Thread: Possession Limit

Angler Faces $24k Fine for Too Many Bluegills - Wired2fish - Scout

73-year-old Stanley Paalksnis from Onalaska, Wisc. could potentially have to pay a $24,682 fine for keeping too many bluegills while fishing on Lake Onalaska and the Mississippi River. An undercover DNR officer watched the angler keep 22 bluegills and 5 unidentified fish the morning of November 4. Paalksnis fished again that afternoon and was witnessed keeping 25 bluegills. The daily limit is 25.
He initially would not authorities into his house without a search warrant. Once the warrant was obtained, more than 150 fillets were found in his freezers and refrigerators. He was issued 4 citations.
Prosecutors want the angler’s fishing privileges revoked and his boat and freezers confiscated. Between 1989 and 2011, the DNR issued Paalksnis 7 citations for fishing over the limit and his privileges were revoked twice.

Angler Found with 2,000 Fish Over Possession Limit - Wired2fish - Scout

In his boat and house, authorities found 2,066 bluegills, 418 perch and 88 crappies, reports stated.
The possession limits are 50 each.

And howabout this guy as runner up...
1,600 Trout Over the Limit - Fly Fisherman

A poacher in New Mexico has taken illegal harvest to staggering new depths. After getting an anonymous tip, Department of Game and Fish Conservation Officers found more than 1,600 rainbow trout in the home of Bounchanh Bounsombath of Clovis, New Mexico. That’s more than 160 times the legal possession limit.Bounsombath, 62, was arrested Monday, May 12, and admitted to catching all the fish at Green Acres Lake and Denis Chaves Pond in northwest Clovis.
“Never in my whole career have I encountered this before,” Col. Robert Griego said. “The extreme excess of this case is aggravating. The department stocks these fish for all sportsmen and women, young and old, with the desire that everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy the fish.”
Department hatchery workers released approximately 10,000 rainbow trout into Green Acres and Denis Chaves between November 2013 and March 2014. Licensed anglers may catch and keep up to five rainbow trout per day and may possess up to 10 rainbow trout at their residence.
Bounsombath was booked into the Curry County Detention Center with a bond set at $2,500. The department will seek $8,000 in civil restitution for the state to recover the loss of the trout.

Hoarders- outdoor edition

That's just ridiculous.

That makes me worry about putting sheepshead fillets in the freezer. I think there is a possession limit on them, too.

Originally Posted by Haywire

That makes me worry about putting sheepshead fillets in the freezer. I think there is a possession limit on them, too.

EXACTLY!
In Alabama the Daily Creel AND Possession Limit are the same.
http://www.outdooralabama.com/sites/...%20B%26W_1.pdf

As I read the article I thought the same thing as Haywire.
Glad we ate that package of Redfish, I was over the limit in my freezer.

I never knew that the possession limit extended to your freezer.
So you have to eat them or stop fishing?
What a crock of crap.

[sarcasm]

As hard up for revenue as so many states are, how soon before they register sport catches and start raiding homes/ freezers?
May have to spend the money for a commercial license so as to avoid illegal possession.

[/sarcasm]

I will check but I think that in Alabama the possession limit for fish only applies to those fish not processed and stored in your home.
But once you get home, clean them and put them in the freezer, possession limits no longer applies.


Page 27 of the reg book, as it applies to game, look at #2:
220-2-.18 Possession Limit
It shall be unlawful to take or attempt to take or have in possession more than the daily bag limit of any game bird, game or furbearing animals except as listed in numbers (1) and (2) of this rule.
(1) Possession limit does not apply on deer and/or turkey provided not more than the daily bag limit on deer and/or one (1) turkey is taken on any one day.
(2) Possession limit of one day bag does not apply on legally taken game birds or game animals after they have been processed and stored in a cooler or freezer at one's residence or at a commercial processing plant.

Page 50 of the reg book:
Note: It is a violation of Alabama law for any person to transport more than one day's creel limit of any species of game fish beyond the boundaries of this state. It is a violation of Alabama law for any person to fillet freshwater fish while on public waters except when fish are being prepared for immediate cooking and consumption, provided however, that fish may be drawn or gutted with heads left attached.

I will try to get clarification today.

I think that only people who have a documented history of hoarding fish fillets and/or who have been observed to obviously be flouting the lmit laws have anything to worry about when it comes to prosecution that includes a warrant to search your freezer at home.

Even though I'm very aware of limits on sheepshead and spanish mackerel, for example, I still have the limits chart taped to the top of my tackle box, so that I can let enforcement personnel know that I'm taking the limits laws seriously.

As well, I keep a tape measure in the top shelf of my tackle box, in case an enforcement officer asks me how I measure my catch to know that it's legal.

Thanks Carl,
I look forward to some clarification on processed fish in the freezer.