Recently, I had an opportunity to take my wife fishing up in Monument Lake. The weather was a little chilly and the wind was blowing at about 20 mph. Nevertheless, my wife and I wanted to spend a Saturday together as a family and so we headed up to Monument.

I have a fishing license with a second rod stamp and my wife has her own license. Together, we were legit for three poles. My wife, being a beginner fishing enthusiast, does not enjoy putting the night crawler onto the hook and so I obliged and hooked the fat creature onto her hook. After watching her try to cast several times without success, I offered to cast her line out for her. I think that gesture was welcomed by those who fished next to us as my wife's inexperience in fishing began to get on their nerves.

We both fished for about 2.5 hours and were able to catch our limit of eight rainbow trout. We stayed within our limit and began to pack up and headed home. Right as we were to leave the grounds of the lake, a lady driving in a white pickup truck marked Colorado Division of Wildlife cut in front of me and motioned for me to pull over to the side of the road. She stated that she had been watching us for two hours and noticed that we had broken several laws. She asked to see my driver's license and fishing licenses for me and my wife. I thought by the way she had cut us off the road, I had robbed a bank. I proceeded to show her our fishing licenses and asked my wife to get her driver's license. My wife then realized that she had left it in her purse on the kitchen table. I asked her to search in the glove compartment for some form of id showing proof of her identity. The lady from the Colorado Division of Wildlife told my wife that, if she didn't show her driver's license, she will be TAKEN INTO JAIL. I was flabbergasted and appalled that this could happen. I proceeded to call my mother and ask that she drive over to our home to retrieve my wife's driver's license. At that time, the lady from the Colorado Division of Wildlife informed that she could call into the office and check on my wife's identity using her birth date. She then told us that, after watching us for two hours, she observed that we had broken the following rules.

My wife has to use her own pole and I am not allowed to help her cast her line out. This became a $50 ticket plus $18 surcharge. Because my wife and I lost count of how many each one of us had caught (even though our total catch was within the limit), I received a $35 ticket plus $12 surcharge (she stated that through her observation, I caught 5 and my wife caught 3). The lady made me go into my bucket of fishes and give her back one in order to match my limit of 4. My wife also got a ticket for $50 plus $18 surcharge for reeling in my two poles at the end of our fishing trip while I loaded up the gear into the car.

So...while trying to uphold the law and respect the limit set by the Colorado Division of WILDlife , my wife and I still managed to break other laws that we were not aware of. For those who want to bring your kids and wife for a fishing outing in these Colorado lakes, beware of the lady who will spend two hours spying on you. That is how your tax dollars and licensing fees are working against you.