Thread: I don't understand people.

I allow anybody to fish my slips that want to fish them, I just ask that they leave them as they found them. Over the past three years I have had some small items disappear but just figured they forgot to return them so I have continued to let people fish my skips when I'm not there. I get teed for a few minutes and then just forget it when I discover something missing.

But when I arrived at the slips this afternoon I saw my fish basket was in the water. I assumed that somebody had knocked it into the water while fishing the slip and just left it there. So I pulled it up with the rope to put it back on the slip to dry out. When I did I say five crappie in it. So I assumed somebody just used my basket while fishing my slip and forgot to take the crappie when they left. But a couple of them looked small. So I measured them and found that three were legal keepers but two were undersized. So I released all of them.

The problem is we have a game warden that sometimes checks the slips and checks all the baskets and stringers he finds in the slips. He says it is illegal to leave fish on a stringer or in a basket when you are not there. I have been told that he has warned some of the slip holders that he will ticket them if he finds unattended fish in their slips again.

So I know he would have fined me if he found those two undersized crappie in my basket hanging from my slip. Even through I was not the one who put them into the basket.

So now I can't decided whether the person who left them there did it on purpose or just forgot to take them. Either way it could have resulted in a large fine for me had the game warden found them instead of me finding them.

My friends and I have brushed out the two slips and I have a green underwater light so they attract crappie and white bass. So I understand why people want to fish them and it doesn't bother me when they do if I am not fishing them. But why would someone do something like this that may force me to lock up the slips when I am not there? I can put up small things disappearing but I can not put up with undersized fish being left in my fish basket.

So now I must decide if I am going to continue to allow people to fish my slips and take that risk that it happens again or if I am going to put doors and locks on the two slips so nobody can use them when I am not there. I am fortunate that my decks and two boats allow me to lock the access to the deck and slips if I decide to do that.

I just can't understand people anymore.

It’s what ladies wear to keep folks from seeing through their dresses/skirts. Sorry just couldn’t resist !