Quote Quoting Mountain Man
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I tried to argue that one, we never had any intention of keeping or eating anything we caught, just releasing them back (which was what I thought the rules for fishing without a license were in CT, although I do not know that for certain),
Intent has nothing to do with it. If you had a line in the water, you were fishing. Doesn't matter if you were releasing or not.

two, we were here for a short weekend and were unaware that we needed a license to just cast off into a pond,
But ignorance of the rule doesn't get you off the hook for violating it.


and most importantly, that our efforts were entirely futile - essentially we just cast off several times then gave up.

Again, the license is for FISHING, not for CATCHING.


My questions are as follows. Firstly, is she justified in issuing this citation?
Yep.

She never actually saw us fishing, saw any poles (at the time they were locked in the trunk) or had any evidence of us fishing other than what I had said to her.
Then that's the arguement you can try on the judge. Given that you were in a place with a fishing environment, and with poles in the car, what do you think the court will believe? The "she didn't actually WITNESS us committing the violation" might be a shot - and at the same time arguing that tells the court that you were, indeed, fishing.


Upon researching some of the park laws, we learned that much of her small talk seemed to have an secondary motive (asking about where we got our firewood and if we cut it down, two major violations in maine apparently, and also when my friend asked what the rules on possession of firearms were in the forest for self defense, she seemed far more interested in seeing if we had any than in letting us know the rules).
Relevent to a fishing license violation how?


More importantly, is there anything I can do about it other than pay full on?
Certianly. You can choose not to pay it, and leave the state - and hope that you never get pulled over, or in a minor traffic accident, or other minor (or major) run in with law enforcement such that you find out quite unexpectedly that there's a warrant for arrest (which they probably wouldn't extradite for, but that's a risk you take) or that you have a suspended driver license.


The citation is for $175, an absurd price for fishing without a license when I did nothing more than cast off into a pond.
Which is....fishing. Without a license.


If I choose to fight it, is there any defense I could use other than ignorance?
Ignorance won't be seen as a defense. An excuse maybe. But not the same thing to a judge.

And more importantly, if I send my non guilty plea with a letter explaining my issue, is it possible to avoid the 5 hour drive up to Portland?
You'll want to speak to a Washington attorney in that regard. Courts typically don't do letters. You either pay the fine, or you show up and make your case.