33 walleye over limit

[gaspumper]

Four Americans fined for over-fishing on Rice Lake
Peterborough This Week
Four American residents have been fined $11,900 for fishing offenses on Rice Lake.

On Jan. 12, Daniel Lee Arp and William John Hilinski, both of Erin, Tennessee, and Joseph Paul Hilinski and Robert William Hilinski, both of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to having an over-limit of fish and packaging fish in a way that they could not be easily counted. Each was fined $2,475 for the over-limit and $500 for improper packaging. Each man is also banned from angling in Ontario for three years. The fish and a cooler were forfeited to the Crown.

The incident took place on June 25 when MNR officers were inspecting anglers leaving cottages in the Rice Lake area.

The four men were stopped and their vehicle was found to have a large cooler attached to it. In the cooler, conservation officers found multiple bags of frozen fish, most marked bass and walleye. Officers suspected an over-limit of walleye and seized the cooler and its contents. Once the contents were defrosted, officers counted 49 walleye. This was an over-limit of 33 fish as the men could only possess four walleye each.

[Sportdog]

We get to read all the calls for harsher punishment for fish poachers than they give convicted murderers.......

[btyreprich]

Our group was fined like $250 for having one (1) Walleye in the slot size.
Honest mistake - not trying to deny it.
We were relieved to hear from the conservation officer that our ticket would not prevent us from coming back the following year to fish in Ontario.
It would seem to me that these 4 "sportsmen" received the proper punishments.

[kzoofisher]

Originally Posted by Sportdog

We get to read all the calls for harsher punishment for fish poachers than they give convicted murderers.......

Feeling hyperbolic today? $2,975 each sounds like a reasonable fine for such a brazen violation of the law. So sad that it is worse than the punishment handed down to athletes in America for rape.

[TimT]

I wonder if the fishermen were confused about possession limits. I mean, they're in a cabin so it's safe to assume they were there for more than 1 day. I wonder if they assumed they had daily limits and were safe.

The fishermen I know that spend days on Ontario trips are mostly catch & release guys, saving the odd fish for a meal back at the cabin.

[Juls]

Originally Posted by TimT

I wonder if the fishermen were confused about possession limits. I mean, they're in a cabin so it's safe to assume they were there for more than 1 day. I wonder if they assumed they had daily limits and were safe.

The fishermen I know that spend days on Ontario trips are mostly catch & release guys, saving the odd fish for a meal back at the cabin.

Sorry, but claiming ignorance to the regulations is never an excuse.

[wellpastcold]

[QUOTE=TimT;5280842]I wonder if the fishermen were confused about possession limits. I mean, they're in a cabin so it's safe to assume they were there for more than 1 day. I wonder if they assumed they had daily limits and were safe.

The fishermen I know that spend days on Ontario trips are mostly catch & release guys, saving the odd fish for a meal back at the cabin.[/QUOTE

There are lots of scumbags around. Hard to give someone the benefit of the doubt when they intentionally mislabel walleye as bass. These folks have likely been doing this for many years. I believe this story says more about the lack of enforcement resources and the low risk of being caught abusing the resource. It occurs to me it may have even been a tip phoned in.

[last chance]

I just cant understand why these people would take such a risk for a little meat. they got what they deserved. like juls said not knowing the law isn't an excuse. if they just wanted walleye why not just fish lake erie in ohio where you can have 6 fish for every day your there. not like Canada where your only allowed 4 fish period.

[jimirjr]

I wish They'd fine the S--T out of poachers in Colorado like those above...

[LOW1]

Originally Posted by last chance

I just cant understand why these people would take such a risk for a little meat. they got what they deserved. like juls said not knowing the law isn't an excuse. if they just wanted walleye why not just fish lake erie in ohio where you can have 6 fish for every day your there. not like Canada where your only allowed 4 fish period.

The Ohio Lake Erie rule makes a lot more sense. If the 4 anglers described in the OP stayed for 6 days they each could have each caught and eaten or given away 4 walleye daily for a total of 96.

Their "crime" may well have been not eating enough fish. We don't know how many they caught in one day.

I know, "rules are rules." But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to change rules so that they make more sense and are tailored to what they were intended to do - protect the resource.