74Formula233

Simple solution to this:

Here in RI, DEM can (and has before) confiscate your boat with everything in it, and, if caught at the ramp, your truck/trailer too.

Now THAT should be enough to deter someone! As long as it is enforced, at least once in a while.

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Andy

That solution should slow them down for awhile LOL!! This guy is just the tip of the ice berg there are so many poachers that are doing the same thing weather its Bass or Fluke they go where the money is the DEP is so short handed they can never catch all the Rats..........

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piscator

There's more moose here than you know Ridgerunner. My town (West Hartland) is touted as Moose capitol of CT and they are establishing themselves. Every year around this time a big bull is hit in this town. I have seen cows with calves (and have taken pics, which run in CT DEP literature from time to time) and one instance a cow with twin calves. My POINT IS… be it finned or furred, there are hundreds of slob hunters and fishermen out there that, as someone stated, are profitting by poaching and IF they do happen to get caught, the punishment is nothing more than a fraction of what they profit. I applaud our Conservation Officers who are far out numbered by those slobs out there. I suppose that's why a salt water license is on the horizon for everybody. The question is… will that new revenue be put into enforcement or go into the general fund??

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Black Dog

Just the tip of the iceberg is right.When Mass. commercial season was open they were taking Mass. limits from the RI reefs,and NY waters and trucking them to Mass.The SOB'S are ruining the the local fisheries.DEM should come up with a plan to deputize concerned recreational fisherman that are in the know and give them some authority.I would do it for free.This has been going on for years and that's not a rumor.

Scup

In Connecticut we have the authority. Its the TIP HOTLINE: 1-800-842-4357. I do not think I would want to go up against a poacher one on one anymore than I would care to go up against a drug dealer. Not trained in law enforcement and likely I would end up maimed or dead. Do not know how these arrests came about, but I suspect it was a concerned sportsman using the HOTLINE. No big deal to program the HOTLINE into your celluar phone.

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"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go" by William Feather

Bob & Mag

Unfortunately when you call the tip line, it's if they have an officer in the area and that has got to be like lotto. Take a look at how few encon police there are and what they have to do (not just fish/game anymore) and the size of the area they are covering.

One problem I see and see it more than I'd like to admit is over limits at private marinas as I've never seen an Encon officer and the private marina but only at the public town ramp/docks.

Where theres' a buyer the crook's will find a way to get what they want.
I don't know what the answer is but it's more than frustrating for all but the crooks.
Like Scup said, they think of getting caught as the cost of doing business.

Well next month is Tautog season, so the poached togs should start heading for NYC rest.

As far as taking the boat and gear, that would definately take care of the problem, however I believe, you need congress to put that into the law and CT lesgislature , for a state with saltwater boundary, seems to care less about it.

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Smoke free 9+ Months!

Black Dog

The tip hotline is a very slow.It's like phoning in a bank robbery and having the cops show up a week later.How about a rapid response team with DEM working with local law enforcement even the CG?A few years back I had to call Albany to report violations in NY waters.I agree confiscate the boat and gear.Heftier penalties and making them stick would definately be more of deterent.As it stands now they pay the fine,cool it for awhile then go right back to it.The risk of getting caught and the fines now imposed don't bother these guys at all compared to the cash their hauling in.One guy told me the fine he got a few years back was a drop in the bucket compared to the money he made and continued make.

tunaless

The partial solution on the bass is to go to a tag system in mass, like they have in N.Y. It rolls all the way up to the restaurant having to have the tag. Yes, there are imperfections, but it does away with many that occur the way the mass program works. Plus your trip logs have to match up to your tags. I wont even waste my time on the argument of the size, why mass targets females is beyond me (most over 34 are females). The key to the success in montauk, is the enforcement. One officer in particular has saved more bass then any one man alive......officer bilotto (sp). This man cuts 0 slack, and has issued more tickets then any officer alive. every charter boat captain and commercial dreads an interaction with officer joe. if you are a 1/4 inch under, or a few pounds over (with the 10% error) your limit, out comes the book. If anyone published a list of all the fishermen with tickets (charter, commercial), you'd be surprised how few are unscathed. At the same time, one guy has kept the busiest port in n.y in check. About the only flaw in the system is the local courts historically have given the "local" poor fishermen, slaps on the wrist.

reeltime

Andy is right, when you find the fish and stay on them, it is very easy to get your commercial or recreatuional limits and then some in a day. We have had many days where we have released that many fish 28+". When the fish are feeding and it is a large school of fish that you can stay on top of, it happens.

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Capt. Roland Lizotte III
www.reel-timefishingcharters.com

Scup

It has been almost a month now since this incident occurred, does any one know its final resolution?

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"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go" by William Feather