WarrEagle

I know this thread is old, but I have to contribute to this anyway. Back in 1992, I was in a john boat with my BIL, smoking a bowl out on a lake in a park in Hillsborough County, FL. We only went out to smoke and drink a beer. We had poles in the john boat, but they were never taken out of the rod holders. Game warden comes along, sees us, pulls up along side and asks for licenses. My BIL has his, he was there to fish, I did not have a license and never even touched a pole. Guess what? Cited for Fishing W/O a valid license. Warden insisted that I 'could' have been fishing. Despite my objections and pleadings, cited anyway. I don't remember the fine, at the time it was a lot I'm sure as I was a young buck. But to this day, it comes up on every background check that is run for pre-employment and I end up explaining it. It's just an infraction, not even a misdemeanor but its on my national criminal file. The only blot on my file at that. It was only a citation, no arrest, no confiscation of my BIL gear. Just a major PITA and it still screws with me 25 years later. Moral of this story, never step foot on a boat with fishing gear in it without a license.