Catching ten trout wasn't even the most interesting part of my night

I went to the fly fishing only pond tonight. When I got there, a group of  six kids about 20 years old were fishing the pond. I had seen them fish this pond a couple times before. I put my kayak in and started fishing. Within a few minutes, I landed two trout. Thanks to three days of cold rain, the fish in the pond were energized. The cooler water, got the trout  hungry and active.

While I was fishing, a couple other guys showed up. That was eight people fishing from shore. The problem was none of the eight fishermen were using fly gear. All of them were using spinning and baitcasting gear. That is illegal in this pond. There are only a couple ponds in Rhode Island that are fly fishing only. You can't miss the sign that lets you know that it is FFO.

Wouldn't you know it, an enviremental police officer showed up.  All eight of the fishermen got tickets. I think a couple of them did not have fishing licenses. I can imagine the fines they recieved.

I don't feel bad at all for these guys. If your dumb enough to fish a trout pond, that is fly fishing only without a license, then you deserve a ticket. Trout ponds are the most patroled places in the state. Money from fishing licenses go towards raising trout. Therefore, the police, don't want rule breakers poaching them. Rhode Island Enviremental Police could care less about carp, if these kids were fishing a carp pond in the woods, they never would have gotten caught. Only an idiot, would fish a this pond more than once and expect never to get caught. Also, Trout Unlimited considers this "their" pond. They would not take to kindly to seeing guys using spinning gear. Hell, They hate me using my kayak ( the difference is the kayak is legal).

Enough about that. After they got their tickets they all left, I had the pond to myself. The fish kept hitting. I ended up catching 10 trout. I also had four or five more on. It was the best night I ever had at this pond. It is loaded with fish. As long as the weather stays cool, they should continue to bite.

Lastly, another interesting thing happened. I was paddling to the south side of the pond about dusk. I saw an animal swimming in the same direction. I assumed it was a muskrat. As I got closer, I expected it to sound ( dive). It never did. It turned out to be a bunny rabbit. It swam all the way across. I didn't even know rabbits could swim. What an interesting night.