No more afterhour dock fishing in Newport Harbor

[ToadsToadsOnly]

Fished Newport harbor public docks the other day got was fishing after hours and got rolled on by Harbor Patrol. Great usually they just tell us to leave but not this time they parked on the side of the dock, checked our fishing license, asked for all our ID’s, and asked us if we were on probation or have been arrested. They ran our records and started to write some things down on a notepad. Great I’ve been fishing that dock for 8-10 years and never got a ticket after hours. I started talking to the Harbor Patrol and told him I’ve talked to the sheriffs on the Peninsula before and they told us multiple times they really do not enforce the after hour’s policy unless you are loud, disturb the neighbors, drink on the dock, or trash the dock. He said he did not enforce it either.

He explained to me that the new chief of police in the department is a boater not a FISHERMAN and has been enforcing the law strictly. He been walking down the dock and writing tickets for everything not having fishing license worn above the waist, cutting bait on the dock, not moving when fishing so the boaters could dock, littering, and most of all fishing after hours. He also told me if you are doing anything wrong he will write you up. He also told me the Chief will be back in a month so the nighttime fishing off the dock days is over guys.

[doyoufishmuch]

Man that sucks. I wonder if they will try to enforce the jetty too. Im out there a lot after the beach closes. The NBPD is always out there about an hour after spotlighting the beach and the jetty. But they've only told me to leave when I was fishin right where they usually pull up. Never seen them get out of the car except to bust people drinkin or smokin on the beach. Only got spotlit by the sheriff boat once, but only for 2 seconds as he cruised by and he didn't stop or say anything to me or the other people out there. HAHA, I wonder if now they would actually get close enough to the jetty to jump and chase you around if you were getn hassled and just walked away. :Beat Stick: You'd think that's too nice of a boat to risk gettin damaged to bust a few people innocently fishing right? :Explode: Oh well, im crossin my fingers. I mean after all what do they expect us to do, sleep? Night time is for fishing:Wink:

[fish_sauce]

:(:(:(

sorry about the fine dude, but thanks a lot for the heads up...i was just there fishing last weekend at night but didn't run into any harbor patrols...an after hour ticket from newport was in excess of $100 for me a few years ago, i hope its not as severe for you...

I wonder if this will cause any problems to the tubers and yakers who frequent the harbor at night...i just freaken bought a float tube too!!! was planning on doing the majority of my tubing in the np harbor area at night!!...:Crying:

[troutdog]

OUCH....that sux, sorry to hear about. Thanks for the heads up TTO.


TD

[pipelayer5150]

as far as im aware there is no curfew for "fishing" in newport harbor only what hours the public dock and jetties are open so go buy a float tube its cheaper then one after hours ticket.

[Rooster]

So what are the hours for fishing Newport Harbor?

[pipelayer5150]

i m not sure but i believe its 6-10

[WARRIORMIKE]

So what are the hours for fishing Newport Harbor?


I was just there last week and your supposed to be off by 10pm:(

[klocked]

What is so hard about playing by the rules??????
If you do, you got nothing to worry about

[murrieta angler]

I guess the new chief of police is a regular here....lol

[CrabMan]

Man, where's dennis rodman when you need him!

[fightfan]

the new chief of police can suck my balls

[klocked]

I guess the new chief of police is a regular here....lol

Was this comment directed toward me?

Anyways, think about this....

There are people that innocently fish not breaking any law in the process
There are people that smoke weed or drink alcohol while they fish
There are people that are inconsiderate of others while they fish
While fishing, there are people that will pee off the dock, leave a mess when they leave, be too loud etc.... etc....

But even though we all do different things while fishing, some legal and some not, we all have one important thing in common, we are "fishermen".

When it comes to city government, law enforcement and the citizens of Newport, the differences between the individual fishermans habits are washed away and we are all simply labeled "fishermen"

Therefore, they wont differentiate between TTO fishing innocently after hours and the guy thats half blitzed,throwing his empties over the side, who probably thinks he's fishing innocently also. That's too much trouble for them.

What matters to the city government and the law enforcement is that the law is obeyed. When it comes to us as fishermen, if we want to be able to keep fishing from the docks in NPH, we need to abide by their laws. Doing so will help delay the day that a bunch of NPH citizens go marching into a city hall meeting with the intentions of keeping us out forever.

I've fished on the popular "M street dock" quite a few times up until 10:00, and many times noticed an increase in fish activity that seemed to only be increasing. But knowing that the dock closes at 10:00pm and it's expected of me to leave because that's their law, I leave, even though I don't really want to.

As an individual fisherman, me leaving the docks when I'm supposed to, probably goes un-noticed. But us as a whole is a different story.


Klocked
btw... not in a million years could I qualify for being the chief of police..... anywhere. heheheh

[THarry65]

They are going to start writing tickets for fishing after hours because (people?)..NO..ASSHOLES don't clean up after themselves and they litter the fricken water and leave their **** layin on the docks when they leave. People that do things the right way are punished for what the dirty pricks that don't give a **** leave behind!!..what else is new?

