Bass Island poachers update/ Wisconsin poachers

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Here is an update on the poachers from bass island and a new story from Hayward Wisconsin


SANDUSKY -- Three Tennessee men and three Georgia men who pled guilty last month to taking 141 more smallmouth bass on Lake Erie than the legal limit, lost three boats and trailers and were fined a total of $16,290 in Ottawa County Municipal Court Wednesday.
The six men pled guilty to 30 charges on May 3, and on Wednesday, Magistrate Lou Wargo ordered them to pay a combined total of $16,290 in fines, court costs and restitution.

The restitution included $50 for each fish taken illegally in accordance with legislation that places a value on wild animals unlawfully held, taken, bought, sold or possessed. The men were also ordered to forfeit three bass boats, three trailers and two freezers, which have an estimated value of $32,000. Including the forfeited items, the total cost for the six men was $48,290.

A total of 900 days in jail was handed down between all six men. Magistrate Wargo suspended the jail time pending completion of a probationary period of three years of good behavior. Their fishing licenses were revoked for three years and they will be entered into the Wildlife Violator's Compact and most likely will lose privileges in 33 other states.

During a surveillance project by Division of Wildlife investigators in the Bass Islands area of Lake Erie between April 25 and April 30, investigators observed the men "double and triple tripping" or caught a limit of fish, returned to shore and then returning to the water the same day to catch an additional limit of fish. The legal limit for smallmouth bass on Lake Erie is five fish per day from the last Saturday in June through April 30 with a minimum size limit of 14 inches.

Individual sentencing included:

Freelan C. Leffew, 66, of Soddy Daisy, Tennessee - $1,500 in fines, $348 for court costs, three years license revocation, $1,300 in restitution, and forfeiture of a bass boat, a trailer and a freezer.

Freddie Warren, 63, of Wildwood, Georgia - $1,250 in fines, $290 for court costs, three years license revocation, $1,250 in restitution, and forfeiture of a bass boat and trailer.

Charles H. Burkhart, 67, of Ringgold, Georgia - $1,250 in fines, $290 for court costs, three years license revocation, $1,250 in restitution, and forfeiture of a freezer.

Samuel J. Carroll, 65, of Ringgold, Georgia - $1,000 in fines, $232 for court costs, three years license revocation, $1,000 in restitution, and forfeiture of a bass boat and trailer.

Herbert S. Stephens, 58, of Soddy Daisy, Tennessee - $1,000 in fines, $232 for court costs, three years license revocation, and $1,000 in restitution.

Michael T. Leffew, 38, of Hixon, Tennessee - $1,500 in fines, $348 for court costs, three years license revocation, and $1,250 in restitution.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources ensures a balance between wise

"The Western Basin of Lake Erie remains a prime location for anglers from around the country, and wildlife officers are working hard to keep it that way," said Gino Barna, supervisor of the Division of Wildlife's Lake Erie Law Enforcement Unit. "The 1-800-POACHER hotline is an important source of information for protecting this valuable natural resource."

13 fishermen arrested, 2,238 fish seized on the Flowage
by Kathy Hanson
Staff reporter
Published: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 12:24 PM CDT
Sawyer County Conservation Warden Sue Miller, Conservation Warden Tom Heisler from Winter and Flowage Ranger Roy Zubrod arrested13 adult males and seized 2,238 fish on Friday, May 21 on the Chippewa Flowage, after two complaints were called in on late Wednesday and Friday. The complaint received on Wednesday came in on the anonymous/confidential hotline for overbagging. The other complaint received on Friday was regarding keeping bass, Miller said.

“We went out Wednesday but they (the men) were already in,” said Miller, who then said that “on Friday we worked these guys all day.”

The investigation is ongoing and details and names will not be released until next week, Miller said, but they arrested five men at one resort and another eight at a second resort. There were three groups, all from associated Baptist churches in the Milwaukee area. All have been coming up here for over 26 years, Miller said, and have allegedly been “grossly overbagging” for the same number of years, she added. The men had been fishing for a period of five to six days. Most of the fish were crappies; a handful were perch; some were bluegills; and there were six bass, Miller said. 750 of the seized fish had not been filleted, so they were taken to Whiskey Ridge for processing.

“Some of them (men) kind of knew the rules,” Miller said. She added said that some of them thought they could bag up to 30 crappies per day, instead of the 15 daily bag limit. None of them seemed to be aware that at any given time or moment, a maximum of 30 crappies in possession is the law, she said.

The 13 men were all part of a larger group who, upon being tipped off that they were under investigation, left the area, Miller hypothesized. Miller suspects that they left with far more fish than the 2,238, but she has two names so is following up on those.

The men were very cooperative and pleasant, according to Miller. “When it comes to natural resources people have different outlooks—they don’t compare it to breaking into someone’s home,” she said.

The fish will be held for court purposes. Typically, the DNR hosts fish frys for the nursing homes and the Relay for Life American Cancer benefit, normally not more than two or three such events per year. “With this amount of fish, we’ll do a lot of them, unfortunately,” she said.

Wisconsin’s DNR Violation Hotline program provides people with the opportunity to confidentially and/or anonymously report susupected violations using the 24-hour operated toll free number 1-800-TIP-WDNR (1-800-847-9367).

I hope they throw the book at'em. People who wantingly violate, steal from us all. And a church group!!!!

[Fran Myers]

Thanks Bink.
I was really wondering what the final outcome was going to be. I am surprised these guys got their trucks back.

[TN Dave]

Bink

Thanks for the report. I had talked with those "fisherman" at South Bass Island; they were thinking that they would pay a fine; but would get their boats returned. WOW!!! Expensive fishing trip for "free" fish.

Breaking the law is never the right thing to do. If they needed a lot of fish, it would have been a whole lot better to have bought fish on the legal, commercial market!

I will pass this along to my other fishing buddies who were at South Bass at the same time.

TN Dave

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No license cost his boat $900,000

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2010 ... ey/sports/