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| I know beer in the boat in Canada is illegal but has anyone been stopped while they have had beer in the boat in Canada? If so, what did they do? I have a trip in mid June and we usually have a 6 pack or so with us for the day. Never been stopped on the water and wondered if they just check your live well and make sure you have a license and then fly away or if they dump your entire boat for a search. We are all nice guys and not young hooligans  so I doubt they would rip our boat apart but was curious if anyone had been searched for beer? Plus we are not drinking a full bottle of Jack prior to being stopped so it would not be obvious we had a few. Also, is it a minor offense for beer in the boat or do they haul you off and thus end of the trip. I know I know why take the risk.... Again, just curious if anyone has had this situation in the past few years.
TIA |
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Posts: 336
Location: Wheeling, IL. | Not had anything first hand but heard from a guy that had a few and was eating lunch in the boat when approached, the cost was over $1000.00 not sure of exact figure. just not worth the risk |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Very serious fine. Not worth it, IMHO. |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Totally illegal, and they will hand you a 1 year driving suspension just as fast as they would on the road, in your vehicle. We get checked and stopped every year, and open liquor is what they're looking for first and foremost. You might be able to talk your way out of an improper fitting life vest or not having a signaling device, but they will pound you into the ground if they find you've been drinking and/or have open liqour in the boat. Zero Tolerance, and no talking your way out of that. Completely not worth the risk, to me. We get stopped every summer, and it's liquor they're after #1. DUI up here was a simple Hwy Traffic Act offense up until 5 or 6 years ago. Now it's all Federal, and they will nail you bad by pulling your liscense for up to a year and a fine, normally $1,000. They will roll up on you in any number of water craft too, don't expect to see the big 24' hard top from a mile away. They run spot checks on SeaDoos, little junk aluminum boats and Zodiacs. Their goal is to discourage drinking on the water, and thus they get pretty creative in busting people, and you're cooked if they nab you. BTW, Conservation Officers (game wardens) can nail you too. |
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| Ya, we would be out on a fly in but I have heard those bush pilots can land on top of you about 20 feet away with the engine off before you know what happened.
Thanks. I think I will leave the 6 pack at the cabin this year. |
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Posts: 1270
| I always try to remember that Canada is not our 51st. state and there laws are different than ours.
Personally I would like to see it illegal to have a open beer in the boat in Wisconsin just like in a car. There is no reason that you need to have a open beer in a boat. Can't you handle not drinking alcahol for a couple hours? |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | I worked at a fly-in resort where a Beaver with a 14' tinny and 25 Merc dropped onto the lake without anyone noticing. Like 12 boats all got dinged for everything from too many lines to too many walleyes to open beer. That was a crummy day back at the lodge for a bunch of guests. Amen..if you can't go a couple hours without the booze maybe take up golf or hit a bowling alley where it's OK to mix sports and sauce. Tough enough to catch 'em sober, let alone half in the bag. I'll be the first to admit that for shorelunch, nothing beats a hot plate, cold beer and a flat rock, but the police will get you. There's less and less $$ in the budgets up here. Yes, there are fewer Game Wardens and fewer police patroling, but they make up for it when they find you in the wrong, trust me. I can remember as a kid, there were coolers of beer in my Dad's or Uncle's boats every trip, but times have just changed. Zero Tolerance is the approach they take. 'Beer on the pier' is that much more of a reward once you're off the water for the day. |
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Posts: 332
Location: Michigan | Yep, I see it time and time again at the lodge I stay at in Ontario. Guys going out with a 24 pk. in tow and coming back to the docks like a soup sandwich. I try to explain to them the seroiusness of the offense and they just look at me with that dumb glazed look.
Even years ago when I did drink, we never drank alchohol at fish camp, we are there to fish. Plenty time to party back at home. Anyhow, play it safe and wait till you get back to camp.
