Vancouver Trap Theft/Raid Insantity 2017 Thread.

Have you had traps raided and/or stolen in Vancouver area waters in 2017?


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First of all, fishin magician is actually doing something productive. Despite how far his efforts may go, all the comments about whether or not someone sets their traps up right are useless to this thread. Your oblivious if you don't think raiding/theft isn't going on. Putting a stop to it will be very challenging but kudos to fishin magician for at least gathering information for the authorities.
 
It's not new...it's a whole lot worse than ever before. I have some detailed information on solid leads of what's going on.... but clearly....if DFO and the RCMP are going to set up an operation then they need information which is something this thread can provide.

FYI, when these idiots steal traps from someone who is RCMP that is enjoying personal fishing...which has happened to 2 which I know...they just f'd with the wrong people...."Judgement cometh and they right soon" as the saying goes... ;)

Why does it take the theft of an off duty RCMP's traps to get action? I guess our stories over the last several years don't hold any weight.
 
You can't be seriously saying that being a "guide" makes you instantly infallible?
And I know "Howe Sound" prawning quite well - and I also know that the tides there can be quite strong - and what do you think happens when a 2' Scotsman (as per above) with only 4lb of weight clipped on gets tugged on by a strong current? Bye Bye and it floats away is what.

Clearly, you don't understand. Guides know their sh*t. When a guide uses the same gear for year and years in the same spot and tides are Not a factor on that day in that location... you figure it out. The vast majority of people putting down crab traps and prawn traps who have had theft issues are not bumbling idiots...nor the regulars on this thread...me included. See my original post. Charter operators.... professionals and experienced veterans who do this every day.....having major issues in the last 4 months. Prawning and crabbing the same way they always have for years.

If you have never had a problem in the Vancouver area....consider yourself lucky!
 
"I've had my traps messed with by thieves and we even pulled up to some scum bags before who were reaching for my float to pull up and we confronted them. They are a problem absolutely. BUT there are a lot of other reasons why guys are thinking their stuff is being messed with when in fact it may very well be human error that making it look that way. Lots of different variables out there for sure."

The above quote is accurate, and really, with all the competing priorities that the police have is it really surprising that they don't put a high priority on these activities when a significant proportion are probably not theft at all? They would need to take officers off of other duties, supply them with boats, allocate court time for them -all for 1/2 dozen crabs or 50 Prawns? Home break ins rarely get solved unless they get lucky, and crimes involving personal injury take precedence over property crimes, and property crimes have a hierarchy depending on their impact and severity. Yes it sucks, and the guys doing it are scum, but to be so myopic to think on the larger scale of things that scarce police resources are going to be devoted to preventing affluent people from losing the odd crab and some prawns isn't terribly realistic. Unfortunately it is, and will be a cost of crabbing/prawning in a populated area if you choose to leave your property unattended. If you leave your property unsecured and unattended on land its not the police job to guard it for you, why is it on the water?
 
Mid April
North west Bowen island
Crab Traps raided and dropped about 100m from where I set them and weights set at different points on the rope than I always set them. I had caught over 8 keepers the day before in the same spot and the traps had been soaking for over 6hrs
Large 38' boat with 12 or more people jigging off the side of the boat ??and tender were leaving the area and wouldn't talk to me when I asked about the traps, then they took off at 20knots. Boat was called LunaSea.
Reported to DFO but no action or return phone call from the officer
 
May 7/17 Crab traps raided off Belcarra. 7 hour soak gave us 3-4 small females. the doors were left slightly un-hinged. No suspicious boat seen.

Mike
 
Last year at this time , i was fishing off mile markers.
It was very early and i encountered a large alum herring skiff with big commercial davit and a couple characters in full rain gear,
pulling a long line string of crab traps.
If you see a regualar commercial crab fisherman pulling his traps , they are all the same make of traps.
These guys had every trap different , a sportie blue box , a black round plastic , a small stainless , a green wire sportie.....a whole long string of mish mash traps..... got in close and was immediately told #$%^&*&%^%$$#@#$%^ OFF !!!!!
i backed off and watched ..they reset gear and NO BOUYS....they used old trick of GPS and grapple in shallow water trick.
After a couple hours they went to the boat launch ramp that is locked , under the lions gate bridge , someone unlocked the ramp and a big black pick up backed down the ramp and the exchange was made... a buddy saw them a couple days later and another boat that unloads up the North Arm at the musqueam Rez........
We live under a racist DFO ,and Federal Government where all humans are NOT considered Equal.
The colour of your skin in Canada does matter and some colours have different set of laws or no laws that are constitutionally protected.
So don,t bother calling cops or DFO...their hands are tied...Call your MP !!!
 
