This one didn’t get away after all
DNR returns 52-inch muskie after taking blame for mix-up over season
BY CHRIS NISKANEN
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 02/22/2008 01:12:43 AM CST
Tom James has his disputed muskie back.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources confiscated the 52-inch fish last month after the Mound angler caught it through the ice Jan. 13 on Lake Minnetonka. James kept the fish because he had checked the DNR’s regulation booklet and found the season was listed as closing Feb. 24.
But the DNR had actually closed the season Dec. 15, a change James and many other anglers were unaware of.
The DNR tracked down the fish and its owner after pictures circulated on the Internet. A conservation officer gave James a written warning, but no fine. The DNR kept the fish.
On Monday, the agency gave it back.
DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten said the agency made a mistake by closing the muskie season earlier than was listed in the regulation booklet.
“By shaving those weeks off the muskie season, we put the angler in that position,” Holsten said. “It was our failure, not his.”
He added that giving James his fish back “was the decent thing to do.”
After the Pioneer Press first reported the case Feb. 3, Holsten and DNR staff began looking at the process by which the season was closed. Holsten said the agency’s enforcement division didn’t make a mistake by taking the fish or by giving James the warning, but the agency erred by making a midseason change without sufficient publicity.
“I don’t think we can expect the angler to read every news release,” he said. “We should never put an angler in that position.”
James said getting the fish back validates his opinion that he didn’t break the law.
“No one knew (the law changed) — not even the bait store owners,” he said. “The regulation book is the book (of record). One should not have to go online every day before going hunting and fishing.”
James said his biggest fear was the DNR would mount the fish and hang it in a traveling display called the “Wall of Shame,” which contains illegally taken fish, deer and other wildlife. He said he feared his name would forever be connected with the displayed fish.
James said he has caught and released about 20 muskies in his lifetime, including a 49.5-incher, and vowed never to keep one unless it was over 50 inches. He caught the fish of a lifetime on a tip-up and landed it by hand without the aid of a rod and reel.
Holsten acknowledged the fish was a trophy and “a unique event in a person’s life.”
DNR conservation officer Aaron Kahres kept the fish in his home freezer while the case was pending. He returned the fish to the taxidermist where James had dropped it off.
Last week, James picked the fish up, brought it home and celebrated its return with a small party with a handful of friends. “We had a few beers to celebrate,” said the happy fisherman.
He still plans to have it mounted and displayed in his home.