Onalaska angler gets hefty fine, loses license for 12 years for bag limit violations
CHRIS HUBBUCH [email protected]
Posted: Tue, 14 Feb 2017 2:41 PM
An Onalaska angler caught with more than 2,500 panfish will have to pay more than $4,800 and surrender his fishing license for exceeding Wisconsin game limits.
Stanley Paalksnis, 74, could have been fined more than $24,000, although prosecutors requested just over $10,000 in exchange for his plea of no contest to four non-criminal citations.
Paalksnis will also lose the 15-foot boat, motor, trailer and two freezers seized during a search of his home on Nov. 4, 2015, after Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wardens watched him keep 47 bluegills on Lake Onalaska. The daily limit is 25.
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In his house, authorities found 2,066 bluegills, 418 perch and 88 crappies, according to reports. The possession limits are 50 for each species.
Paalksnis told a warden that he had been selling bags of fish in Chicago for about 20 years, according to the reports.
La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke cited Paalksnis’s history of game violations and stated disregard for law enforcement. Paalksnis was cited eight times, and twice lost his license between 1989 and 2011.
According to police reports, Paalksnis was uncooperative and vulgar when talking to the warden supervisor, telling him if he was younger he would beat him up.
“I hate game wardens,” Paalksnis said. “The only thing I hate more than game wardens is (racial slur for African-Americans).”
“He’s basically ignored the law for years,” Gruenke said. “He seems to be a belligerent, angry person who doesn’t want anyone to tell him what to do.”
Attorney Todd Schroeder said his client lives on Social Security benefits and can no longer indulge his passion for hunting because of health problems.
“At his age, the meaning he finds in life is catching fish,” Schroeder said.
Schroeder objected to the confiscation of Paalksnis’s property and requested a three-year suspension of his fishing license.
Judge Elliott Levine revoked Paalksnis’s license for 12 years, the maximum period allowed, noting that limits are in place to assure everyone equal rights to limited natural resources.
“He’s lost his right to fish,” Levine said. “He’ll have to find another hobby.”
Should wrap up his fishing career. Thank you Judge Elliott Levine for saving our rights to enjoy fishing the right and legal way.