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Posts: 15
Location: Sault Ste. Marie | We were stopped a few years back in my buddy's boat. They searched the entire boat and found an old, empty, fadded, crushed beer can lodged between the seat and the side of the boat that had been there for over a year. We hadn't been drinking that day and had no other beer on the boat. They still handed him a ticket for approximately $160. At the time it was no big deal though because I think it ended up being about $5.23 american......... |
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Posts: 1529
| im on st clair. all the above is true. booze and boating does not work. open bottle is 285 per offence. . sun, booze and boating just dont mix. even on land open alchol must be on private property. funtions require insurances and liquor licenses. our club just went thru a serious event of choices on these issues. save the party for afterward at the campfire. its cheaper and safer.. this weekend alone there were 5 deaths on st clair. we dont need booze based decisions. its already been a grim start to boating season. |
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Posts: 2427
Location: Ft. Wayne Indiana | Don't do it |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Here's one good reason:
LAFOLLETTE, Tenn. – Wildlife agents say they are looking for a missing Glendale, Ohio, man who jumped from a moving boat on Norris Lake in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said 26-year-old Peter Gruber of Glendale told friends Sunday evening he wondered what it would be like to jump from a boat, then leaped overboard.
Agents said the 25-foot boat was traveling about 35 mph when he jumped.
Gruber's companions said he never resurfaced in the eastern Tennessee lake.
Wildlife agent Allen Ricks said there were nine people in the boat and occupants had been drinking.
No charges were immediately filed, but an investigation continues.
m |
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Posts: 720
| Boating and drinking should be the same penalties as driving a car. Its absolutely crazy out there. I will not fish the fox chain in Ill. on a weekend. Way to many people partying out on the boats. |
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Posts: 431
| On Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, it is out of control. The water patrol does sobriety checkpoints now in the early morning on some weekends. Something like 30-40% of all boats stopped were cited/arrested for BWI. My dad and I were talking about where to fish on Sunday. He mentioned Lake of the Ozarks and I laughed at him. If I fish there at all this year it will be in late September/October. |
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Posts: 3867
| First, I agree that folks shouldn't bring alcohol in the boat in Canada. But I want to tell you how my underage friends and I smuggled alcohol into St. Louis Cardinal baseball games. Foolproof.
During those underage years in St. Louis I worked in a hospital. I nabbed a new Foley Cathader, you know, the device/bag that collects urine from the bladder, the urine runs from the insertion to a bag that is attached to the side of a wheelchair or hospital bed. The bag, which holds a lot of liquid, has a small flip tube at the bottom to drain the urine. Well, we would fill one of those bags with 1.5 fifths of whiskey and I would use a string to hang it around my neck with the bag resting on my stomache. I looked like I had a big beer belly as we walked into the stadium and settled into our seets. Once in our seats, we ordered cokes or sprite, dumped a little out on the ground, and I would pull that little drain tube out from between the lower buttons of my shirt and pour whiskey into the sodas. Slick system, even the people seated all around us never noticed what was going on. True stoty. |
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Posts: 5874
| mikie - 5/27/2008 9:24 AM
Here's one good reason:
LAFOLLETTE, Tenn. – Wildlife agents say they are looking for a missing Glendale, Ohio, man who jumped from a moving boat on Norris Lake in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said 26-year-old Peter Gruber of Glendale told friends Sunday evening he wondered what it would be like to jump from a boat, then leaped overboard.
Agents said the 25-foot boat was traveling about 35 mph when he jumped.
Gruber's companions said he never resurfaced in the eastern Tennessee lake.
Wildlife agent Allen Ricks said there were nine people in the boat and occupants had been drinking.
No charges were immediately filed, but an investigation continues.
m
Awe, Mikie. That's just a candidate for this year's Darwin Award. |
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Posts: 661
Location: Roscoe IL | I agree in Canada & for the most part it's a bad idea. I would never try it & as someone mentioned, it's that much better when you get to the dock.
However, if it's a spring break or just another nice sunny day & your docked or ancored & not going to power up until the party is over. Then I would not have a problem with it. If the girls want to get up on the bow & take their tops off because they are having a good time & have boat drinks flowing, then I say have at it. There is a reason for having a fridge & power outlets on some boats!
People should only get into trouble when they break the laws or do something that put's the public in danger! I have seen the ocean force ruin a good time when we were not breaking any laws or putting anyone in danger. Last I checked we live in America land of the free & it seems that is changing. I didn't know that naked twister was against the law, officer?
I have seen a perfectly sober person almost crash into another boat by going to fast & not paying attention. He wasn't breaking any laws but was being very stupid.
When you see idiots acting crazy, that's when I feel it's a good idea for you to be licensed to drive a power boat. Imagine the reduction in accidents if everyone had to take a safety course & pass a driving test much like getting a license to drive a car. No license, no reason for you to be behind the wheel! |
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| This is a topic that really gets my goat. Based on the above replies, this may not be a popular sentiment, but I don't see anything wrong with having alcohol in your boat, in Canada or anywhere else.
