This weekend I went out to a not so hush hush lake in Scott County. Everyone knows about the 900 Million hand sized crappies you can catch on Cedar Lake. I was out with a few friends to have a good time. On the lake we noticed a group of people who were just catching fish literally every 2-3 seconds. and the pile kept getting larger and larger on the ice. We decided to move over towards these individuals but respected their space as we didn't move right up on top of them. I watched 2 people catch fish for 5 people (there were 3 standing on the ice without rods in hand) but they took 50 crappies and put them in 5 zip lock bags of 10 and walked off the lake.
Here is where my frustration sets in. about 90 minutes later the same 5 people come to the lake and start fishing again. and again, 2 people with fishing poles and 3 people just standing there looking on and talking. They started piling up the crappies again. I decided that I would say something because you are allowed 1 limit per DAY. They started speaking english to me and when I informed them they were breaking the law, all of a sudden no english was spoke, they continued to fish and took another 50 crappies and left the lake. I followed them off the lake and took their license plate number and called the C/O.
The C/O informed me that there was nothing he could do because the fish would probably be gone before he got there to do anything about it. I asked if i needed to sign anything stating i witnessed them in the act. And the C/O just pretty much blew me off.
SO i am frustrated with the C/O in Scott County. Breaking the law is breaking the law. Doesn't matter who you are.
Every one has a boss and the squeeky wheel gets the grease! Keep climbing the ladder until someone listens. The least it will do is to get the lake checked more often.
You should have called tip as soon as they returned for the 2nd dip.
It still would be a tough case for the CO to prove. There is no-way of knowing where the 1st LEGAL batch went. And with you dropping the ball and not calling until they were practically in there car there really wasn't anything the CO could do.
Frustrating for sure but far from the CO's fault here.
Just frustrated because i know i fish legally. and seeing it not done right not much I can do except complain. How can you prove any of that I guess you don't know.
but having a relative who is a C/O in the northern part of the state I have a decent grasp on the wording. Daily means for that DAY. and POSSESSION means in total. How it was explained to me is that even if i gift my fish away for that day, i am done catching and keeping a limit until the next calendar day.
I just am upset. I don't want to be called racist so I won't put out a race on any individual but i have seen the destructive measures and how fast it happens. sad to see another lake go down this way i guess.
Our tradition is that of the first man who sneaked away to the creek when the tribe did not really need fish. ~ Roderick Haig-Brown, about modern fishing, A River Never Sleeps, 1946
