Guide with to many fish!

[Lee Borgersen]

Lake of the Woods: fishing guide sentenced for too many fish!

  ....
A Lake of the Woods fishing guide has been been sentenced to pay $770 in fines, restitution and court fees for keeping too many walleyes and saugers while guiding clients on a two-day fishing trip.

Dennis Neal Anderson, 61, Williams, Minn., was guiding a group of six anglers found with 54 walleyes and saugers—12 more than allowed for a seven-person limit, court documents show. In addition to a $325 fine, Anderson was ordered to pay $360 in restitution and $85 in court fees.

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According to court documents, the violation was discovered during a routine check by Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Ben Huener, who was working a patrol on the Rainy River with the U.S. Coast Guard. When checked Aug. 1, Anderson and his clients had 15 walleyes and eight saugers in a cooler onboard the boat; the guide said they were keeping fish for his limit, as well, court documents show.

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Anglers can keep an aggregate limit of six walleyes and saugers on Lake of the Woods, of which no more than four can be walleyes. All walleyes from 19½ inches to 28 inches on Lake of the Woods must be released.

In Minnesota, the daily limit is the same as the possession limit.

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Huener then asked to see the fish from the previous day's trip and determined Anderson was storing 31 fish in three bags, one with frozen fish, marked with packing slips in a refrigerator onshore at the resort where he worked. Anderson initially claimed one bag with 13 fish didn't belong to his group but eventually admitted all three bags were part of their catch, court records show. That brought their two-day total to 54 fish; the most they legally could possess—even with the guide's limit—was 42 fish.

Speaking to the clients, Huener said the anglers appeared to be leaving the counting of fish to Anderson, but some of them also assumed they would be eating fresh fish that night and were hoping to leave the next morning with their limit, court documents show.

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Huener issued warning tickets to the anglers and cited Anderson, court documents show.

All of the fish were seized, along with the cooler.

This cooler of walleyes and saugers, along with three bags of fish in a refrigerator, were confiscated by DNR Conservation Officer Ben Huener during a recent case on Lake of the Woods in which fishing guide Dennis Neal Anderson was convicted for keeping too many fish while on a guide trip with clients.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources photo:

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[Boar]

Bout time they start loojing at the guides and launches..

[Jerkbiat]

Agreed. On a side note a friend asked me a couple of weeks ago when he was up. He ask with the state wide limit of walleye being 6 and Lake of the woods being 4 can a person keep 4 one day then keep 2 more the next day? Then a person would have the state wide possession limit. That has peeked my curiosity, might have to email the DNR and find out.

[Boar]

Not if yur stayin on  the shores of LOW i can catch  4 LOW walleye, and come ho.e and catch 2 inland water wallys, for a state bag limit of 6. Which is  now changing

[Rebel SS]

Too many rules no one can understand. You should not have to wonder about things like that; they should be clear and concise, IMO. Then no chance of boo-boo's.

[Jerkbiat]

Too many rules no one can understand. You should not have to wonder about things like that; they should be clear and concise, IMO. Then no chance of boo-boo's.

Exactly right. I did email the DNR the question. I will post it when i get an answer.

[Jerkbiat]

Here is the response i got from the DNR.


Hello,

Thank you for contacting the Minnesota DNR.

I’m afraid that there total limit for walleye on LOW is just 4 walleye. It would not matter the number of days they spend on the lake. That would hold true for other lakes(Red Lake as an example).
 Someone who fished LOW could stop at a lake on the way home say to Mpls and take two more walleye to bring their limit to the statewide limit.
There would need to keep the walleye separate. Have the bags mark with name, fishing license # and I would also tape a receipt from a bait store/gas state
near LOW and from the lake they stop at on the way home. That way if stopped on the way home it will not look like they took too many from LOW.

Please feel free to contact us if you have further questions either by email or by calling 888-646-6367 M-F 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Have a great day, Jim

James Abernathy
Customer Service Specialist Intermediate
Information Center/OCO
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
500 Lafayette Rd
St. Paul, Mn, 55155
Phone: 651-296-6157

 

[LPS]

Ya ok!!

[glenn57]

Here is the response i got from the DNR.


Hello,

Thank you for contacting the Minnesota DNR.

I’m afraid that there total limit for walleye on LOW is just 4 walleye. It would not matter the number of days they spend on the lake. That would hold true for other lakes(Red Lake as an example).
 Someone who fished LOW could stop at a lake on the way home say to Mpls and take two more walleye to bring their limit to the statewide limit.
There would need to keep the walleye separate. Have the bags mark with name, fishing license # and I would also tape a receipt from a bait store/gas state
near LOW and from the lake they stop at on the way home. That way if stopped on the way home it will not look like they took too many from LOW.

Please feel free to contact us if you have further questions either by email or by calling 888-646-6367 M-F 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Have a great day, Jim

James Abernathy
Customer Service Specialist Intermediate
Information Center/OCO
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
500 Lafayette Rd
St. Paul, Mn, 55155
Phone: 651-296-6157

that was the same type of response I got a few years back when the pike limit was 3 but you could take 9 out of the bowstring/sand lake chain. you needed some sort of receipt/proof you where in the area to have those extra fish.

[Steve-o]

IMHO the laws governing specific bodies of water are basically unenforceable unless you get caught red-handed on the lake.

I'm fine with that and apparently the DNR & COs are as well otherwise we'd have fish tags and registration stations.

Keep LOW-caught fish separate?  Why bother.  All it proves is that you have two coolers.

If anyone showed me a receipt or documentation to "prove" to me where they caught their fish, it would immediately set off a red flag that they were doing something illegal somewhere else.

[Rebel SS]

You will next need a hand-held scanner to scan the imprinted bar-code on the fish..........

[markn]

Maybe just make it four fish statewide???? Mark's $.02.

[Jerkbiat]

Maybe just make it four fish statewide???? Mark's $.02.

My thoughts also. But i would like to see a higher possession limit like 8.

[LPS]

I have always thought that too JB. 

[glenn57]

  and I cant catch enough walleyes to worry about a limit!!!!!! byt then, there are better fish to eat then them roughfish!!!!!!!!