07-13-2002, 06:41 PM
Well, I picked up my first wildlife violation today. We were up fishing piveview this morning caught three nice muskies, came around the corner of cemetary point and ran into a muskie that was floating belly up. Two other boats were in the immediate area and saw the event take place. We tried to revive it for about fourty five minuets and it never did anything more than a couple small wags of it tail. We brought it into the live well and turned the areator on full to try and get him back. No doing. He was dead. Anyways, we figured we better not let him go to waste and decided to keep him. Now I dont eat fish except on a very rare occasion so a musky is way too much for me but I know lots of people who would love it. We load up the boat and lo and behold theres a fish and game officer in the parking lot. We showed him the fish and our liscenses, explained the whole story to him. He measured the fish, it was a 37 incher. Three inches short of the legal size. Ooops. He has no idea if our story is legitimate so he begins writing me out a ticket. As hes writing it, one of the guys who saw the whole thing happen out on the lake pulls up, the fish and game guy takes him aside and the verifies our story. I recieved a citation regardless. I am not posting this to show anger toward fish and game. I am just glad the guy was out there doing his job. I am posting to warn everyone not to let thier conscience get the best of them. No matter how right it is in your mind, the law is the law. Its better to let a fish rot on the surface than to break the law for any reason. I wasnt sure I was a believer in that idea until today. I had a pretty solid case made out in my defense as far as trying to be a responsible angler went but as far as the law according to the proclamation went I was wrong. So, heres my warning, if its not 100% legal turn away and live with the guilt. It may be better than living with the feeling of being a law breaker. I feel like crap. And I am going to have to pay. Better to feel like crap and not have to pay.<br><br>UNICORN CATCHER F.L.P.