I was at St Leonards pier at about 7pm tonight with the Mrs just having a stroll checking out what people were catching. We stopped near the end of the pier and next to us was an old lady who had just hooked a baby flatty. Now as soon as I saw it I'm thinking to myself 'are you going to throw that back old bag?' but after much fiddling she pretend to measure it with a 20cm (approx) ruler, at this point I was like 'WTF!', she then pulled a knife out stabbed it in the head and put it in her bucket. At this point I was quite annoyed coz the flatty was only about 15cm long but I didn't say anything.

She baited her hook again and casted out, bam, hooked up in about 30 seconds. Another flatty. this time it was maybe 17cm long. I knew that she would keep it and she didn't disappoint, stabbed it in the head and in her bucket. I said to the Mrs 'do you have your phone' yes was the reply, 'call fisheries' I said. so she did and reported the old lady and fisheries were on their way.

The stupid thing was she measured with a ruler that wasn't long enough but right behind her was a DPI fish measuring ruler fixed on the pier, with the minimum size cleary stated. I tell ya some people need to be rounded up and shot in the face.

Completely agree. Some people just show complete disregard for the rules..

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Breathing is Overrated

Did the fisheries come and drag her saggy ass away?

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Taking the fight to the fish!

I don't know. We waited about about 25-30 minutes but we were getting eaten alive by mozies so we left.

Well done man, atleast someone who also takes the correct steps instead of just whinging about it on a forum. Dob them in and the message hopefully will follow through. Whinging on here wont get us nowhere, we all have mobiles so use them. 13FISH

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Cold months = Sambar... Warm months = Fish...

she coulda been a newbie and didnt now the rules therefore she measured her catch wrong? did you attempt to educate her rather than call fisheries who prob didnt get her? she mite be legit...benifit of the doubt

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BOOM-HEADSHOT!!!!!

Being ignorant to the rules isn't an excuse. Part of getting a fishing license is agreeing to a contract that states you know and understand the rules.

In regard to educating her....it is my belief that she was being shifty. She waited a long time before dispatching it and putting in her bucket, as though she were waiting for people to go away. When she 'measured' it I believe it was just staged for those who were looking.

She may well of thought she was doing the right thing but to me her body language seemed 'off'. Nevertheless, she still broke the rules.

yeah i hope you dont use that as excuse.... you will find as most laws ignorance is no excuse. you cant deal drugs and then tell the police that you didnt know it was illegal... funny to see someone try tho..

what i do is my bisness mate, and no i dont use that as a escuse. do you twit oops twitch?

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BOOM-HEADSHOT!!!!!

Faaark. Some old lady? She is probably senile and thought she was catching monsters. You should have walked up to her
and explained very clearly, and in a friendly manner that what she was doing was illegal, not only that, but WRONG. And being specific.

Or maybe you should have clothes-lined her, body slammed her and held her in a head-lock until fisheries arrived?

I am very enviornmentally conscious and have no qualms about reporting people, but I think there was an effective
way to handle that situation that didn't require such drastic measures considering the person involved. (She was an 'old' lady right?)
If after speaking to her you really felt that she was being "dodgy" then by all means call fisheries, right in front of her.



(being friendly)

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"o o o ooo o oo o o o 0000o0o 0 oo000 OOo O0O o 0o0 o0o0O"

damn right there jazz, eduacate not hate!

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BOOM-HEADSHOT!!!!!

lock her up..

Don’t do that, she'd make great burley.



Why don’t you give him a kiss



Then she shouldn't be fishing. If she was driving up the wrong side of the road should we take away her licence? Or just try to educate her?


Being uneducated, ignorant, or just plain disobedient is NO excuse. That’s why our fish stocks are fucked now when compared with 30 years ago. If you want your kids to be able to have a good time fishing like we do then you need to set an example and be hard on anyone who breaks these laws, after all they are there to protect what we love.

13FISH

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Taking the fight to the fish!

Jaws,

Yes, you would like to see men kiss wouldn't you?

Like I said, I am an environmentalist. And I certainly think that the rules need to be enforced. But what you gotta undertsand is that old people
(still assuming she was) their minds don't work so good. Maybe she was a bit senile or nutty or whatever. A little tact is required here. I am
very sure that if she went to court to fight the claim she would get off because of this reason. That is because that is what we generally think in society re: old people. Maybe she thinks she is living 30 years ago and its all good! If she did not respond to someone approaching her and being elaborate enough
on the matter then you naturally would have no OTHER recourse. Most people in society would find a judgment against an old lady for catching some undersize fish to be ri-fucken-diculous.

Its not comparable to driving. If she was senile then she would be directly and immediately putting lives at risk.

If you feel that strongly and militant about protecting fish then lobby for even smaller bags, I certainly would be all for that. Limit to one fish per species.

You commendable sense of responsibility and the resultant emotion appear to be a little misdirected.

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"o o o ooo o oo o o o 0000o0o 0 oo000 OOo O0O o 0o0 o0o0O"

Hehehe, mate the last thing I want is to see you kiss another man. I got enough of a fright when you posted up your boofhead in between those two lizards

Look, if I sound militant that was not my intention. I don’t think she should be sprayed with an AK or anything like that, the worst that would happen to her is a fine. People don’t respond to 'a friendly talk', you need to hit them where it hurts, their wallet.

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Taking the fight to the fish!