New Law

[gregnwtf]

So this is not just walleye but any fish? It is going to suck to clean perch, I always skin them since I don't want to mess with scaling them.

All fish. Its the highly sought walleye and perch that brought this on.

[wakina]

This law was put in place for the problem areas. Sort of like
probable cause. It is stated in the new fishing laws pamphlet. Fish you intend to eat, say that day, odnr ok'd that you can have clean fillets without skin. It is a big change and will be a tough one for people to accept.

I have read the law and even copied and pasted it in a post on this thread. Nowhere in that law or anywhere else on the ODNR fishing regulations web page can I find where the ODNR ok'd the part you are relating to as it would pertain to eating/cooking fish at your camper you had just caught that day. It concerns me because my boat is located less than 150ft from the front door of my camper. The point that I was trying to make was that no-matter what that Officer said at the meeting if you get a ticket it would have been written from the printed statute and that written statute is the only thing that the Judge has to go on, it is the law as written. If it is not in writing and in the books with an Ohio Revised Code number then the Officers statement as he or she stated at the meeting is worthless in a court of law and you would still be guilty.

[skipper9]

Yes, you are right. We told the officer that we did not like his wording. He said officers would you some discretion on this new law. Most of my customers get their fish cleaned at cleaners. I know that my customers are not gonna be happy about this.

[forefathers]

I don't normally post much if anything, but to the guys out there thinking that this law was written to make money or fir the man to watch us. Here's the thing. Odnr and the powers that be aren't smart enough to write this law on their
own. They took this from somewhere and made it their own. Why? To help protect our lake. Anyone remember the men who got busted under the sandusky bridge.... And those are just the ones that fit caught how many more every year take MORE then their fair share. Odnr people are not money hungry or on a power trip. The only thing they love is our lake. I doubt highly anyone loud us keeping it legal will be bothered.

[DoubleD]

Can we find a common phone number or email address to collectively display our anger at this measure that hassles and penalizes the fisherman that are not cheating? They should do their job and catch poachers with illegal fish in their boat. Just like channel 84, we can have a large voice..

[wakina]

Yes, you are right. We told the officer that we did not like his wording. He said officers would you some discretion on this new law. Most of my customers get their fish cleaned at cleaners. I know that my customers are not gonna be happy about this.

skipper9:
I have no reason to doubt nor am I doubting your word as to what the Officer said, you are one of the most honest and straight forward guys on here and always ready to help others who are struggling to catch fish.

Although I don't like it, I don't have a problem with the new regulation as it is written , but I do have a problem with what they had to say to those who attended that meeting which if nothing else clouded the issue.

It kinda pissed me off with what they said to those attending the meeting vs. what the written reg on their web site says. They no more than put a new reg in the written regulations that you get with your licence, a reg that they expect everyone to follow, and within a few days of, or after that regulation taking affect they open the door letting misinformation and personal opinion to come spewing out with what they have told you and others at that meeting. They are interpiting it to suit their fancy and maybe even played it down some so they would not have to take some heat from those who were in attendance and make a living fishing the lake. The regulation is less than a week old and it has aready had conflicting and confusing interpitation by an ODNR Officer who spoke to a group of people who fish the lake for a living. I am sorry but Regulations should not be left up to the discretion of an enforcement officer, it is the enforcement officers job to write a citation for a violation of a regulation. Only in boarderline cases should the enforcement officer be allowed to use discretion.
Judges are the ones who decide how much mitigating circumstances should play in guilt or innocence of a potential violation.

[wakina]

Can we find a common phone number or email address to collectively display our anger at this measure that hassles and penalizes the fisherman that are not cheating? They should do their job and catch poachers with illegal fish in their boat. Just like channel 84, we can have a large voice..

Yes I agree with your idea!!
They already have laws to address this issue, but like everything else if it is not working as planned they create a new law instead of fixing what is broken in the first place.

[forefathers]

13 men from out of state for a week were over limit by 29 fish....... Because... the rest were in the freezer with no way to identify them... Odnr couldn't make a case for the rest. This it's why you have a new law.

[wakina]

13 men from out of state for a week were over limit by 29 fish....... Because... the rest were in the freezer with no way to identify them... Odnr couldn't make a case for the rest. This it's why you have a new law.

That is a definate possibility, but it only takes a couple of days to do a species dna test. There would also be a total amount of wt involved to use as evidence, and charges could be filed on the 29 fish over limit and an undetermined number of fish contained in the wt of those freezer fish.

[forefathers]

They only filed charges for the 29 fish. Dna test would cost odnr to much to pursue. Either way this law will only make people on this board better..and more apt to turn in people over the limit. We all need to do our part.