The “Outlaw” Robbie Tobeck 8

It's no secret that Robbie Tobeck and I enjoy a laugh, especially at the others expense.

Partially it's a WSU Cougar/UW Husky thing.  It's also a native Washingtonian/Florida transplant thing.

Our penchant for pickin' on each other has led to the infamous "tuna vs. salmon" debate,  the blue water vs. green water conflict and now the shrimp vs. crayfish fiasco!

Tobeck had recently been fishing crayfish (or crawdads in the local parlance) in Lake Washington and claiming that they are better tasting than Puget Sound's spot prawns and coon stripe shrimp!

Then, one day Robbie Tobeck ventured out to check his four pots and found…nothing! His pots were gone! Lifted! Pilfered!

The following day we were in studio and Robbie was livid over his lost gear, claiming, "I would end up going to jail if I caught someone stealing my pots!"

I sincerely felt bad for my friend and co-host but all but forgot about his missing crawfish pots…and then in mid-week, the phone rang.

Every once in a great while, you receive a gift from an unexpected source and in this case, the source was WDFW Enforcement Sergeant Kim Chandler.

"Hello Mr. Nelson, I have some information for you and I don't know if you can help but we had to confiscate four crawfish traps that were fishing illegally"

I thought to myself: "Oh no,…this would be too good to be true"…

Sergeant Chandler continued after a breathless pause, "The name on the pots is ROBERT TOBECK!…."

"Now hold on a sec Sarge" I interjected, "It's open season on crawdads right now and Tobeck is an honest letter-of-the-law guy!"

"Well, I don't doubt that" agreed Sgt. Chandler "but the pots were lacking cotton escape cord and the contact info we have on file was outdated, leading us to a disconnected phone number. That is why I have contacted you"

I could hardly contain myself!  "Sergeant Chandler…you sir,… have made my day and if you are available at eight o'clock this Saturday morning to join us in studio, we can get those pots back to Tobeck"

"Well", Sgt Chandler cautioned "he will have to give me an autograph on a warning citation before he gets his gear back."

"I'm sure that will be no problem Sarge,  see you Saturday and by the way, this will all be a surprise for Robbie!"

"OK" the Sarge chuckled…"It's your funeral!"

And so, the wheels were set in motion for a practical joke which in all actuality was no joke. Until my conversation with Sgt. Chandler, I was not aware of the fact that fresh water crawfish pots were required to have cotton rot cord escape provisions similar to their saltwater counterparts! Here is the link: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/2010/2010sportregs.pdf   Scroll to page 139 for the cotton escape cord requirements.

Sergeant Chandler Joins us in studio much to my delight, and Tobeck's chagrin!

Tobeck gives his autograph to the "Man"  and receives his warning citation in return.

Sergeant Chandler pulled out the handcuffs but Tobeck, ever the law abiding citizen assured all that he would come along quietly.  

To listen to Tobeck's enforcement "experience" on-air just click here.

I have no doubts whatsoever that there will be retribution for my small part of this unfortunate circumstance but after all, I was just trying to get my buddies crawfish pots back to him.

After all, that's what friends are for….