Thread: I Hope These Guys Get what They Deserve! (Pic Added)

Originally Posted by BamaMan

I read on Facebook that these Guys said they fished two days... The first day they caught their limit... That night they all get to Drunk to clean the fish and just Iced them down... The next day they went fishing and caught crappie but not a limit and just Iced them down so they could clean later that day... They said the short fish measured before they let them sit over night on ice... The Game Warden counted the fish and charged them as if they caught all the fish in one day... Who knows what's really going on... I don't keep any crappie even close to the 10" size limit... Most of the time I only Keep 12 to 14 inch crappie and let the smaller and larger ones go... I don't think there is a Guide out there that would let people keep under size fish or go over the limit... We may never know the true story or out come of this...

The question is if they are truly "professional" guides but assuming they are I find the story as presented a bit hard to believe myself.

The lesson is that if your are not going to clean your fish right away don't keep more than a one days limit. Keep fish from different days segregated and don't go over the possession limit.

Lets say that the suspects are telling the truth. How would the game warden know on first inspection that the fish were caught on separate days. A forensic scientist would be able to tell but that would cost thousands of dollars. People need to look at this from the law enforcement prospective not from the suspects.

I have my own unpopular opinion on the topic of how many fish to keep. Most states have very generous possession limits. I never keep anywhere near that limit. I don't believe in freezing fresh fish because frozen fish is not fresh fish. I only keep what me and my wife will eat that evening or the next day. That would be around 6 to 8 crappie. There are exceptions such as lakes where conservation wants you to take the small fish. Either way I don't criticize people with other habits but they do need to be aware that law enforcement can't read their minds to determine when the fish were caught.

as for the guides they could be completely clueless as to what their clients do with the fish once they leave them but in my experience the guides have always cleaned the fish as part of their service.