to die, flopping amongst the sagebrush. Many fly fishing folk consider them a great sport fish, but most others want them gone. The seep lakes in the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge get overrun by carp, bass, bluegill and perch. The Department of Wildlife comes in periodically and kills everything off with Rotenone (sp?), then restocks them with trout.

Regardless of how you feel about the presence of the carp here, blasting any animals with a shotgun just for the pleasure of killing something is stupid.

Unfortunately I think RonMT has hit the nail on the head with his post. The Department of Wildlife guys are spread pretty thin here in Grant County and it?s pretty tough for them to enforce much unless they happen upon the offenders. It?s pretty much just something that will keep on happening around here.

Fly_Fisher_12: This past weekend I had great luck catching bluegill and crappie at Hutchinson Lake out in the Wildlife Refuge. They were going bonkers for a size 10 Hare?s Ear Nymph. They only seemed to be biting right at dusk and into the night. We caught most of our fish between 7:45 and 8:30. I bet they probably are feeding at sunrise as well, but I?m too lazy to get up that early to find out. If you head out there, though, bring bug spray. The skeeters are already THICK! The crappie that I took home had eggs, so I assume they are spawning now, the gills probably will be before long once the weather warms up some.