Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Spotted Bluegill "poachers" ?

John Gierach wrote a similar story in "Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders" about a Vietnamese Community doing the exact same thing in one of his local ponds (keeping tons of bluegills) and he being asked to investigate because he was a stringer reporter for the outdoors column for a local newspaper.

"After a few phone calls and a little footwork, I came up with the following information:

"A. None of these people were willing to risk their pending citizenship by getting busted for anything, least of all poaching fish.

"B. They were keeping crappies, bluegills, and bullheads, and a legal combined limit for a family of five consisted of 400 fish, or "buckets" of them, if you prefer.

"C. A fisheries biologist said that removing small panfish in those numbers (they kept everything they caught, no matter how small) could only help the overall gamefish population.  That's why the limits were so generous in the first place.

"D. The Vietnamese turned out to be friendly, polite, and damned good fishermen, putting many of us native Americans to shame on all three accounts.

"And E.  When you look into a bowl of Vietnamese fish stew, it looks back at you."

Ref:

http://books.google.com/books?id=VL53coCVfscC&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=john+gierach+bluegills+vietnamese

VA limit/day is 50 bluegills, no size limit.

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/regulations/creelandlengthlimits.pdf

Maryland says 15/day (under "sunfish") and no minimum length:

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/regulations/table.asp?c=recreational

From what I can tell, DC doesn't even consider bluegill to be game fish.

http://ddoe.dc.gov/page/dc-fish-field-guide

Chumming is not addressed in the DC regs (actually, not much is in the regs).  Anybody have additional info/insight, or is DC just the lawless third world that we all know and love?

http://ddoe.dc.gov/service/regulated-fishing-activities

Yes, I'm a total LulzKiller.  =)

From: Senor_denito <feliciano.den@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com>
Date: Sunday, September 30, 2012 7:45 PM
To: <tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com>
Subject: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Spotted Bluegill "poachers" ?

I was really disturbed at seeing a group of three plucking loads of bluegill out from the Tidal Basin on makeshift short wooden rods.  I think they "chummed" the water.  Anyway I am not one to profile but they could have been of middle eastern / asian descent.  As a blue gill was plucked out from the water it was slapped into a ziplock bag full of 20 plus bluegills. 

 I'm not sure if this is considered poaching but two large ziplock bags full of bluegills did not seem right at all.