Lake of the Woods anglers caught with 72 walleyes, saugers

One thing to consider in the numbers above. There are many biologist in field offices with their boots on the ground collecting all the data us fishermen want.

Now I’m going to have to go find that number.

Either way…not enough CO’s.

Dutchboy wrote:

There are 87 counties in Minnesota, so we have a tad over 2 CO’s per county.

You’d think they could move a guy or two out to west central MN then, rather than have 4 counties bordering each other all without CO’s right now.
Big Stone
Swift
LQP
Chippewa

Disappointing to see people treat a resource in this manner.

I’d like someone to try and quantify the number of poachers and how much actual overage they take, compared to the mass of regular legal anglers who setup cities on the ice every year on most lakes.

I’m sure the DNR has, and that’s why we see the # of officers we do, bc the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

is there any way someone could start a new post titled, “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.”

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Red Eye wrote:</div>
I know they talk about “gross overlimit” sometimes. I believe fines get stiffer over a certain amount. At what point does a case like this become gross overlimit. Are we talking 50% over or double limit?

Another thing that hasn’t been mentioned that is very surprising. Is that THE BITE IS ON time to get up there.

Go hammer some 13 inch saugs

🤣🤣🤣

I don’t want to be the guy but I will. I don’t think we can enforce the problem away. Taking fish or game in excess of your limit is unethical. That being said some people don’t care. Just because someone hunts or fishes dosen’t make them a conservationist. There are some in every sport. Look how many people don’t fix their damn pitch marks on the golf greens. Some people just take and don’t care about their actions having a bigger impact on others. I think education helps more than enforcement. People need to decide for themselves that they like catching fish more than eating them.

I’m not in favor of capitol punishment for gross abuse of limits but I’m in favor of anything up to the point of throwing the switch.

When you make the decision these guys did, to purposely ignore the law and rape the resource you deserve what you get. Today in 2021 thats not nearly enough. We need to strengthen the penalty’s and publicly shame those guys. If the penalty was $1,000 per fish and we had more Co’s working would it have made a difference?

We spend billions on a light rail system that nearly nobody uses or if they do they don’t pay. Why would it be so hard to double the number of Co’s or better yet move the number to 500. Do big time saturation weekends, hit Mille Lacs, Red, LOTW, Leech, the rivers with 50 Co’s on a weekend. Write the tickets if need be.

As we are seeing with water, hunting / fishing isn’t a never ending resource and if we don’t protect it will be gone.

Gilgetter wrote:

Just because someone hunts or fishes doesn’t make them a conservationist.

Totally agree. More enforcement with a solid fine and names listed can’t hurt either. If a person has “ethics”, it won’t matter to them, if they are stealing the public’s fish, let them pay for it when caught….and pay a lot.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Gilgetter wrote:</div>
Just because someone hunts or fishes doesn’t make them a conservationist.

Totally agree. More enforcement with a solid fine and names listed can’t hurt either. If a person has “ethics”, it won’t matter to them, if they are stealing the public’s fish, let them pay for it when caught….and pay a lot.

Be carefull………it sounds like we agree on something.

Dutchboy wrote:

it sounds like we agree on something.

CRAP!! I missed that!!

We need to have a public poaching stockade in every city center.

Waldo for Governor!

Dutchboy, that would mean each c/o would have to cover about 470 sq. mi., on average, if 185 is indeed correct.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Waldo for Governor!

Lol x2 😂

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Dutchboy, that would mean each c/o would have to cover about 470 sq. mi., on average, if 185 is indeed correct.

The number is from a very reliable source. The 470 sq miles seems like alot but I think it’s probably more than that. How many Co’s work Mille Lacs, Minnetonka, LOTW ect. When you consider the area and number of lakes & river it’s amazing anybody gets caught. (fishing season)

Dutchboy wrote:

The number is from a very reliable source.

No reason to hide the source Dutch. Anyone can ask the question and get an answer.

Hey BK –
We’ve got about 185 COs.

Joe Albert

Communications coordinator | Enforcement Division
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN
Phone: 651-259-5060
Cell: 651-587-4679
Email: [email protected]

i got to know one pretty good threw a former coworker of mine and stop and BS with him now and again. last fall alot of those CO’s where keeping and eye on the pipeline protesters!!!!!!

Thanks BK, I never know who wants to be named and who doesn’t. I didn’t know if it was a private conversation between you two.

No problem Dutch…I appreciated it.

glenn57 wrote:

last fall alot of those CO’s where keeping and eye on the pipeline protesters!!!!!

Yes, we had an issue with a group of people taking Lake Sturgeon out of season, without tags and too small. The TIP line was called and nothing happened. Eventfully the WI Sheriff came. The sturgeon anglers were not very happy and there was some blow back to the DNR about it. One of the reasons given was the CO’s were working the demonstations in St Paul.

It seems that’s who’s asked for help just before the National Guard.

