Too many bluegills could net $24,682 fine Mississippi River.

http://www.winonadailynews.com/article_683dfa33-0cf5-5663-99b2-a87771228e63.html

Not saying he wasn’t breaking the law… but in filets, he had 75 fish total frozen. That could have included the AM catch, or I assume they would have added that on to inflate the totals and make it sound like a bigger offense.

Add the afternoon catch – 25 more.

100 fish total, 200 filets. He is twice the possession limit.

Double bagging in one day… against the law, yes. (and wrong!) Twice his possession limit, against the law, yes. This one I would say is far more common even for typical law obeying individuals.

Like bringing home 25 panfish, and having 27 left from other trips in the freezer… you are breaking the law. Not uncommon for many if being honest.

Something is off on the article, numbers or such. Obviously this guy has been down this road before, but numbers don’t sound like a $24K fine and property seizure.

This guy is a complete Bozo! Habitual only scratches it. Not too bright either. Sounds like he knows how to catch em though.

What amazes me by reading the reader comments in the La Crosse and Winona newspapers is how many people stick up for poachers like this. There are too many out there that think they can do as they please and ignore the law. Enough said!

He’s been cited 7x for over harvesting since 1989… Sounds like he needs to be taught a lesson.

Chuck Melcher wrote:

Double bagging in one day… against the law, yes. (and wrong!) Twice his possession limit, against the law, yes. This one I would say is far more common even for typical law obeying individuals.

If you’re “law obeying” than you don’t break the law. Period.

This is exactly the problem with the situation right now. WAY too many anglers are treating the possession limit like it’s not REALLY the law. To a whole lot of anglers out there, it’s like an inconvenient “recommendation” and not really the law as long as you obey the daily limit and are generally a good guy.

The problem is that the possession limits ARE the law and they are designed to prevent exactly the type of behavior that this guy was engaged in. The possession limit IS THE LIMIT. The daily limit only applies if you can legally keep that many fish without violating the possession limit.

IMO violation of the possession limit is rampant, in MN at least. Part if it might be education, but plenty of the violators know full well that they’re in violation, they just don’t care because a) they feel entitled to make up their own rules and b) chances of getting caught, in their view, are slim.

Sound like the classic case of a serial poaching perp and if anything the fine is too small and too long in coming. Fine the cr@p out of him and then fine him some more.

Grouse

I think the figure is off on the fillet count. I’ve read other places that it was much much higher, which would explain the fine amount. Just saying there is a good chance he was grossly over limit… they did confiscate 2 freezers after all. You could fit 150 fillets in an igloo cooler…

I wish it was 20K per fish over the limit. Maybe then we’d have the funds needed to have enough COs to patrol more water more of the time. I can show you gross overbaggers every spring and fall on pools 7, 8 and 9. The other thing I saw on the news about this the other night not mentioned in this article is that they said he was also caught selling his fish.

Classic game hoarder. Throw the book at him. Take his equipment. If that doesnt work put him in jail. He’s stealing from us all.

Talked to somebody that live up by him and it was 150 fish not fillets….

So many old dudes(probably young dudes too, but I notice mostly older guys) down in that area that do this every weekend all winter. I fish down there a fair amount and my father in law knows all the locals, they fish every day and I get reports of ‘limits’ from the same guys day after day after day.

“It doesn’t hurt the river, there’s so much water the fish population will be fine”
“Oh well I USED to be able to keep a limit every day, this posession limit thing is BS”
etc
etc

When I read the comments in the LaCrosse Tribune I couldn’t believe the amount of people who called this a victimless crime. That kind of ignorance drives me crazy because everyone who buys a license is a victim because it makes it harder to catch fish when greedy morons think they don’t have to follow the rules.

Like, no one is directly dying from them keeping extra fish so what the big deal man?

I wonder how full the freezers are of the sympathizers…

I too am amazed by the amount of support the guy is getting. Someone on facebook was saying the guy was 70 and retired and had earned the right to keep as many fish as he wants. His logic was that someone else would have just kept the fish anyways.

Just an update….Turns out the original story was a bit off on the numbers….
It was 2600 Gills,418 perch and 88 crappies…..
Now we know why they want to confiscate his boat and 2 freezers….

http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/thousands-of-fish-seized-from-onalaska-angler-s-house/article_a0c55d75-5b9e-5380-9297-393c345ba4af.html

Unreal isn’t it… just think about what kind of madness has to be behind the hoarding of that many fish. Those numbers make it into an altogether different story.

Not to mention he was selling the fish for years in Chicago. Too bad this fish can’t be accounted for.

FDR

If that’s how many they seized… how many did he get rid of or sell over the years? Ugh… makes me sick!

I hate that he is called an angler or fisherman in the media… he is neither of those things. He is a criminal, thief, glutton, poacher… take your pick. He is no fisherman.

There is poaching.! AND THERE IS POACHING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE SHOULD GET JAIL TME NOT JUST CONFISATE IS STUFF AN FINES.!!! … rrr

RRR and I agree. Lock him up & fine him.

2500 in his freezer and he pleaded not guilty…

roosterrouster wrote:

2500 in his freezer and he pleaded not guilty…

I would assume he is going to try to get some sort of plea agreement or maybe fight the search warrant.
DT

Jail time and fines won’t stop him from doing this in the future. His logic will be they owe me for what I had to pay/do after convicted in court the first time. He needs to be towed behind a boat for awhile by his thumbs.

He ought to be marked and monitored from here on out like a sex offender. What a complete asshole!

mplspug wrote:

I wonder how full the freezers are of the sympathizers…

I see what you did there pug, almost forgot about that.

I wouldn’t put too much stock in the comments from the peanut gallery of trolls that are the frequent fliers on the tribune site.

Unfortunately I do not think there is a punishment that will change this guy’s ways, and more than likely any fine, with this case being handled in la crosse county court, don’t expect a harsh judgment passed on him.

You watch, this is going to be like the scene in “Goodfellas”, he’ll be wheeled into court with his doctor and nurse, and claim to be medically unable to be incarcerated.

HRG