[shy_boxer]

TTO sorry to hear that you got a ticket for fishing. Dude....it's sad that they bust people for fishing. I understand that there are anglers who break the rules and dont give a crap about the environment, ticket them or throw them in jail...i don't care....however there are also law abiding anglers who really care for the fishery and environment. I say bust people who break the law but allow us diehard enviro friendly fishermen the right to fish at night. I can honestly say fishing kept me out of doing alot of dirt as a youth and kept me out of trouble. Why is it so hard to find a place to fish at night? Thats why us diehard fishermen ninja fish. Kinda makes me wonder what this country is coming too. We just fishing....we just wanna play tug of war with the feesh. C'mon law enforcement officers just let us fish. I am sure alot of us fishermen could be doing something worse instead we opt to fish. P.S. can anyone tell me a legal place to fish at night (between 10pm-4am) besides the goon,redondo pier, and santa monica pier. Please pm me. Thanks for reading. Tight lines....s_b

[fish_sauce]

What matters to the city government and the law enforcement is that the law is obeyed.

i'd hate to admit it, but klocked does have a valid point...

to me it always seemed like it was bound to happen...that the authorities would eventually enforce petty city codes in order to curb more serious offenses such as drug use and littering and vandalism and theft....there is a method to their madness...but since it negatively affects most of us, we just don't see it.

gone are the days when the harbor patrol officers would pull up next to us...not to give out citations...but more like they were interested to learn/see what we were catching...ask us how our night went, or gave us tips on where the fish are biting...:( We'll just have to pack light now...make a quick dash for it before they can tie up to the docks...lol. :LOL:

[ToadsToadsOnly]

I did not get a ticket they let me go with a warning and wrote our id's and names down in a notebook. No more NPH for me it sucks because when we go we always throw our stuff away and a bunch of other people's stuff that is always left on the docks. I guess I gotta find a new Batray spot So wheres your spot again Gary?

[ToadsToadsOnly]

i'd hate to admit it, but klocked does have a valid point...

to me it always seemed like it was bound to happen...that the authorities would eventually enforce petty city codes in order to curb more serious offenses such as drug use and littering and vandalism and theft....there is a method to their madness...but since it negatively affects most of us, we just don't see it.

gone are the days when the harbor patrol officers would pull up next to us...not to give out citations...but more like they were interested to learn/see what we were catching...ask us how our night went, or gave us tips on where the fish are biting...:( We'll just have to pack light now...make a quick dash for it before they can tie up to the docks...lol. :LOL:

The Harbor patrol said the Chief of the department been walking down onto the docks from land not sea. He told me he been busting people that way so they do not have anywhere to run. So the packing light option is gone unless you plan on swimming to another dock. He also said when the Chief bust you he will write you up for eveything he could write you up for. If you do decide to fish on the docks be careful. He's a boater not a fisherman he does not understand that Ninja fishing is part of our insomniac lifestyle and we are fishing not at the bar causing running a muck.

[FireRox21]

I saw this one coming from a mile away. It was only a matter of time. And it's, SUPER crappy!!!

[Badfish2]

Sounds like the new chief is an a-hole. But if that's the law, don't break it and you shouldn't have a problem. But still seems crappy that they enforce the law depending on who's in charge.

[willis949]

I was at the dock Tuesday night and stayed until 12:30 and they shined their light on me and told me to reel in my lines.They pulled up and tied up and asked for ID.Ran a warrant check and told me that if I didn't have a license showing he would have written me up for no license,cutting bait on the dock,fishing after hours most importantly FISHING WITH MORE THAN THE MAXIMUM OF 2 POLES.I see people with 4,5 and 6 poles and he said that people think that it is as many as you can handle or tend to but he said 2 max no exceptions! I had a half of a cigar on the dock and I started to throw it away and he thought it was weed but since it wasn't I was out of there.

[sonarbp]

I wonder if this will cause any problems to the tubers and yakers who frequent the harbor at night...i just freaken bought a float tube too!!! was planning on doing the majority of my tubing in the np harbor area at night!!...:Crying:

Hey fish_sauce....as long as you have all the required equipment, life vest, net, whistle,and HEAD LAMP.....this is required at night.....you are all legal to fish from your tube in Newport after dark.

sonarbp

[flyngby]

Quote:
Originally Posted by fish_sauce
I wonder if this will cause any problems to the tubers and yakers who frequent the harbor at night...i just freaken bought a float tube too!!! was planning on doing the majority of my tubing in the np harbor area at night!!...

Hey fish_sauce....as long as you have all the required equipment, life vest, net, whistle,and HEAD LAMP.....this is required at night.....you are all legal to fish from your tube in Newport after dark.

sonarbp

So far so good as long as if they check you and you are legal and meet the requirements of boating you are good for now!!!!!!

Steve