Now I'm not talking about cruising through 100 other boats at 75 mph in your Fountain on Lake Havasu blowing a .20. It's a sad state of affairs, though, when you can't sit on the lake on a beautiful day and have a couple beers with your friends and/or family while fishing. Not too long ago, that was the definition of fishing.
To take it a step further, I also think that applying the same alcohol standards to boating as driving a car is ridiculous. Cars use roads, which means that an automobile driver is in close proximity to every other person wanting to operate a vehicle in the same general vicinity. Boats, not so much. Some folks above even referenced being ticketed for drinking while boating on a fly-in lake, I guess due to concerns over hitting......a goose? And yeah, you could get drunk and fall in the lake and drown, but there was a time when people were accountable for their actions, and if you acted the fool and paid the price, that was sad, but oh well. Now we let the government pass laws to "protect" us from ourselves, and give up our rights and privileges a little at a time.
Again, I'm not taking about being three sheets to the wind while operating a motor boat. I support applying blood alcohol limits to persons OPERATING a motor boat, though maybe not as restrictive as those required to operate a car. But telling people they can't cruise around the lake at sunset at no-wake on their pontoon boat and have a cocktail is way over the top. Just another example of a few idiots spoiling it for the rest of us, and the rest of us not doing anything to stop it.
You may think I'm overreacting, but the same mentality that allows these types of laws to be passed is the mentality that allows a whole host of other infringements on our way of life to proceed unchecked. I respect the right of others to CHOOSE not to consume alcohol while boating, just like I respect their right to choose to wear a helmet or life jacket, or to not fish at all for that matter. But it's a slippery slope, and we slide a little further down it every day.
Anyway, sorry for the libertarian manifesto. Ironic, I guess, that I'll be fishing in Canada in July, and can't wait. I just won't be able to have that celebratory Leinenkugels with my father-in-law after nailing a 50" (hopefully). Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but kind of sad nonetheless.
Paul |
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Posts: 250
Location: Pittsburgh, PA | i agree with pjonas im not even of legal age but i dont see why you cant have a drink or two as long as your responsibile
Hey Ranger did you ever get a underage |
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| ToothyCritter - 5/27/2008 4:20 PM
However, if it's a spring break or just another nice sunny day & your docked or ancored & not going to power up until the party is over. Then I would not have a problem with it. If the girls want to get up on the bow & take their tops off because they are having a good time & have boat drinks flowing, then I say have at it. There is a reason for having a fridge & power outlets on some boats!
People should only get into trouble when they break the laws or do something that put's the public in danger! I have seen the ocean force ruin a good time when we were not breaking any laws or putting anyone in danger. Last I checked we live in America land of the free & it seems that is changing. I didn't know that naked twister was against the law, officer?
Did we back down when the Germans invaded Pearl Harbor? NO!!
Edited by muskydeceiver 5/27/2008 6:42 PM
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Posts: 260
Location: Kentucky | "Let him go, he's on a roll"- Bluto |
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Posts: 162
Location: East Troy, WI | i've been on eagle lake a few times in my life... you couldn't pay me to drink beer out on the boat, specially seeing some of the rocks and reefs in that lake... you need to be on your toes on that body of water --- same goes for EVERY lake |
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Posts: 1270
| A boat and a car make a big difference and the lower limit should be in the boat. IN a boat you are generally out in the sun which makes the alcohol take a greater effect on your body as does the rocking motion of the waves. |
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Posts: 578
Location: Sheboygan Falls, WI | So, let me get this straight. You guys (those who posted as such) have no problems with operators of boats to have a few drinks when they are responsible for their boat, their passengers and other boaters? If that is the case, I will say that you are not very responsible either.
Okay, then you have no problem with guides and charter captains drinking while they are responsible for the safety and well being of customers? The United States Coast Guard thinks differently.
Don't even give me the B.S. about a couple drinks will not affect an adult. Be in the hot sun, sweating, on the verge of dehydration have a couple of drinks. I will go out on the limb and say that most people will have the alcohol affect them faster. I believe that it has been proven through studies that this happens as well.
Drinking in the boat? No problem, as long as it is not the operator. The operator should also be held accountable for those drinking in their boat, like a bartender is responsible for their customers. I know that a charter captain or guide can get their butt sued for having a client get hurt while fishing with them.