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May 6 Indian Arm close to Twin Islands.
Dropped trap, set nicely in 85ft of water at high tide with 100ft of line. There were 4 other traps within 150 meters.
I was anchored around the corner for 2-3 hours, when i returned to pick up, All traps were gone, including mine.
No suspicious boat seen.
 
When this came up before, sometime suggested using driftwood instead of floats to camouflage your traps. I haven't tried this myself, but thought it was a good idea as a deterrent. You'd have to carefully select your driftwood though!
 
A drift wood trap without your markings would be considered a ghost trap and illegal...
anyone can pull and keep a unmarked trap....
 
When: May 7 2017 around 10am
Where: just outside tunstall bay
Who: boat "Amber"
We Dropped 2 prawn traps, stayed in area to keep an eye on them and fish. Watched "Amber" head out to our traps from tunstall about an hour after we set. We were a couple miles away when I noticed they were right on top of our buoy. Pulled up the lines, headed their way, when we got close they dropped the buoy, then threw 2 traps over the side which tangled in ours. His floats said David on them I have the phone number written down in my boat. They were also jigging in tunstall bay all day probably keeping everything they caught.
 
I have not had any traps stolen recently, but I know it's a common thing. I've seen everything from traps raided, stolen, cut, to just floated away in the currents. With that in mind, here's my favourite spot to fish and today's catch. I did this on less than 3$ gas! :)
http://tinyurl.com/kchxq5f

11m6juu.jpg
 
Don't bother setting traps off point gray on the weekend. Ours and our friends got raided two weekends ago. unless of course you can sit on your traps
 
Be an interesting day when I catch someone pulling my traps. Where I'm from, you don't call the cops. What are they gunna do? Do you think they actually care? lol. We don't have near as much a problem with people pulling this crap because there are MANY stories of a bit of street/water justice being dealt out.

It's a nice thought FM, and by all means continue. But this is pure and simple a matter of people not being afraid of being caught.

Hopefully the cops might read this and see that this may turn ugly one day real soon and I'll lose any respect I have for them if they go after the guy protecting his property.
 
Hopefully the cops might read this and see that this may turn ugly one day real soon and I'll lose any respect I have for them if they go after the guy protecting his property.

Hopefully the police will not be worried about your respect and do their job if you decide to become a vigilante. Its what a peaceful society is based on. This isn't the Philippines with someone like Dutarte condoning extrajudicial vigilantism. If you don't want your property disturbed - Don't leave it unattended. Its pretty simple. If you become a thug, you deserve to potentially have the consequences attached to making that choice.
 
Hopefully the police will not be worried about your respect and do their job if you decide to become a vigilante. Its what a peaceful society is based on. This isn't the Philippines with someone like Dutarte condoning extrajudicial vigilantism. If you don't want your property disturbed - Don't leave it unattended. Its pretty simple. If you become a thug, you deserve to potentially have the consequences attached to making that choice.
Sorry Cali, but I cannot accept (nor should you) that leaving traps out is an invitation for anyone to steal them and it is ok for them to do so as you seem to infer here. For whatever reason, our justice system has decided that theft is not a serious enough crime for punishment. Justice to thieves is not being properly dished out by our "justice " system in Canada and repeat offenders are the norm. If society is unable to stop the offenders from re-committing due to penalties too light, then the justice system is broken. Unfortunately, this has left society with a requirement for justice to be administered by the owners of the property. If you want justice in Canada for TDM's (Thieving Druggie Malcontents), it must be administered immediately and severely.
 
Sorry Cali, but I cannot accept (nor should you) that leaving traps out is an invitation for anyone to steal them and it is ok for them to do so as you seem to infer here. For whatever reason, our justice system has decided that theft is not a serious enough crime for punishment. Justice to thieves is not being properly dished out by our "justice " system in Canada and repeat offenders are the norm. If society is unable to stop the offenders from re-committing due to penalties too light, then the justice system is broken. Unfortunately, this has left society with a requirement for justice to be administered by the owners of the property. If you want justice in Canada for TDM's (Thieving Druggie Malcontents), it must be administered immediately and severely.

