Bigger Fines for Poaching Needed!

[bmiller]

Looks like they were fellow law enforcement officials maybe that's why the fines weren't much. Just like the deer poaching in Brown Co several years ago. I witnessed a guy get hammered with 4 times his limit of perch and they seized his truck cause of a cooler with fish, his camper because of fillets in freezer and boat because he still had fish in livewell. Seems it's another case of who you are

[livinlife]

I as well don't get the pole limit.when u limit my poles.what does it matter how many poles I use to catch my 6 fish.thanks mike

[pimplepounder]

I think the two pole limit is fair.
Yes we do also have a limit on how many fish we can keep, but increasing the number of rods beyond the two allowed also increases the likely-hood that a limit will be reached. May as well use a net.
Michigan also has a two pole limit. But in Ohio if you ice fish, you can have two poles and 6 tip ups, not sure why? In MI you can only have two poles or two tip-ups, or one of each.

The fines need to be raised and strictly enforced regarding these violations. To catch your limit it needs to still take some skill, and some luck. No factory fishing in Ohio water please.

[Baydog]

I don't agree with the two pole limit as well, like stated above what makes the difference how many poles it takes to get your six fish, and here is another thought, all or at least most of the charter boats have, let's say, six paying customers , so they put out there twelve poles, then on top of that they can put out two more for the first mate and two more for the captin, now we all know the six paying customers are reeling in all the fish and taking home all the fish while the captin and the first mate are not actively fishing, so even if the first mate is netting the fish I don't consider that as him fishing, just my opinion!

[Pauken23]

Growing up in Minnesota with (yes) a 1 pole limit it took me by surprise to see 2 poles in Ohio/Michigan and more some other places. In all honesty, if I were to tell you where the populations hurt the most it's Minnesota... People go nuts for fishing there so yes there are tons of over fished lakes. I guess the difference is talking about landlocked smaller lakes compared to Great Lakes. IMO the United States and Canada have come to pretty good agreements as to how many fish each country can take. Commercial fishing takes all the fish in the agreement in Canada but (correct me if I'm wrong) in the US where it's only sport fishing we don't take our agreed upon limit. So... keep the limits on fish in place but why limit the poles? Also, why not up the limit on fish 1 per person? If Canada is taking their whole limit why shouldn't we? I don't know the exact numbers and am basing this on what I've read from multiple sources. Set the rules and regulations to fit the numbers of fish in the lake and keep everything healthy. Along those lines, why do regulations always seem to stay the same? IMO they should be changing every year if managed correctly. Guess the government doesn't really care... There are those who DO care in the government but just look at all the fisheries in this country and the lack of oversight. I feel like I could do a better job of setting rules and limits than the government. I guess the bottom line is the US spends our money elsewhere and it's up to us as fisherpeople to manage the populations ourselves. Along those lines, I feel that we all need to take stock of where we're fishing and what kind of fish we are catching and be responsible. It's up to us as the government doesn't have "remaining" funds...

[dansdad]

I for one agree with the 2 pole limit. I go fishing to "relax" and have fun. If I went strictly for the fish I would save the $150-$200 a weekend I spend on gas, worms, etc, and stop off at Port Clinton fish company and buy some fillets and still have beer money left. If I could go out every day and catch my limit in an hour it would become pretty boring! As for the limits it wouldn,t bother me a bit to see the walleye limit kept at 4 for a few years if that would help to get the population back to where it was in the 80's.

[branhamautomotive]

Baydog,

As a first mate on eye hunter charters, I assure you I do ALOT more than just net fish. I can't speak for all the charters out there, but for us that's not the case. And the captain does more than just sit drive the boat. Especially with all these shorts we have very little to no extra time to even get a drink of water in the summer heat.

[branhamautomotive]

I for one agree with the 2 pole limit. I go fishing to "relax" and have fun. If I went strictly for the fish I would save the $150-$200 a weekend I spend on gas, worms, etc, and stop off at Port Clinton fish company and buy some fillets and still have beer money left. If I could go out every day and catch my limit in an hour it would become pretty boring! As for the limits it wouldn,t bother me a bit to see the walleye limit kept at 4 for a few years if that would help to get the population back to where it was in the 80's.

There are times I go out personally to relax, but other I am out there to get my fish. With a couple kids under 5, there are days I only have 2 or 3 hrs to fish but not 8. As stated before fishing should also be about skill, and I go out by myself and I can keep up with 3 or 4 or more poles and drive safely, the extra poles would help me to get my legal limit, get in and spend the rest of the day with my family.

The law makers are in a tough corner a lot of times, trying to keep with everything from all sides.

I don't want to see an increase in limits, I would like to ppl be able to keep the 14" fish that get gilled and are going to die and feed the seagulls. Course ppl are going argue then there is nothing to stop ppl from getting a limit of 14" fish. And this is true, but we all know there is not much meat on 14" fish so I would think that fact alone would help prevent that. But I don't see the since in having to return a fish I know is going die, just to get another in its place. That's the same as taking the extra fish out lake anyways.

[Capt. Ted]

I don't consider using more than two rods poaching. However, in 2015 and 2016 it was the most ticketed violation in our ODNR district of Lake Erie. At our Captain's meeting I was able to ask the biologists about the effects of anglers using too many rods. "It's immeasurable, but inconsequential" was his response.

So, this brings us to a law in place that has no consequence to the environment. You either are going to consciously take more than your limit, or not. And the majority of the over harvesting comes from double trip scenarios.

The ODNR has done informal studies and surveys regarding the two rod rule. They have concluded there is not enough public opinion to change this law. Roughly, a third of the people would like to use more than two rods, (trollers and drifters on Lake Erie). A third of the anglers can't understand why anyone would ever need to use more than one rod at a time (bass fishermen). And a third don't care either way.

This leaves us with a law that will be on the books for eternity. It's an easily enforced ticket. Meanwhile the guy that goes perch fishing alone, and hangs three rods over the gunwale on a slow day is in violation. The bank fisherman that sticks three poles in the ground along the Maumee while catfishing is in violation. The drifter that puts out three bottom bouncers out while he and his wife are casting a weight forward is in violation.

A director of the ODNR (now retired) discussing another over regulated rule said, "the officers have been instructed on the intent of the law, and to use common sense". I'm sure he would respond this way on this issue also.

So, really do we need to raise all the penalties for the guy who can't get his limit one morning at sets out another jet diver, or the fines on the three guys who brought in 3 extra perch when they lost track of the number of fish and the number of beers in the cooler?

[troy1976]

HERE is strictly an opinion no intentions of throwing darts at anyone

the law states two poles per person with a current fishing license. All of those charter captains are doing nothing illegal as far as the number of lines set in the water. When it comes to keeping their fish for the paying clients it becomes an illegal act. As I have been told each person has to "reel" in their own 6 fish. I know that the dnr watches this act when possible and also has put officers undercover on charter boats at random to monitor. Its obviously almost impossible to monitor this situation. "Party" fishing by the letter of the law is illegal in ohio but is generally not enforced.
I personally know of captains that do not let clients keep the boat limit. I also know captains who let their clients take the boat limit home That is the captains choice to make

For me when a boat with one or two guys trolls past and has 6 to 10 rods out i just laugh. How many of those poles have fish on that they just drag around while dealing with the other poles. My opinion on the two poles per person is that it was created to try to save fish from harm caused by being dragged around.

just my 2 cents

good luck out there everyone!!