Want white fish? Unlike THAT GUY, they know "95" doesn't run through "menominie"

[theking]

...but that clique is still a FRAUD so happy to see them get caught    :

Thirteen people convicted of illegally taking whitefish from Menominee River; 11 from Illinois 'cliques'

Authorities have convicted 13 people from three states for poaching lake whitefish from the Menominee River, in some cases burying the fish or hiding them in vehicles to evade wardens, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

The poachers were accused of illegally taking hundreds of vulnerable spawning whitefish, sometimes by snagging them in the body instead of hooking them in the mouth, said DNR Marine Warden Jeff Lautenslager

Eleven of the violators were from Illinois. Lautenslager said they were operating in “a couple different groups or cliques that were definitely together or rode up together in the same group.”

The other two violators were from Wisconsin and Michigan.

Lautenslager said wardens hope this case “deters egregious and blatant violating of fishing laws.”

The case began in 2019 when DNR wardens from Michigan and Wisconsin learned of these “organized” attacks on the lake whitefish. The Menominee River runs roughly along the border of both states and enters the bay of Green Bay between Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan.

With logistical assistance from the Illinois DNR, officers continued investigating through 2020 and into 2021, finding the violators were “strategic and intentional,” Lautenslager said.

“The lake whitefish in this river are particularly vulnerable during the late-year months,” he said. “They congregate in the up-river systems in Wisconsin every fall for their annual spawn.”

The 13 violators were charged in Marinette County Circuit Court. Officials issued 29 citations for exceeding the daily bag limit of whitefish, intentionally snagging fish and failing to release foul-hooked fish.

In Wisconsin, fish can be kept only if they’re caught in the mouth, but those charged were also keeping them if they were hooked in the back, belly or tail, Lautenslager said.

Snagging fish involves casting a lure or a hook in “a ripping or jerking fashion, just trying to basically hook the fish as it's swimming through the water column,” he said.

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