As a Coast Guard licensed captain, I am appalled as to the number of operators of vessels who think that it is fine to drink while reponsible for the health and well being of others. It does not matter if the vessels are in closer or further proximity of other vessels as was compared to with automobiles.
It is NOT a persons right to drink and put others in possible danger, whether it is a boat, car, snowmobile or whatever. Wait until you get off of the water to have a cold one. If you can't wait to get off of the water to have an alcoholic beverage while operating a vessel, DON'T LEAVE THE DOCK!!!
Okay, stepping off of my soap box now. Some people have no common sense though and that really burns my aaaaa....oh thats right, Steve does not want us doing that.....my butt.
Chuck |
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| Just to make my above post clear I would NOT be operating the boat. I drink a few beers on the days that it is not my turn to drive. I never have even one beer when it is my day to drive the boat. I was stupid a long time ago and don't care to repeat my bad decisions of my pre 20s days nor do I care to teach my kids the wrong lessons. I think some read my question wrong. With that said it is illegal to have beer in reach of the driver or open container in a boat in Canada so for $285 per open container or beer in reach of the driver I think we will leave that 6 pack in the cabin on ice Reading the other forums on the net and have came across some real doooosies of stories about this. YIKES! Main theme is: Don’t screw with the Mounties boys! LOL |
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Posts: 1529
| its comforting to see the responsible post here. . if only the guys who decide tho inbibe into the spirits and cause hardships. . on st clair i have seen dozens of deaths created by lets party. the reasoning behind the laws in canada are meant to save lives, not create hardships. |
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Posts: 661
Location: Roscoe IL | Just to be perfectly clear.
I do not promote breaking the law.
I do promote allowing a captain/owner having the right serve cocktails to their guests. There are many places where you can take the boat out & tie up to a slew of other boats out in the middle of the bay or harbor for special events. These people are there for a full day & night in some cases, just having fun in the sun, playing music, dancing & swimming.
I can’t imagine trolling for salmon all day long on Lake Michigan without having a few beers as a guest on a charter boat. I like to go with friends, crack a few brews & laugh it up while waiting for the next bite.
I also like taking a mid day break on a muskie trip to grill out, have a few beers & get the low down from the group. If I have 2 or even 3 beers with a steak sandwich, a hot dog, chips & some cheese during the break. Would you not allow me to go back out on the water?
If there are laws in place that do not allow these things then DON’T DO IT!
Find a place that do allow these privileges & have fun. They will not be around that much longer!
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| The law in Canadian waters are the same as in NY waters here on the border waters of the Niagara River. Being a reciprical agreement between Canada and NY State any violation for BWI in Canada will count again'st your NY Drivers License. Therfore a loss of Drivers License due to Boating While Intoxicated in Canada will take your Driving privilage away in NY State as well.Not to mention Insurance dollar increase of 70% if put into NY State Insurance Risk Pool,three years.Don't get me wrong here I'm not agian'st drinking,I like my beer,XXX Molson is my favorite,but I drink on land with the car parked.There is no place on the water for drinking if your operating the boat,period!
Capt. Larry |
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| Great post, pjonas.
As for the tazmanian devil, I certainly don't have a problem with the Coast Guard saying that a licensed captain can't drink while operating a boat commercially, but other than licensed commercial operation I think the government has no business saying I can't drink provided I'm under the legal limit. Commercial vs. private operation: apples vs. oranges.
I'll take it a step further and say that you should be able to drink in the car! That's right, I believe it. But if you're over the legal limit you should have the book thrown at you. Really, what's the difference between a .07 BAC that was obtained before you got in the car/boat vs. a .07 BAC obtained while operating the boat? You think a guy knows his llimit better in a bar than on the road? Ha! Know your limit and act responsibly.
And to the socialists, again, please don't try to save me from myself. |
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Posts: 550
Location: So. Illinois | baldeaglefisherman - 5/27/2008 6:17 PM
i agree with pjonas im not even of legal age but i dont see why you cant have a drink or two as long as your responsibile
Hey Ranger did you ever get a underage
Simply put, it has been proven time and again that there are too many people out there who cannot be "responsible" after having a drink or two -- regardless of what the initial intentions were. Alcohol, peer pressure, the current situation all effect behavor and judgement. Know the laws for the area you are fishing. If you don't agree with the laws or you don't think you can or will obey those laws, don't go.... its that simple.
J |
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