OTTER TAIL COUNTY, Minn. – A conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently arrested an angler with nearly 250 fish over the legal limit.
According to a news release, Officer Shane Osborne met the 69-year-old man as he was about to pull his portable fish house off West Spitzer Lake in Otter Tail County.
“I asked how the fishing was and he said he caught some fish, but it wasn’t that great,” Osborne said. When asked if he had any fish at home, the suspect said he wasn’t sure.
“He then asked if I thought he had too many fish,” Osborne said. “I said I wouldn’t know that until I counted all of the fish he had. He said I could follow him home and check.”
When Osborne visited the suspect’s home he found 228 sunfish, seven bass and six northern pike over the legal limit. The fish restitution value is $1,560.
According to the ‘over-limit law’ that took effect in March 2003, the suspect, if convicted, forfeits his or her fishing license for three years. The person also faces up to $3,000 in fines and one year in jail. He is scheduled to appear in Douglas County Court in February.