Possible world record lake trout seized?

[superbee]

check again?

[birchbranch]

I was agreeing with your earlier post Lucas which stated that the lake trout limit is one per day, two in possession with a full license. Xplorer thought it was two per day. By the way, how has crappie fishing been in your area?

[superbee]

Hopefully Xplorer knew about the the 1 per day/ 2 total possession if he was fishing those areas. That rule has been in place for at least 10+ years. If not, he obviously was never checked by the CO's. I would recommend picking up a regulation book once in a while or inquiring about limits when purchasing a license. The crappie have been very sporatic. Get them one day and then nothing for the next time.

[Xplorer]

Mea culpa birchbranch, egg on my face.

I even went in and read the OMNR regs again before I posted and still thought it was 2 daily on a sports license

Whenever I have been north of the border I have always only bought a conservation license, so for me it was never an issue. One fish, one day. But I swear that there was a time that the sports allowed 2, am I outta my mind, or was I fishing with a few guys bending the rules??

Really wondering now. OK, so now my other question is on catch/release after your one is on the ice. We used to stop at Mine Centre and get licenses at the gas station, and was told as long as the fish goes back down the hole immediately it was OK. Is this true??

[JBMasterAngler]

If he was only 100 ft across the border, why didn't he just say he caught in Minnesota? He'd be within his limit, and owner of the new state record lake trout!

[superbee]

There was a time that 2 trout per day was allowed, but that was at least 10+ years ago. If they were keeping 2 per day in recent years, they were bending the rules or did not know better.

I guess he figured it best to tell the truth than possibly get caught later and be in even more trouble. Not good to put that much information online and interviews with the newspapers and then try to change the story after the fact when CO's start questioning you.

[Wanderer]

If he was only 100 ft across the border, why didn't he just say he caught in Minnesota? He'd be within his limit, and owner of the new state record lake trout!

I mentioned this a few replies ago but he was most likely there via snowmobile and I'd bet he only had a power auger with him, not a hand auger. Crossing the border on LLC's laker water would put you in the B-dub. No sleds or power augers allowed.

I guess he could try going with a story that he had a hand auger with but I think that ship has sailed.

[fsnrod]

But it is legal to walk that 1oo ft into the boundry waters if he had a hand auger with him.

[CaptainMusky]

Personally I think it is ridiculous that people would suggest that he claim he caught the fish in MN. He was already previously checked by the Ontario MNR, you dont think they were sitting somewhere watching?

Most of their work is done from afar.

I give the guy credit for admitting what he did. Not enough of that in today's world. At least he owned up to it and will let the chips fall where they may. "Added Scott: “I have friends who are lawyers who say I shouldn’t have said anything to the officers, and all that. That’s not me. I told them the way it was.”"

That may have been the last fish he catches in Ontario for a while.

[DTro]

Yeah, IMO the guy seems like a straight shooter.  I know I know he broke the law blah blah blah, but I think it’s a safe wager to assume that 95% of the people from MN in the same situation would have probably done the same thing.   “hey we got one fish, we can catch another one for our limit, right?”    I agree, it was refreshing for him to say, yep that is what happened I made a mistake, I wasn’t out there to break any laws, and he didn’t make any excuses.

 

Unfortunately for him, what he failed to account for is that the CO would have remembered him and the fact he already said he caught one earlier.  I fully admit I probably would have done the same thing and would have been in the same situation he is, like I said, I bet a lot of us would.

 

I think if they only caught the 2 fish all day then enforcement could have really given him a pass on this one and given him a verbal warning not to let it happen again because really the only difference whether party fishing is legal or not, is a simple lie between the group on who caught the fish and I would guess its especially hard to prove when using tipups.    Like who really caught it?  The guy handlining it or the guy gaffing it?

 

Its all ridiculous if you ask me…..

[Xplorer]

Lucas,

I looked back and the first year I went to the Atikokan area for trout was 1995, guess I am a bit older than I thought It was a few after that, that we started going to either a private cabin or Matt's on Lower and Clearwater/White Otter and Greytrout. I know that there was never more than 1 laker per person in camp on those later trips. Unfortuately for me, my last 6 winters have been taken up with coaching basketball for my son's team, and I have been lucky to make it to LOTW or Upper Red for a weekend or two. My only laker fishing has been in Ely and a few trips over to the Apostles

Still wondering tho about the catch and immediate release issue once you have your one on the ice. Legal or not?

In the end, it is really a sad way for such an awesome fish to end up.

[Wanderer]

But it is legal to walk that 1oo ft into the boundry waters if he had a hand auger with him.

Yep, as long as you have a valid licenses for both sides and a Remote Access Border Crossing permit (RABC), which he had to have to get there in the first place.

Oh, and his Passport of course.

[superbee]

Lucas,

Still wondering tho about the catch and immediate release issue once you have your one on the ice. Legal or not?

My understanding would be that it is legal if all fish are immediately released, especially since the warden checked this guy and let him continue fishing when he already had kept his limit. That being said though, this is probably one of those things that is all up to the wardens interpretation. I wish I had a better answer.

It is a shame with everything surrounding this fish, party fishing is illegal, but most everyone does it. It will be interesting to see how things end up.

[Xplorer]

I appreciate your take on it. With 3 more years of coaching travel team, it will most likely be awhile before I am back north of the border for lakers.

And I will most definitely make sure to be 100% clear of the current reg's when I do

[JakeJ_Mn]

It's unfortunate that the record trout was taken illegally. I fish Canada a few times each year and have been reminded several times about party fishing from the Canadian COs. I also have been asked in a group how many fish I caught more than once.

I fished South Dakota a few weeks ago and they have the same rule against party fishing. Twice in 3 days, our group was checked by 2 different COs and both asked how many fish we each caught.