No where do I condone the theft, or accept it is right, and I agree they are scumbags (although unlikely most "druggie malcontents" have boats and are supporting their habit with stolen crabs). However it is obvious that the practice is fairly common, if you leave your gear unattended it is unfortunately going to happen eventually. The actions taken of reporting it, providing details, making people aware of hotspots, as was the original intent of this thread, are all approriate. It's just realty that these thefts will take place, its unfortunate that it is so, but its not much different than leaving unattended property with some value out on the street. Someones going to eventually take it.

If everyone just decided to take the law in their own hands its just a matter of time before some hot head makes a mistake, and blames some innocent person and maybe hurts or kills them. Its why vigilantism is against the law, why it should not be tolerated or condoned any more than the thefts it is supposedly seeking justice for. If you engage in it you are no better than the thief, and you deserve the consequences of your actions, and its in societies overall interest to prosecute you for that action. Even one innocent person being hurt or killed is not worth the 4 crabs you lost, sorry, it just isn't.
 
Mine were raided on Wed the 17th may just south of the North Arm ......
Usually get 4-7 legals , got none , except for the two undersized they decided to leave me.
You could say it was a slow day .... But, I dont agree
 
No where do I condone the theft, or accept it is right, and I agree they are scumbags (although unlikely most "druggie malcontents" have boats and are supporting their habit with stolen crabs). However it is obvious that the practice is fairly common, if you leave your gear unattended it is unfortunately going to happen eventually. The actions taken of reporting it, providing details, making people aware of hotspots, as was the original intent of this thread, are all approriate. It's just realty that these thefts will take place, its unfortunate that it is so, but its not much different than leaving unattended property with some value out on the street. Someones going to eventually take it.

If everyone just decided to take the law in their own hands its just a matter of time before some hot head makes a mistake, and blames some innocent person and maybe hurts or kills them. Its why vigilantism is against the law, why it should not be tolerated or condoned any more than the thefts it is supposedly seeking justice for. If you engage in it you are no better than the thief, and you deserve the consequences of your actions, and its in societies overall interest to prosecute you for that action. Even one innocent person being hurt or killed is not worth the 4 crabs you lost, sorry, it just isn't.

So if someone is pulling my traps and I pull up beside them and they tell me to take a hike I'm supposed to smile and wish them the best of luck with their new traps at my expense? So....

Take this example for Guardians of the Galaxy.
Rocket: "Question. What if I see something that I wanna take and it belongs to someone else?"
Rhomann: "Then you will be arrested." (This is how it should be)
Rocket: "But what if I want it more than the person who has it?"

In Vancouver
Rocket: "Question. What if I see something that I wanna take and it belongs to someone else?"
California: "Then you will have a new toy with no consequences."
Rocket: "I'm gonna love this place!"


Nothing gets my blood boiling like theft. As a farmer, I work hard for everything I have. If someone waltz's onto the property to take something, there'll be hell to pay. It's a dismal world we live in where the guy protecting his stuff is the bad guy. Why should stealing your traps be any different than stealing your kicker, or your whole boat? I should not have to float with my traps all day making sure no one takes them. I mean who is going to sit on my porch and protect my house and animals while I'm guarding my crab traps?
 
So if someone is pulling my traps and I pull up beside them and they tell me to take a hike I'm supposed to smile and wish them the best of luck with their new traps at my expense? So....

Take this example for Guardians of the Galaxy.
Rocket: "Question. What if I see something that I wanna take and it belongs to someone else?"
Rhomann: "Then you will be arrested." (This is how it should be)
Rocket: "But what if I want it more than the person who has it?"

In Vancouver
Rocket: "Question. What if I see something that I wanna take and it belongs to someone else?"
California: "Then you will have a new toy with no consequences."
Rocket: "I'm gonna love this place!"


Nothing gets my blood boiling like theft. As a farmer, I work hard for everything I have. If someone waltz's onto the property to take something, there'll be hell to pay. It's a dismal world we live in where the guy protecting his stuff is the bad guy. Why should stealing your traps be any different than stealing your kicker, or your whole boat? I should not have to float with my traps all day making sure no one takes them. I mean who is going to sit on my porch and protect my house and animals while I'm guarding my crab traps?
I didn't read that from Cali's post. I guess his point is to record the evidence and leave it to the authorities to deal with these scumbags otherwise you may find yourself in the other side of the court room.
 
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