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I got my first citation ever!!
I feel like an idiot. Got a citation tonight for not having my running lights out in time!! I’ve owned a boat since I was 15 (‘m 32 now) and have never, ever gotten one. Fished our of Four Corners and was fishing a hump in sight of the marina right before dark. I told my buddy that I needed to get the lights out and then he hooked a fish and I got the net and yada, yada, I forgot the lights because I could see fine. We cranked up and left to go home and I pulled into the no wake zone at 8:31 and that when I got busted. The officer told me that I had to have them on by law at sunset which was 8:09. I had everything else ready, life jackets, extinguishers, boaters ID etc. I thought I was getting off, right up until the point he wrote me the ticket.
He was just doing his job. But, I feel like a complete idiot. Freaking expensive. I can just pay $238 ($10 fine, $228 court cost) and mail it in or I can go to traffic court in Murfreesboro on a Wednesday morning, ask for boating school (which he recommended), and pay $99 and take a boating test.
I figure as much partying as we did on KY Lake in college, if I ever got one it would have been. GEEZ. first time for everything.
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12 Replies
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I got one about 10 years ago for the same thing. It wasn’t dark enough in my opinion to have them on yet because he drove right up to my boat with no problem. It’s not as if he almost hit me due to not having my lights on and it being dark.
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Sorry to hear that, Jard. Since I don’t have all of my lights currently, I guess I shouldn’t push it when I’m out in the evenings anymore. 😕
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Thanks for the warning. I’m always pretty careful about putting them on but a reminder like this doesn’t hurt. That’s a lot of money that could be much better spent on gear!
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I agree at times it doesn’t even look dark enough for lights…. But you said 8:09 ??? how do they figure out a time to call it Dark Enough???? Sorry prolly sounds like a stupid Question but I don’t want a 238.00 dollar ticket so ima ask lol…
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My wife and I got stopped one night.
It was still light out side not even dark yet.
The MAN pulled up to our boat and said ” Do you know what time you should have your lights on?”
I said at dark.
And he said, “no. we go by the published sunset time.”He didn’t give us a ticket, THANK GOD!
Said he was running low on tickets and had to run to the other end of the lake.Just so you know…. they go by PUBLISHED sunset time.
We then downloaded an app to our phones.
He also said they allow 7 mins after sunset time as grace period..
Ticket would have been..
1. No lights on
2. Half of back light painted black
3. No flotation cushion
I got “LUCKY!!!”Whew,
Chuck Howell….
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I guess this new Apple Watch is going to come in handy. You can set it to have the sunset time right on the face! LOL
Sucks you got a ticket. Ive seen more TWRA boats on the lake this year than ever. In my 30 years of fishing (Since I was a kid) I have never once had anything checked. The past 2 years I have had the other TWRA boat come by and ask to do a fishing survey where they ask some questions and measure any fish you have in the livewell. But they dont check license or registration or anything.
Usually the Warden will have two people on the boat. The Survey boat is just one person. And the same guy does Priest and OH. Ive got the survey on both lakes! LOL
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He said published sunset times and his exact statement was, “Everyone has a smart phone with the weather app and it will tell you the exact sunset time.” I have the weather channel app on my phone and it does show it. Its free too.
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That’s the same app me and my wife downloaded.
Chuck Howell…
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I need to get that app! I put mine up at dark most the time….been lucky myself. I see guys running without any lights all the time. ……CRAZY/DANGEROUS!!!
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The free TWRA app also has official sunrise/sunset times, along with a ton of other great info-
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The main lesson is just because is light enough to “see fine”, doesn’t mean its legal. I’m really bad about the “see fine” deal. But I always put my lights out in my own time and never run dark without lights. Its very dangerous and I see a lot of people do this. I’ll just have to learn to put my out a little earlier.
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I have the Weather Channel App, I looked and sure enough I saw the Sunrise and Sunset Times…. I guess I just never really thought about it, I just assumed sunset was when it was Dark Dark lol… I guess I know now. Thanks for the INFO.
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