There are many different rules, but it's our job to read and abide by them.

[OutlawBiz]

It's unfortunate that the record trout was taken illegally. I fish Canada a few times each year and have been reminded several times about party fishing from the Canadian COs. I also have been asked in a group how many fish I caught more than once.

I fished South Dakota a few weeks ago and they have the same rule against party fishing. Twice in 3 days, our group was checked by 2 different COs and both asked how many fish we each caught.

There are many different rules, but it's our job to read and abide by them.

I think SD just passed a new law this week allowing party flushing now.

[PierBridge]

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/430920/

[Alagnak]

“I fully plan on getting a replica (mount) made,” Scott said in a telephone interview from Crane Lake on Monday. “No one can take away the fact that I pulled a 52-pound fish through a 10-inch hole ice fishing.”

That's like shooting a big buck illegally out of someone's yard in the middle of the night and being proud of it even though you had it confiscated and were fined. ;-)

[PierBridge]

Rob Scott, the Crane Lake, Minn., angler who caught a potential tip-up world-record lake trout in February, pleaded guilty Friday in Fort Frances Provincial Offences Court to keeping one lake trout over his limit.

Scott, 65, won’t get to keep the fish.

He paid a $400 fine plus court costs amounting to about $75, according to Kevin Elliott, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources enforcement supervisor in Fort Frances.

Scott, who was represented by an Ontario attorney, did not contest the charges. He caught and kept the fish that unofficially weighed 52 pounds, 3 ounces, on Feb. 8 while fishing on the Ontario side of Lac La Croix, a border lake northeast of Crane Lake. The fish was 45 inches long with a 32-inch girth, Scott said.

But because Scott’s lake trout limit was one fish and he had already kept a 4-pounder earlier in the day, he was over his limit when he kept the big lake trout. He later gave the 4-pound trout to his nephew, he said, but according to Ontario law, he had possessed both fish.

“He killed two fish. You’re only allowed to kill one,” the MNR’s Elliott said.

Scott said he had planned to submit the fish, which was caught on a tip-up line, to the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wis., as a potential record in the ice-fishing tip-up category. The current record is 29 pounds, 6 ounces.

“I fully plan on getting a replica (mount) made,” Scott said in a telephone interview from Crane Lake on Monday. “No one can take away the fact that I pulled a 52-pound fish through a 10-inch hole ice fishing.”

Soon after catching the big lake trout, Scott brought it to Bowe Taxidermy in Duluth to have it mounted. It was seized there by a conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, acting on behalf of MNR conservation officers. It was transported to enforcement officials in Ontario, where it remains.

The MNR’s Elliott said the fish will be held for 30 days. He doesn’t know what will happen to the fish after that. Sometimes, confiscated fish are mounted and used for educational purposes, Elliott said.

On Sunday, Scott traveled by snowmobile back to Lac La Croix to the same area where he had caught the big fish. Using 6-pound-test line on a light rod, he caught and kept a 26-pound lake trout. He plans to have that fish mounted as well.

[Deet]

“I fully plan on getting a replica (mount) made,” Scott said in a telephone interview from Crane Lake on Monday. “No one can take away the fact that I pulled a 52-pound fish through a 10-inch hole ice fishing.”

That's like shooting a big buck illegally out of someone's yard in the middle of the night and being proud of it even though you had it confiscated and were fined. ;-)

It's not at all like that. It's like two guys ice fishing together, being allowed one lake trout each - one guy catches two and the other catches zero, and they quit fishing after they have those two trout. You can't compare it to shooting big game, after hours, on private property.

I am amazed at this guy's cooperation and honesty, according to reports. I think the Ontario MNR should make an example of this. Show the public that you appreciate cooperation. They should have penalized the guy at the lowest level possible. After all, his offense was basically as petty as it can get, and he has been nothing but cooperative and contrite.

[outdoors247]

Quote:

I am amazed at this guy's cooperation and honesty, according to reports. I think the Ontario MNR should make an example of this. Show the public that you appreciate cooperation. They should have penalized the guy at the lowest level possible. After all, his offense was basically as petty as it can get, and he has been nothing but cooperative and contrite.

It pretty hard not to be cooperative when you are tagged and they have a mountain of evidence. He was not going to talk his way out of this one so he did the right thing and cooperated.

So, you think everyone that cooperates should be given a free pass or minimal penalties? That set's a pretty bad precedent for fish and game violators. He broke the law and he has to pay the price, plain and simple if you ask me.

[Deet]

It pretty hard not to be cooperative when you are tagged and they have a mountain of evidence. He was not going to talk his way out of this one so he did the right thing and cooperated.

So, you think everyone that cooperates should be given a free pass or minimal penalties? That set's a pretty bad precedent for fish and game violators. He broke the law and he has to pay the price, plain and simple if you ask me.

He could have very easily been uncooperative. I never said anyone should get a free pass, just that he shouldn't be raked over the coals. And from the latest release that I read, it sounds like a pretty fair fine. I think he paid the fine, and then went back up fishing and caught another wall-hanger.

[DLD24]

So you're saying that you've never seen someone that obviously did the crime get off?? Now a days you can get off with dam near anything it seems...Did you read the article about the Mille Lacs guy with 50 walleyes in his freezer get off..Hell OJ ran from the cops on live TV haha...And as far as getting the replica made hell ya I would too.. I would have released it if possible and gotten a replica,but either way I'd get one...

[Wanderer]

The only illegal thing he did was keep 1 fish over the limit. Is $400 a fair fine for that? I guess Ontario thinks so. The catching of it wasn't a crime.

Heck he kept his fishing privileges and went back and killed another trophy legally.

He learned a $400 lesson, promoted his resort and got the word out about LLC. Quite an eventful winter for a normally quite winter life.