Poachers

[Ole1855]

I read an article in the Sunday Star Tribune about several individuals that were caught with too many Walleye's. First off I'm glad they got caught, Second I'm a little perplexed with the fines. The first group of 9 had 118 walleye's over their limit, that's 13.1 fish/person over, the next group of 3 had 71 over their limit, that's 23.6 fish/person over, the next group of 3 had 35 over their limit, that's 11.6 fish/person over, the last one was a single guy that had 16 over his limit. The reason I'm perplexed is they listed the fines, the first two groups each got $1,220.00/person, the third group got $640.00/person and the single guy got $1,400.00. If the fine is per fish how do they come to these numbers? Just wondering how fines are levied.

[Guest]

I would assume that there were court cases involved, and that they each had their separate story. I don't know what happened but maybe the single guy had all of his fish at one time and the others gradually accumulated their numbers. You shouldn't get too upset until you know each of their stories. I trust the justice system(somtimes). The judges have their reasons for the amounts.

[Paul S]

Not sure of these individual cases but fines are based on a couple of things 1) Whether the fish is dead or can be released 2) size of fish over what is termed a quality fish
(I believe for walleye it is for every inch over 20"), plus number of fish over limit such as gross overlimits.
Paul S

[Bodyman]

In my opinion these are all gross violations. On top of the fines the should also have a loss of privilages. Way to easy for some people to pay a fine.

[Jim W]

I agree with bodyman! There needs to be a strict and immediate punishment other than fines!
However, wouldn't it be hard to "draw the line"?

Jim W

[Guest]

Sounds like these guys hit the jackpot. Did the article mention where they were fishing and what size were the fish?

[Bodyman]

Ya know Jim,I don't think it would really be that hard to draw a line, not for me anyway. Either your a poacher or your not. When you have double your bag limit your a poacher.When your over double there's no question about intention. The intention is to poach. Poachers should lose equipment, money and privilages. Jail time for repeat offenders. They steal from all of us. They thumb their nose at the law and those of us who do follow it. If they ever get to fish again it would be to soon.
Put some teeth in the laws and make sure the legislature knows you want it that way. The idea that stiffer penalties = loss of tourism is dump.
Can you tell this topic ticks me off
When I see Mn cutting my legal limits to the nub and then jerks like this get a slap on the wrist??? Doesn't make sense to me.

Fishing is life.

[SpikeRoberts]

Actually, the state legislature did "draw the line" during this past legislative session. Unfortunately, IMO they didn't draw the line tightly enough.

Hunting/fishing privileges can be revoked once a certain resitution value has been exceeded -- gross overlimits with a restitution value greater than $1000 can (but does not necessarily) lead to the revocation of privileges for three years. Gross violations can also (but does not necessarily) result in the confiscation of the equipment used to take those overlimits.

As Paul S pointed out, restitution value is determined by species and size.

[SuddenlySummer]

The first thing that I thought of was "what was the resort owner doing during this whole thing!" Maybe it was them that called TIP but the resorts have to have some idea what's going on by their guests.

It seems that most of these jacka$$e$ are coming from down south.