Conservation Wardens, They are only doing their job

I hear so many times "I hate game wardens, all they do is harrass fisherman!" well guess what, just like you and me they have a job to do. If your nice and polite to them, odds are they will return the favor and probably be a little more willing to give you a warning instead of a ticket if you have something minor out of regs. I make it a goal to get to know every warden in the areas I fish and usually this results in one of two things; 1. only being checked once a year and 2. a quicker response time if you call your local tip line on a poacher. Next time your local warden comes by to check your license/catch make small talk with them. If there's a bunch of people out fishing, that warden knows if they caught anything and will typically say what others caught. Usually when someone says they had a bad encounter with a warden it's because they were out of regs and rude to that warden and got slapped with a ticket. A personal example of the results of being nice to a warden; last winter I was fishing the Milwaukee harbor with two friends and the warden (who I had talk to numerious of times before) walked up and my inital response was "what are you doing this far north is your compass broken?(in a joking manner) She laughed and told me she was covering another wardens area. After talking to her for a few minutes she said "I know you have your license (pointing at me) but can I check both of yours (pointing at my two friends)" After checking both of their licenses she returned back to her truck and left. I started laughing quite hard at what had just happend and my friend asked "what are you laughing at?" and I told him she had NEVER checked me in the past. My buddy asked me "how did you get away with not being checked?" I simply replied "that's what happens when you actually talk to the warden and treat them like a human." So moral of the story, be nice to your local warden and see how much further that gets you.