Good on you for educating someone on their illegal activities and calling them out like they deserve. We need more people standing up for what’s right instead of just shrugging and turning a blind eye though I would not support physical confrontation. Observe, educate, and if required, record evidence and report it.
Having said that, the idea of literally slapping the fish out of a poachers hand made me laugh out loud.
At least in my experience, the taking of non-retention fish is usually a result of ignorance of the regs or species misidentification. Not a valid excuse of course, but once pointed out to the violator, they have always expressed surprise and regret, then return the fish to the river (post mortem) with a lesson learned. If they just shrugged and kept it anyways, I would hope that everyone following this thread would at minimum report it properly.
Thanks for the report. I was out last weekend and it was even slower. Glad to see some people having at least some modest success.