I read through these threads on blatant disregard for wildlife rules and regulations and it just makes me more angry about an encounter I had a few years ago.

I have always followed the rules and regulations to a T, have purchase licenses every year I have been required. Typically, never keep a limit, of any species, only enough for a meal, and I never freeze fish as I prefer fresh.

Very popular lake, at a public access, I get checked by DNR. I have 2 Walleye, limit was 4, one was right in the middle of the legal slot, the other was right at the under. When he measured the bigger fish, he squeezed the gills down as hard as he could and stretched the tail out as far as he could, still legal. The small one he just laid it in the measuring tool and said it was 1/4″ too short. Then he LOUDLY started reading me the riot act, mainly a grandstanding presentation for all the people at the access. Normally I don’t get into it, go with the flow, but he was SOOOOO egregious, that I finally stood up for myself. I pointed out that he used 2 different measuring techniques to measure the fish, and if he would measure the short one again, squeeze its gills and stretch the tail, that it would be a legal fish, as I had measured it myself. He got all pissy, and re-measured, and pointed out that it was still about 1/32″ under. I am not going to get into the whole livewell atrophy issue and 1/32″. But I grabbed my commercial measuring trough and dropped it in, and it was just long enough to be a legal length. He then proceeded to grandstand again that only his measuring tool is legal. I restrained myself from completely going off on this guy, cause there was no way I was going to win. In the end, he dropped the fish off the end of the dock, and gave me his STERN warning that he better not catch me again, and that he could confiscate my boat and all my equipment.

100% a Barney Fife moment, completely uncalled for, and a complete waste of my taxpayer money.

That said, I still agree that I would pay more in licenses if the money legitimately went to better CO’s.

I live right next door to a public access. I see a lot of crazy stuff. One thing I have only saw two times in the 4 years I have lived here is the DNR.

Ive been checked many times hunting and fishing. Not as often as you should though. Got checked on Waconia last winter while the old lady had taken the kids to mcdonalds. Seemed kinda surprised when i asked him if he would come back and check again in a half hour or so cause my 3 and 4 year old daughters would get a kick out of it. He did and they thought it was cool as hell. Opening day of deer hunting this year found a live deer that had been hit by a car. Called the county they would not let me shoot it. Said no DNR in the area. (Surprised they said that.) 2 wardens came from New Prague which is a good 1/2 hour away. Guy on the phone from DNR was not happy Sibley Co sheriff dept wouldnt give me permission to shoot it. Said they should have since there is like 60 police to 1 DNR. Thought it was kind of odd if they are spread so thin that 2 wardens came.

We’ve been checked fairly often by COs often while fishing at Lake of the Woods and most of the time it’s when we’re on the water. Several times they’ve boarded our boat while to check fish, licenses etc. and other times they’ll just have us hold up floatation devices and hold up our licenses. We try not to ever violate any regulations so we don’t mind getting checked occasionally.
Sure more COs would help, but I still think that stiffer penalties would be more of a deterrent. Even so, like every other criminal, there are always going to be those that think the laws don’t apply to them and they’ll poach if they get the opportunity.

A few years ago we were fishing pool 5 of Mississippi and when we got back to hotel we needed to clean some fish, but some other guys were using the cleaning room so we waited. They guarded the door so we couldn’t see in. My brother happened to see their 5 gallon pail of fish and it was loaded with tiny walleyes…9-10 inchers.
Well, I called local dnr agent to report them and left him a VM. It was our day to go home so we loaded up and left.
2 days later the dnr agent called me up to thank me…over and over…for calling the crime in. He said, “we never get poachers because they’re too hard to catch – there’s just not enough agents.” He said he went to hotel that day but the perps were gone. He came back the next day and they were there…3 jagoffs from Indiana in a red truck. He busted them for possession of over 50 undersized walleyes.
I hesitated when I made the call to dnr and I was the only one that did. Turned out it was one of the smartest things I ever did.

Good job Tim, never doubt yourself, you did the right thing. These people aren’t sportsmen, they are thieves no different then the smash & grab crooks.

Personally I think education is the answer. I fish in Illinois and I have not seen a DNR officer where I fish in years. And COVID has made it worse.

Sylvanboat wrote:

Personally I think education is the answer. I fish in Illinois and I have not seen a DNR officer where I fish in years. And COVID has made it worse.

Education in what sense? Limits? Conservation?

I guess I don’t see where education is going to deter poachers. They know the rules, they know the damage it can do to lakes, they know they are breaking the law, they know they can get away with it….they don’t care..

I see a lot of folks suggesting the fines be higher and the revocation of hunting and/or fishing privileges be for a much longer term.

While I agree with these assessments, most, maybe all, states have a range of fines that can be charged for each type of offense and a maximum number of years that privileges can be revoked for each type of charge.

There was a Supreme Court decision that limits what can be permanently confiscated for an arrest, etc.

Buffalo Fishhead